Tag: dahlias canada

Dahlia planting season…

… is in full swing for dahlia gardeners and growers across Canada. Depending where you are, you might be just starting, right in the middle, nearly done or done! We’re in the nearly done camp… and that always feels good when you can stand straight up for awhile. Along with planting season, it’s also “still a risk of frost season” in many places across Canada.

Our frost-free date in Terrace BC is usually around mid-May. We started planting out the dahlias on May 10th. The 2 week forecast looked pretty mild with a low risk of any frosty mornings so in my excitement some of the first varieties I put in the ground were some of my favourites that I started early indoors. They already had a fair bit of beautiful green growth exposed above the soil line. Risky! Because those weather forecasts? They change a bit sometimes and ours did! The forecast for the morning of May 31st, after a relatively warm day on the 30th, showed temps going down to 1 degree celsius with clear skies. A recipe for frost…Eek!

What to do?

We’re worried about the cuttings and early starts that we’ve planted. If cuttings get frosted, they are lost. If an early started tuber’s growth is frosted, the green foliage will wilt when it thaws and die off, but if the tuber is in good shape it will likely send up new growth albeit set back a couple weeks. We’re not at all worried about the tubers that have been planted that haven’t broken thru the soil yet. That is one of the reasons we prefer planting eyed up tubers as opposed to cuttings.

Learning about how frost forms is really interesting and its really useful knowledge to have if you’re a gardener or a farmer. I haven’t found a really reliable weather forecast for frost in our area. So in lieu of that I rely on my own observations. If we have a very warm or hot sunny day, followed by clear skies over night and early morning temperatures above zero but less than 5 degrees celsius, there is a high likelihood that frost will occur in exposed areas.

There are a few things you can do!

Do nothing! Pay your money, take your chances. But give it some thought! If you’ve got cuttings planted and you get a frost, you will most likely lose those plants.
Don’t plant your early starts or cuttings out in the field until all risk of frost has passed! i.e. if you’ve got space to keep them going in a greenhouse, do that.
Cover up all the dahlias that have growth above the soil line. Frost cloth is nice to have on hand. It’s extra work to get out there and cover everything up… but it might be in your best interests. If you just have a few plants, you can cover them up with big pots. Covering plants traps the radiant energy (like cloud cover does too) from escaping that causes surface temperatures to cool rapidly creating frost.
move your plants to a sheltered area – only really feasible if you’ve got a few in pots
Get the sprinklers out! That’s right! It works. Adding water to the equation can help protect your plants from a frost.

What did we do?

On the evening of May 30th, we used overhead sprinklers to ensure all the dahlia beds were well watered. We did not put out any frost cloth. We did not move any plants that had been set out to harden off if they were in relatively sheltered spots (i.e. alongside a greenhouse, under the canopy of a tree etc.). Your risk tolerance for loss along with experience will help guide you. We want to minimize both loss and the amount of extra work we have to do. Sometimes that means having a loss here and there for those “I won’t do that again” lessons.

The results?

On the morning of May 31st I did a walk around and observed that we did indeed have a light frost! The leaves of our strawberry plants were frosty, there was visible frost on the grass in exposed areas. How bout the dahlias? They were all ok! Not a single plant was lost. Yay!

During my walk around, I noticed one very interesting anomaly! The lid of a big rubbermaid tub full of baling twine had collected water from the overhead sprinklers. There was a skim of ice on top! ICE!!! On top of the tub I had set out a dahlia that I had been growing in its own container for the past month. The water was frozen, but the dahlia was not! The leaves just had a heavy dew on them. Neat! Puzzling! Science is cool and the dahlias are alive and well!

Ice formed on the top of the rubbermaid container full of baling twine even though the air temperature was just above zero.

The dahlia growing in the plastic tub set on top of the rubbermaid container had heavy dew on its leaves, but did not get frosted!

Enjoy the Dahlia!!!

Dahlia

Dahlia tubers or cuttings or seeds?…the Dahlia Dish January 8, 2024

January 8, 2024January 12, 2025 Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

All the ways to grow beautiful dahlia blooms… from tubers, cuttings, or seeds? Which way and why?

