My Continuing Journey Down the Dahlia Path
It’s seriously a love/hate relationship. But mostly love - which is why I plant Dahlias every year in my garden. But Dahlias aren’t easy. They grow great where I live - Zone 7b - which translates into wet springs, hot, dry summers, cool, damp falls and cold, rainy winters. My zone is just slightly colder than Floret Flower Farm in Skagit Valley, Washington, which is in Zone 8a - which is where I’ve mostly learned what I know about Dahlias.
Now I can grow some really pretty Dahlias. My favs are the huge dinner plates - they get to be ginormous and I just love that!
Right there among the tomatoes. Remember, like Zinnias - Dahlia petals are edible. You can even eat the tubers, but then you couldn’t plant them and get these gorgeous flowers.
The issue I have isn’t with growing Dahlias - or planting them, or caring for them. What I struggle with is storing them. I first started by digging them up (hard work), dividing them (harder work), labeling them (not hard but time consuming), and then storing them in a bin filled with vermiculite. In my basement. Which I thought would be perfect. Which wasn’t.
Dahlia tubers need to be stored in a temperature that stays between 40 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets below 40 degrees, then the tubers will freeze and get mushy. If it gets above 50 degrees, then the tubers will think “Hooray! Spring is here!” and start to sprout.
Turns out my basement (even in the deepest, darkest corner) averages a little under 60 degrees. Huh - who knew. And guess what. My tubers sprouted.
So then I decided I didn’t want to go through all that work just to have early sprouted tubers. I dug them up just like before, but didn’t divide them. I left all the dirt on them, labeled them and placed them in lined crates. Since the basement is the only place I have available for storage - back to the basement they went. This didn’t really work either. Can you say tuber disaster?
But then, I got a little surprise. In among my bed of garlic I found . . . you guessed it. A single Dahlia plant. Growing quite happily all by itself. Apparently, I missed digging up a tuber. And this got me thinking. “Self” I said. “What if you just leave the tubers in the ground and see what happens? Can’t be worse than the basement disasters. And it will be a lot less work.” See where I’m going with this?
So at the end of this season, that’s what I’m going to do. I know it’s a gamble - but hey - why not take a chance? Technically, Dahlia tubers can safely be overwintered in the ground if you’re in Zone 8a or above. But I’m in Zone 7b - just one zone north. So . . . maybe? I mean our temps rarely fall below about 22 degrees Fahrenheit (except this past year when Mother Nature got us good with a dose of 7 degree hell).
Besides, I plant my Dahlias in raised garden beds. And the soil in raised beds stays warmer than the soil in the ground. So I’m gonna leave my tubers in and cross my fingers.
And hopefully, next year I’ll be just as happy with my Dahlia blooms - without having to replace my tubers - yet again. And they’ll flower like 4 to 6 weeks earlier than planting tubers. Yay!
But for now - here’s to this year’s Dahlia season. I can’t wait!
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