Tag: How to grow dahlias

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

Them Stems…The Dahlia Dish January 7, 2025

January 7, 2025January 7, 2025 Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

I love to listen to blues! I love to listen to music when I’m working and I’m 100% sure I’m in good company in that regard! We’re not talking about Chris Stapleton’s cool bluesy tune Them Stems in this post. This is not that, because this is the Dahlia Dish. We’re sharing our thoughts about flower stems. Them dahlia stems.

Great Dahlia Stems

Great stems can be stiff or wirey, thick or thin, hollow or solid, long or short, shades of green or dark shades of red and purple tones. While there is a lot of variety in dahlia stems qualities, when we say a variety has “great stems for bouquets” it generally means that we like using it in bouquets. Great dahlias for cut flowers have stems that we can use easily in bouquets. Some qualities matter more for bouquets, while some matter more for gardens.

After quite a number of years growing dahlias (since 2006) we have never been more thrilled with the stems of varieties in our current collection including our new Skeena varieties. They are almost all double duty dahlias! Great in the garden and great in the vase.

Dahlia Stem Colour

Dark stems! Those reddish purple or purplish red stems! We love them in the garden! While the colour of the stems may tend to get lost in bouquets, out in the garden those dahlias with colourful stems are extra gorgeous. Especially when we get a light coloured bloom that is just set off so beautifully by its contrasting dark stems. Gah! Stem colour doesn’t matter so much for bouquets, but it can add interest in the garden.

Dahlia Stem Strength

Stem Strength is important for both bouquets and gardens. Stems should always be strong enough to hold the bloom up under normal conditions and also capable of withstanding cutting, handling, transporting and arranging. Weak stems and weak flower to stem attachments aren’t useful in bouquets or gardens if stems break or flowers break off easily. For some varieties, late season stems can be thinner and not as strong as they were earlier in the season. In our experience we find this to be true for some especially taller and floriferous varieties. Cutting plants like this on the “deeper” side (one or two nodes below where you’d cut for a decent stems length) during the first flush of blooms early in the season can help to keep these plants at a more manageable height over the season and with stronger stems.

Dahlia 2023-038 This is an example of a stem that we did not disbud. It has grown 2 lateral stems about 8 inches below the central bloom. We normally remove these 2 as small buds prior to the stems developing. Often we’d cut the stem at the point where its held in the photo (just above the 2nd node). But here, we intentionally cut the stem “deeper” to keep the plant shorter and bushier.

Dahlia Stem Length

Stem length is most important for bouquets and less so for the garden. For bouquets our favourite bucket/vase/jar/vessel to use for holding after cutting and for arranging bouquets will dictate how long the stems need to be. The buckets we use for holding after cutting are 10.5″ tall. The vessels we prefer for bouquets are 7″ to 9″ tall jars or vases. When we cut blooms, the flower heads need to be proud of the bucket thus guaranteeing that we’ve cut stems that will be long enough and then some for using in bouquets. The top height of our bouquets is usually around 16″ to 18″. This is a good length for wrapped market style cut flower bundles too. When we think of varieties with great stems we like stems to be a minimum of approximately 12″ to 16″ long from the base of the bloom. Cutting the stem for this length may come before, but is often after the first “node” below the bloom. The first node is where lateral buds start growing. This is where the need for dis-budding comes in.

Dis-budding for Stem Length

Most dahlias benefit from a bit of dis-budding, especially when their destination is the vase. Dahlias will have a central bud and at least 1 or more lateral buds that start growing just below the central bud. Initially they look like a bit of a cluster, but as the buds develop their respective stems lengthen and the lateral stems may grow past the central bloom leaving that bloom somewhat hidden “in the plant” with a very short stem. Removing the first one or pair of lateral buds when they are large enough to handle without breaking off the central bud will help achieve a longer stem for the central bloom. Some varieties need more dis-budding than others to achieve better results. We’ll remove just the first bud or pair of lateral buds on some varieties, while on others we may remove up to 5. You’ll soon get to know which varieties are a little less demanding in this regard.

P.S. don’t let those short stems go to waste. Short stems can still be used in small posy style bouquets , single blooms in bud vases, and we frequently use them along the edge of the jar or vase for larger bouquets.