Dahlia Tubers

Our #1 choice. Growing dahlias from tubers is the easiest and most reliable way to grow dahlias “true” to variety. This is by far our preferred way to grow dahlias. The benefits:

easy as pie – they require the least of amount of work, equipment, supplies, and time.
they are more forgiving than a cutting. When you acquire new tubers, they don’t usually require too much coddling from the time you receive them to the time you can plant them (after your frost free date). Store them in a cool, dark area until you’re ready to plant. Keep an eye on the humidity so that they don’t shrivel up if its too dry. Plant them out when the weather looks favourable.
if you happen to get a late frost after you’ve planted your tubers where the frost kills off the new growth, as long as the tuber is in good shape it will usually do its best to put up new shoots and carry on growing. While your plant may get set back a couple weeks, it’ll still grow from the tuber and produce some nice blooms for you.
All growing conditions being equal, our own experience has shown us that dahlia plants grown from tubers consistently produce more viable tubers (tubers with eyes) to harvest in the fall than the same variety grown from cuttings.
while dahlia tuber “mothers” can and do sometimes succumb to rot after planting out, the young plant can often be saved simply by gently digging up the plant and removing the rotting tuber and then replanting. A young plant that starts to look “wilty” or fails to “take off” is a sign to check the mother tuber for rot.

Dahlia Cuttings

Our less appealing choice for growing dahlias true to variety is via cuttings taken from tubers. We’re sometimes asked if we sell dahlia cuttings and our answer is “no”. Growing dahlias from cuttings is not new… but…interest in growing dahlias from cuttings spiked in Canada in 2023/24 possibly sparked by the desire to provide or acquire “unicorn” varieties that are new, hard to find, or stingy tuber producers. Some will find success in buying and selling dahlia cuttings in Canada and some will not. A cutting taken from a plant can be used as a sort of “insurance” that you don’t lose a plant (ie. varieties whose tubers don’t store well or one that doesn’t produce many or any) or to capture a sport or simply to acquire a new variety. If you’re intent on growing dahlias from cuttings, you’ll still get some nice blooms, but temper your expectations for tubers. The cons of cuttings to be aware of :

Disease, if present, is propagated faster. Cuttings should only be taken from clean stock that is known to be disease free. If a tuber happens to have a disease and 10 cuttings are taken from that tuber – you’ll achieve 10 diseased plants. There is also risk of spreading disease amongst cuttings taken from “clean stock” if they share a tray with a diseased cutting or if sanitation of tools used to handle and take cuttings is inadequate.
Growing from cuttings demands additional care and attention and resources. Cuttings require more work, equipment, supplies, time and knowledge than growing from tubers.
Cuttings are more fragile and are more difficult to ship successfully than tubers. Failures during shipping are more common with cuttings than tubers due to the sensitivity of young plants and the shipping conditions they must endure.
When you receive a cutting, you may need to pot it up into a larger pot right away to prevent it from getting root bound (if you’re hoping for tubers) unless you intend to grow it on as a pot tuber. You may need to get it under grow lights until your frost free date allows planting out so that it doesn’t get weak and leggy.
If new growth on a plant grown from a cutting gets killed off by a late frost, there is little chance that the new root system will be able to put up new shoots leaving you with an empty space to fill in your garden.
Tuber production from cuttings can be hit or miss. Cuttings that become root bound stay root bound. Some varieties may do better with regards to producing tubers than others. The method used to take a cutting may influence tuber production. If your cutting doesn’t produce tubers, you might need to accept that you’ve grown a dahlia like an “annual” and try again next season. As with growing from tubers, some varieties are known to be great tuber producers, while others may only produce a few.
Splitting clumps of tubers grown from cuttings is not as satisfying or enjoyable as splitting clumps grown from tubers! They are often “hairy” with lots of feeder roots and few viable tubers to harvest. It takes more time to get the job done, and with fewer viable tubers at the end of the day.
Waste! There is typically a lot of plastic used in the process of generating cuttings. Plastic pots, trays, and shipping containers. While some of it may be recyclable requiring more energy to process and reuse, much of it ends up as trash in landfills.
The price point… How much are you willing to pay for a cutting? What should the price be? Should it be more or less or the same price as a tuber of the same variety? Would you expect a cutting to cost less because they don’t always produce tubers and often they produce fewer tubers than a plant grown from a tuber? Demand and time will tell…

