It has been a great year for dahlias in my garden and after talking to several dahlia-loving friends, I’m counting myself very lucky. Few flowers bring me as much joy as dahlias, and I like them every which way: big and blousy, perky singles, pokey cactus types, perfect little balls. I want them all.
What follows is mostly just a collection of some of this year’s blooms; a bit of eye candy for the dahlia lovers out there. Enjoy.
Here are some more posts I’ve done on my love affair with dahlias:
- How to select dahlias
- How to pot up dahlias for a jump on summer
- Dahlias: Darlings of the garden
- How to deadhead dahlias for blooms all summer
- Dahlias I have loved
Did you grow dahlias this year? What’s your favorite this year?
23 Responses
I see you don’t monetize theimpatientgardener.com, don’t waste your traffic,
you can earn extra cash every month with new monetization method.
This is the best adsense alternative for any type of website (they approve all sites), for more info simply search in gooogle: murgrabia’s tools
Thank you for sharing these lovely pictures of your dahlias.
I’m thinking of growing dahlias indoors but I’m worried that they might not bloom as much as they would when outside. Although I did read that it’s possible. Do you have any additional tips?
Hi Maggie. I’m not sure I’m going to be a lot of help in this department because I’ve never attempted to grow dahlias indoors. I would think supplemental lighting would be critical because they really are a full sun plant and no window will offer enough light. If you give it a shot let me know how it goes. It sounds like a great experiment.
I’ve had terrible luck with dahlias (no blooms, rotted buds, insect damage…) so I’ll just enjoy your beauties!
Really, Kylee? I’m shocked. I had a ton of insect damage last year on one variety, which was odd to me. I’ve never found them tricky, but then there are some plants that should be dead easy to grow that I struggle with (I’m looking at you, zinnias).
You have a beautiful collection of dahlias. I like all the different forms and of course the colors are spectacular.
Thank you, Lisa. 🙂
I love dahlias but cannot overwinter them for some reason. I dig them, put in cardboard boxes with sawdust, but they are never viable in spring. Your blossoms are gorgeous. Could you do an article on overwintering the tubers?
I used to really struggle with this too and I’ll be honest, I usually order some of my favorite just in case my storage fails. Here’s something I wrote about it last fall. The method I used last year (outlined in this post) worked very well: every tuber survived. I’ve read a lot of articles on different ways to do it, and had a lot of people tell me that they just dig them and throw them in a paper bag and they come back. And I’ve also read a lot that the cardboard box you’re using is better than the plastic tub I used last year, BUT it worked, so I’ll probably use the same method again. I will say that I liked using the animal bedding stuff a lot more than peat moss, which I’ve used in the past and had not a lot of luck with. Here’s the article: https://www.theimpatientgardener.com/the-how-to-of-storing-dahlias/
wow! Fantastic blooms!!!!! Wonderng – Do you dig ALL of these up and store over the winter??
I do. And then I buy more anyway. It get a little absurd but I love them.
I would love to find out why most of my dahlias have yet to bloom and it is darn near the end of August. Last year I had fabulous blooms and this year very disappointing. Tubers were planted in the same area, so it isn’t the amount of sun. If anyone can give me some thoughts on why I can’t get any blossoms I’d appreciate it.
Hi Jean! It may be a watering situation. Dahlias like regular watering. In fact, I installed drip tubing in the bed where I grow most of my dahlias this year and I think that accounts for some of my success this year.
Since I don’t grow these I love looking at pictures of them and dreaming about the combinations in the garden and in a vase. You’ve got a gorgeous variety.
Thanks, Linda!
I do have dahlias! I love them as well, although it took forever for me to be able to get one to bloom. They are very difficult here because it is so hot, and the winters can be brutal. Usually, we are told to dig them int he fall to store through the winter. I confess that I did not do that this year and lost one of them. We had a very late freeze, so I think that is what got it. I would love to see how you plant, stake, care for your dahlias. I use bamboo stakes, but I am finding myself having to restake them all summer because they do not bloom here until late summer/early fall. Any ideas??
I will admit, I am usually terrible about staking! I always do it too late, after things have already flopped. I did much better this year. I used wood stakes, about an inch square and maybe 4 feet long and drove them into the ground with a mallet. Along the patio garden, where I grow tall dahlias, I did a “Florida weave” kind of method (I’ve seen it used on tomatoes and decided to apply it to dahlias) where you put a stake in between each plant and then weave twine in and out of the stakes (wrapping at each stake), “trapping” the dahlia in between. It has worked quite well but I need taller stakes. In other parts of the garden I just tied the plants to the stakes. I used to use bamboo, but found, like you have, that they just aren’t up to the job.
These are gorgeous. I’ve always loved dahlias, and this year I finally decided to try to grow one. It’s been growing wonderfully, and has had a couple of blooms through the summer, but now it’s not blooming at all. The plant looks healthy, big and bushy and green, just not blooming. Do you have any suggestions?
Hmmm, I’m not sure what’s happening there. Did you deadhead the spent blooms? Is there a chance that you used a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen, which would give you that leafy growth at the expense of flowers? Maybe try a fertilizer with more potassium and phosphorus to see if you can nudge it back into blooming.
Did you know that the National Garden Bureau has named 2019 the Year of the Dahlia? Bet you are going to love 2019!
This is fabulous news. I can’t wait to see all the beauties next year!
Sooo pretty! Thanks for sharing. Question – what do you use to fertilize your dahlias?
Very little, actually. I put some organic fertilizer (an Espoma product) in the bed along the house where I grow dahlias and annuals before I plant anything and I feed a few times during the summer with fish emulsion, seaweed feed or homemade comfrey feed, all at very dilute levels.