I had so much fun planting Dahlias for the first time this year. I only planted 7 tubers, but I got a bounty of flowers for myself and was able to bless a few friends along the way.
Maybe I got lucky, but I didn’t have any issues. No disease, and plenty of blooms. I planted the tubers in late April and had blooms all summer until Halloween. I live in Bakersfield, Ca and we are in hardiness zone 9. I planted them in organic soil in a horse trough, in full sun.
I just harvested these babies on November 1st, 2022. They were the last of the season, so I pulled up the remainder of the plant as well to harvest the roots, or I guess they call them tubers. I have been reading that the second generation of tubers come out even better than the first, so I am looking forward to planting this batch come April 2023 and compare pictures. Although this variety is beautiful, I want to add a new variety to the mix next year, so I have been scouring Floret’s tuber sales. I also plan to invest in some silica and learn to dry them and make some dried floral wreaths in the future. Im not 100% sure how to store the tubers from now until next April, but I have been reading that I can keep them in my shed under Peet Moss and they should be ok. I guess if you leave them exposed to the air they will shrivel up and not grow. So fingers crossed.
Although this was a small batch in my container garden, I plan to expand to our pumpkin garden area next year and grow more varieties.
This year we built a pumpkin patch, but in 2023, the patch is going to become a floral garden so I have enough room to grow a variety of florals. Cant wait to see what all we can grow.