Dahlia Stem Thickness

Thick stems and stiff stems can be challenging to use in bouquets, but we can use them especially if they have a nice 45 degree “chin up” bloom angle. We just don’t want them all to be super thick or super stiff all the time. They are what they are and demand their space in the vase. They can add great structure, while the thinner, wirey stems are more forgiving and can add some whimsey and be easier to work with in arrangements. Thinner wirey stems can be tucked into the vase here and there with ease, whereas chunky stiff stems are better placed in the vase first where they can be happily in place and “worked around”.

The bloom angle and attachment to the stem contributes to the utility of the stems in bouquets. Clock faced blooms (they look straight ahead like a clock on the wall) and navel gazers (blooms that face downward) are harder to use in bouquets, less appealing in the garden, and unlikely to be winners on the show table.

The beautiful blooms of chunky, stiff, short stemmed dahlias are best left in the garden to be enjoyed in our humble opinion! Our favourite dahlias for bouquets always tend to be those that give us great stems for the least amount of work. Not too much dis-budding for good stem length, not too stiff, not too chunky, and always strong enough to hold those beautiful blooms up and also stand up to all the handling between field and final destination.

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!

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When to lift/dig dahlias…Fall and the count down to Jack Frost’s first visit…

September 18, 2023 Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

New to growing dahlias? Wondering when those beautiful tubers need to be unearthed and prepped for winter storage? In Terrace, BC, Canada we start chopping down our dahlias in the first week of October – the season of long shadows and lower temps.

Its mid-September when frost can visit anytime to bring an abrupt end to fresh blooms and bouquets. Usually we don’t see frost until mid-October… sometimes earlier and sometimes later. We like to get the dahlias cut down before the frost comes. Why? Because after a frost, the leaves and stems blacken and start decomposing, becoming slimy and slippery. The job is miles easier before this happens!

We don’t wait for frost to start chopping – its just a general guideline of when you can start lifting tubers. Generally, if your dahlias have been growing for 4 months (~120 days) they’ve had enough time to develop tubers. You need to be mindful of the weather being too warm if your cold storage depends on ambient temperature. Cold storage should be less than 10 degrees celsius and ideally around 5 degrees. We like to get all our dahlias chopped down before the first frost so long as temperatures aren’t too warm. We can work most efficiently when the dahlias haven’t been frosted. All of our chopping is done by hand (favourite tool is the cordless reciprocating saw) and all of our lifting/digging is done by hand too.

After the plants have been cut down, we may leave them in the ground for another week or so. We watch the weather forecast and only lift the number of clumps that we can process in a day. The ground protects the tubers from any short term sub-zero temps that will freeze your tubers and from warm temps that might suck the moisture out of your tubers. If you leave clumps of tubers on top of the soil overnight, you may risk freezing them if you’re not paying attention (ask me how I know!).

After you’ve lifted the tubers, you’ll want to keep them cool. Don’t leave them out in the warm sun to “heal” after you’ve cut them. Try to keep them as cool as reasonably possible (think below 10 degrees celsius like your cold storage). Moving them to a shady or cool indoor area to heal can improve your storage success. Never leave tubers directly on concrete because it can suck the moisture out of those beautiful tubers. Cloudy cool days are ideal for lifting/digging and processing dahlia tubers!

I love digging up tubers!!! Its always neat to see how they’ve done over the summer – every variety has a different style of tuber… some are round like apples with no “necks”, some are tiny, some are massive, some are extremely prolific, some have a red or purple pigmentation… fun fun fun!!! More detailed tips for digging and storing here.

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 … April 8th, 2023

April 8, 2023April 8, 2023 Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

When do you plant your dahlias outside? … or maybe the more common question is – how early can I plant my dahlias?! A good question! The answer(s) depend mostly on where you live and when you expect your last frost. An easy rule of thumb to remember is to plant your dahlia tubers when the lilacs start blooming.

If your tubers are in cold storage, take them out to warm up and eye up just a couple weeks before your frost free date. This is not absolutely necessary, but if you have any “blind tubers” in your bins, then it’ll save you planting any duds.

