Tag: fresh flowers

Dahlia

Dahlia Blooms Vase Life…The Dahlia Dish Dec. 13, 2024

Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

Vase life of dahlia blooms varies and is influenced by a number of factors:

1. Number of stems in a vase – A bouquet of 5 dahlia stems can outlast a bouquet with 25 dahlia stems.

2. Maturity of blooms at harvest – Blooms cut when they are approx 1/2 to 3/4 open will last longer in a vase than a bloom cut when fully mature.

Dahlia Bouquet
Fresh Bouquet featuring dahlias: WD Jady, Cornel, Carl Chilson, Skeena 23-074, Skeena 23-047, Dana Iris, & Skeena Rosie.

3. Hydration level of blooms at harvest – Hydration levels of plants are highest in the cool mornings and cloudy cool days. Avoid cutting blooms in the heat of the day. Very hot weather combined with inadequate watering will reduce hydration levels. Strip foliage from stems to ensure it doesn’t rob the blooms of precious hydration.

4. Weather – Bloom quality can deteriorate in cool wet weather – you may notice browning on the tips of petals after a couple days in the vase. Most noticeable on white blooms.

5. Room temperature – Bouquets displayed in cool rooms out of direct sunlight will last longer.

Dahlia Bouquet
Dahlia Bouquet featuring: Megan Dean, Lyn’s Louise, Cream Diane, Skeena Chic, Skeena Pluto, Robann Regal, Barbarry Forum, and Carl Chilson.

6. Water in the vase – make sure to give your dahlia bouquet fresh water especially for the first 3 days when the water uptake is greatest. Fresh water also looks a lot nicer in a glass vase!

7. Style of bloom – Pompon and Ball style blooms last well, especially if they have very firm textured petals like Cornel Bronze. Varieties with softer textured petals tend to have a bit shorter vase life.

8. Size of bloom – Smaller blooms tend to last longer than large blooms.

Dahlia Small World
Dahlia Cornel Bronze
Dahlia Hamari Rose
Dahlias Small World (white pompon), Cornel Bronze (bronze orange ball), and Hamari Rose (pink ball)

We use many dahlia bloom styles to create stunning bouquets. We don’t limit it to the Pompon and Ball style blooms just because they can last a little bit longer. They are very round and formal to the eye. Variation in petal and bloom shapes adds much beauty, whimsy and interest to bouquets.

Average vase life for dahlias is 4-5 days + or – by simply ensuring they have their feet in fresh water. You can fuss over them, sear stems, trim stems, add flower food, sing to them, dance for them and you may just squeeze more time.

Dahlia Bouquet
Dahlia bouquet: BQ Compare & Carl Chilson with Skeena Yve, Skeena Jimi, & Skeena Nana. Cosmo and Dusty Miller greens along for the ride.

Enjoy the Dahlia!

#enjoythedahlia #skeenadahlias #terracebc #dahliafarm #dahlias #growbeautifuldahlias #dahliabouquets #freshflowers #flowerfarm #bouquets

Dahlia Bouquet
Dahlia

Dahlia Blooms for Bouquets…The Dahlia Dish Dec. 11, 2024

Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

The bouquet pictured here is created in our classic style! The blooms in this one are from dahlias Cream Diane, Skeena Posh, Hamari Rose, Skeena Hope, Small World, Carl Chilson, Silver Years and Skeena Harmonies.

With so many choices, which varieties and styles should you grow? What qualities should you consider?

Our five main considerations for choosing a dahlia variety suitable for bouquets are Stem Length, Style of Bloom, Colour of Bloom, Size of Bloom, and Floriferosity.

1. Stem Length – nice long stems are preferred – it can mean less time spent disbudding.

The variety pictured here is Skeena Easy Breezy with her very long stems!

Dahlia Skeena Easy Breezy

2. Style of bloom – we prefer a blend of styles. Balls, poms, decorative, waterlily, cactus… Using a blend of bloom styles can add lovely variety and texture to bouquets.

Dahlia Bouquet

An example of a bouquet including Pompon accent blooms (Small World), Formal Decorative Blooms (Lupin Chris and Jowey Veronique), Stellar style blooms (purple Skeena seedling 23-037 and Sandy Couzens an imperfect stellar form with lovely purple picotee edging on its white petals).

3. Colour of bloom – blending colours in bouquets is a bit of an art. One of the reasons we grow so many varieties is that it affords us an extensive array of colours to choose from for building our dahlia bouquets. If you’re limited on space, or just getting started growing dahlias for bouquets, give some thought to the colour palettes that you and your customers are looking for.

A fall colour toned bouquet with gorgeous warm and golden yellow, orange and burgundy tones. Dahlias in this bouquet include Day Dreamer (waterlily style), WD Aunty Dor (Stellar style), Skeena Shan (Formal Decorative style), Skeena Sugar Pie (Formal Decorative), Skeena Gem (Formal Decorative), and Hy Suntan (Ball).

Dahlia Bouquet

4. Size of bloom – we like a range of blooms sizes. From the pompons under 2 inches in size up to about 5 or 6 inches max. Using a mix of bloom sizes in bouquets adds interest, variation and visual appeal.

Dahlia Bouquet

This bouquet shows a range of bloom sizes from about 2″ up to about 5″. We’ve also included some dahlia bud stems that haven’t quite opened yet (a great way to use stems in the fall that won’t have enough time to fully bloom before frost).

5. Floriferosity – growing varieties that have lots of blooms over the season are favoured. Remember to pinch plants to encourage lateral branching and more stems. And remember to disbud to get more usable stems per plant.

6. Space – if you’re limited in growing space, you may just want to pay a bit more attention to size of bloom and floriferostiy. It takes more small blooms to fill out a bouquet than larger blooms. A garden of pompons would be delightful, but also much harder to fill out a bouquet with such tiny blooms.

Enjoy the Dahlia!

#enjoythedahlia #skeenadahlias #terracebc #dahliafarm #dahlias #growbeautifuldahlias #dahliabouquets #freshflowers #bouquets