Seeds

Dahlia seeds do not produce dahlias true to variety. This means that seedling blooms usually look substantially different from their parent dahlias. Growing dahlias from seeds can be fun but is not for everyone because you just never know what you’re going to get! Colour, form, height, growth habit etc can be so wildly different! Genetically dahlias tend to revert to their less desirable traits – single blooms on tall plants. Dahlias grown from seed will usually produce tubers that can be harvested in the fall to store over the winter if you like them well enough. Growing from seed is how new varieties are developed and they take a bit of time (at least 2 years) to come to market and longer to become widely available.

Hopefully you find these musings helpful… may you have a ton of fun growing beautiful dahlias from tubers, cuttings or seeds this year!

Dahlia

Early Dahlia Blooms…musings – The Dahlia Dish July 14, 2023

July 14, 2023July 14, 2023 Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

When all your friends are happily sharing their first dahlia blooms…its mid-July already and your own dahlias are “taking their sweet time” to bloom …. Why!?!

Medeek Meadows Dahlia Seedling ID: 2022-049
First Bloom Date: June 28
Started early indoors: Yes
Locale: Terrace, BC, Canada (frost free date approx mid-May, first frost date approx mid-October)

“All good things come to those who wait” may be true! But! If you really want the earliest possible dahlia blooms gracing your garden, there are a few things that you can do. Here are some tips that might help you get earlier blooms next season…

Select dahlia varieties that are known to be earlier bloomers (our website shop includes a filter for “bloom time” that you might find helpful)
Give your dahlias a head start by eyeing up the tubers and potting them up indoors
Pot up (transfer to larger pot as necessary) your early indoor starts and transfer them to an outside greenhouse when temperature permits
Transfer those greenhouse plants to the outdoor garden after your frost free date
Plant your earliest varieties first and put them in the prime location of your garden – where they get all the sun and all your attention!
Ensure your dahlias are well fed from the start. Doing a soil test is helpful for both the novice and experienced gardeners. Fertilizers can be expensive – relatively inexpensive home soil test kits can help you determine exactly what nutrients you need to target. Garden soil is often nitrogen poor, which leads to lack of vigour and susceptibility to disease and slow growth. Be careful with adding too much nitrogen – you want a good balance – follow recommendations for application from your soil test!
Avoid crowding your dahlias such that they get outcompeted by their neighbours which may set them back.
Elliminate bugs and slugs that will set your dahlias back and in turn delay blooming.

You don’t NEED to do any of the above! Aside from selecting “early varieties”, the rest all take extra time, effort, and resources. If you prefer the “keep it simple and easy” type of gardening, its just fine to plant your tubers out directly into the garden near your frost free date and let them do their thing. Depending on your location in Canada, your first blooms will start appearing anywhere from June (early varieties in warm locales) thru September (late varieties in colder climates). In Terrace BC, dahlias really start putting on their show in late July. They are a favourite flower for so many folks for so many reasons and in particular because once they start blooming, they bloom continuously until the first frost (remember to dead head plants to keep them blooming).

Medeek Meadows Dahlia Seedling ID: 2022-056
First Bloom Date: July 11
Started early indoors: Yes
Locale: Terrace, BC, Canada (frost free date approx mid-May, first frost date approx mid-October)

…until next time, we’ll be out in the garden paying special attention to disbudding for longer stems and better blooms…enjoy the ride…take time to smell the roses…Grow Beautiful Dahlias!