If you are eager to get your beauties started earlier than your frost free date (perhaps you live in a really cold climate with a short growing season), you’ll need grow lights, grow room with lots of space, and a heated greenhouse would be excellent. If you have all these resources, then you can get started almost anytime. It is a fair bit of work, but its not work if you love it right?!

What if I plant my dahlia tubers out in the garden before my frost free date? If you’re a risk taker or maybe you like to push the boundaries or maybe there is another reason that you’d want to plant your dahlia tubers outside before your last frost free date (maybe you’ll be away during that peak planting period which is mid-May for us in Terrace). I have planted my dahlia tubers out in the garden in mid-April in Terrace, once because I was going to be away from the end of April until the first week of June – I came home to lovely dahlia plants happily growing. Another time I had all my dahlias started early and they had lovely green shoots with beautiful sets of leaves. I hardened them off outside for a few days and then planted them out – the very next morning we had our last frost of the year and as soon as the frost melted all my beautiful dahlia plants wilted from the nip of frost. Had I covered them with frost cloth, they may have been protected enough and carried on without any damage.

If you must plant your dahlias outside in the garden before your frost free date, here are a few things to consider.

If the frost nips your dahlias new growth, all is not lost. If the tuber is in good shape it will push up new shoots. The frost kill will likely set back your dahlia’s growth by a couple weeks.
If you plant dahlia tubers out early, know that they won’t do much growing until it warms up. Its kind of like putting them in cold storage out in the field – but where they are potentially subjected to additional abject conditions like risk of bugs/pests, rainy weather (a lot of rain and poor drainage can lead to rotting of tubers), frosts (kills off new growth and sets back new growth by a few weeks if your tuber doesn’t rot)

So what do we do at Medeek Meadows? We wait for the lilacs to bloom – mostly! We get our dahlias eyed up ahead of time by moving them out of cold storage as much as a month before our frost free date. Some varieties take longer than others to eye up. We check the weather, and look for signs of frost in the forecast – those mornings after a brilliant sunny day with clear skies at night are the ones to watch out for. Most of our dahlias are field grown. On our mission to get earlier blooms, we look for varieties that are earlier bloomers rather than getting them started early. Dahlias typically bloom from late June until frost. At Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm in Terrace BC, we don’t expect or rely on June blooms. We usually start seeing dahlia blooms in our bouquets by mid-July. This is always weather dependent – and if we get a cool, wet summer our hopes for July blooms diminish… Dahlias are usually “full-on” in August and September. Dahlias like summers to be the same way we do – moderate warm temperatures, not too hot and not too cold with lots of sunshine.

Dahlia

The Dahlia Dish… February 21, 2023

February 21, 2023 Medeek Meadows Dahlia Farm

Glorious Dahlia Tubers … a tuber is a tuber is a tuber as long as it has a viable eye from which a new plant will grow. If a tuber does not have a viable eye, it’s known as a blind tuber, and although it may grow roots, it will never produce a new plant. Tubers can be tiny (like the size of your thumb or even smaller) or huge (like the size of your forearm). They can be skinny or fat. They can be long or short. They can have some colour pigmentation or not! They can have thin necks or no necks. They can be “ugly” or “beautiful” and still both produce the same gorgeous blooms that are true to the parent dahlia that produced the tubers. They are even edible! Perhaps a good way to use up blind tubers in a nice “zucchini” style loaf made with peeled and grated dahlia tubers?

Growing dahlias from tubers is the most common and arguably the easiest way to grow dahlias. You may find them available as single tubers, or small clumps (pot tubers – commonly found with imported products in nurseries), or even as large clumps (less commonly found for sale, but often friends or family might offer them this way!). A tuber will carry the same genetics as its parent dahlia – unlike seeds from the same plant, where the genetic variation is so high that a plant grown from seed will usually look substantially different than its parents.

Dahlia tubers are extremely sensitive to freezing and the plants are not hardy – they can’t tolerate a frost. So in Canada, tubers are harvested in the fall, stored over the winter in cool & dark conditions, and then planted again in the spring when the risk of frost has passed (usually mid-May in Terrace, BC, Canada). Some folks in the milder climes of Canada have success overwintering dahlias in the grounds – but there is always the risk of losing them to a freeze.

A freshly washed clump of tubers getting ready to be split and divided into individual tubers, then stored away for the winter.