This was the beginning…where dahlia infatuation and straight up delirium started – thank you Boppa (RIP)! This is my one and only photo of some of the dahlias he grew (taken by a real film loaded camera – way before digital cameras and smart phone cameras were a thing)! It would have been taken in the summer 1995 + or – a few years.
By the look of the brown grass in the field behind the dahlias, it must’ve been a hot dry summer at “Dogwood” farm just outside Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC. The dahlias look like they’re “busting out”, well watered with a healthy dose of “black gold” well-rotted & aged sheep manure applied (ohhhh I’d love to have a big pile of that now!)
I remember once in a while snipping a big bloom to put in a vase in the house for him – but in hindsight I think he actually preferred them to stay in the garden! Good memories of deadheading spent blooms and helping Boppa lift the dahlias in the fall to store them away in the basement. He had great success storing them in whole clumps, in cardboard boxes in an unheated basement. Find more info about digging and storing dahlia tubers on our Dahlia Tips & Care page.