Dahlia

The Dahlia Dish… March 1, 2023

March 1, 2023March 1, 2023 Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

Confusion in the garden!!! … You’ve carefully labelled all your dahlias, tended them religiously, and endured the long wait and anticipation to see them bloom. As they grow, you admire their foliage and even may be thinking you know which dahlia you’re looking at without checking the label because its foliage is unique… but then the first bloom appears and its not what you were expecting! The label doesn’t match the bloom! It’s pink not red! It’s short not tall! Its a ball not a cactus! What happened?

Many things can lead to mixing up dahlia varieties. There is not just one single way that it happens, and mix ups happen to just about every grower of dahlias from time to time. Sometimes the mix ups result in happy accidents and sometimes they are disappointing – but all just part of the fun – keep calm and keep growing beautiful dahlias!

Imported dahlias purchased from big box stores, garden centres. The vendor hasn’t grown the dahlia themselves, and so is at the mercy of their supplier to put the correct tubers in the correct packages that you buy and grow. You buy “Thomas Edison” and when it blooms it turns out to be purple but in a ball form…or pink… or white…or….everything but TE!
Smaller domestic farm grower/resellers. Repackaging and reselling “bulk” imported tubers has become more common amongst some smaller Canadian growers in the last 5-10 years. There is opportunity for a large profit margin. These growers supplement their own farm grown dahlia supply by repackaging and reselling tubers bought in bulk or wholesale and often imported from overseas growers. (This is sort of like buying a bag of 5 dahlia tubers like what you’d get from Canadian Tire or Costco and then breaking the bag apart and selling the tubers individually for a premium). This practice created a bit of a stir in the dahlia community when customers led to believe that they were buying “farm grown” realized that the tubers bought thru online shops were not in fact farm grown. Customers now expect domestic dahlia growers to explicitly state on their websites if tubers on offer are farm grown vs imported/repackaged/resold. The same “mix up” problem presents itself as in “1” above where the vendor is at the mercy of the supplier to ensure the correct variety ends up in the hands of their customer.
Cuttings! Growing dahlias from cuttings is a recent trend. There is lots of opportunity for mix-ups here too! Maybe you landed a single “unicorn” tuber and you’re so excited that you take 10 cuttings from this beauty with the hopes of having a garden full of unicorns…only to find out that you end up with 10 “meh” plants that don’t look anything like your unicorn. If you take cuttings from a dahlia tuber that you have not grown, there is a risk that you’ll multiply a mix-up.
Labelling (or lack there of)! So many different methods of labelling and when to label. Labels on tubers, labels on and in storage boxes, labels on stems, labels on trays… Can there ever be enough labelling? Develop a good labelling system that works for you and refine it as needed…
Human error! We’re all human – so be gentle with yourself and others when a mixup happens!
….other ways… I’m sure there’s more…like bad habits! If you’re not sure what a variety is, mark it as such… don’t mix it in with the variety you “think” it might be.

How can you keep your varieties straight?

Make a habit of using a good labelling system. Label tubers. We label with our inventory number and the variety name… and if its a “new to us” tuber we also label it with the source.
Map out your dahlia beds, so you know which varieties are growing where and which are next to which.
During the growing season, when the dahlias are in full bloom is THE BEST time to discover and fix errors by reviewing your blooms to ensure they are what you expected. “Flag” anything that needs a labelling adjustment. Surveyors flagging tape is a great way to tie a label to the stalk with a note to remind you when it comes time to dig and the blooms are long gone. Just make sure you attach the flagging tape to the correct stalk!!! Using permanent markers like sharpies is OK, but know that these have a habit of fading over time outdoors. Using nursery paint or permanent indelible ink markers are a better choice because they resist fading.
When you dig/lift the tubers in the fall, dig and process one variety at a time.
Label storage boxes on the outside and the inside.
If we end up with a tuber that we’re not sure about, it goes into a “mystery” bin (we might add a label to it with a “?” and the variety we think it might be)

You certainly don’t have to label your dahlias! But it really does help to know which is which when you’re planting a lot of them. Knowing the tall or vigorous from the shorter or less robust will help you when you’re planning which dahlia to plant where in your garden.