Dahlia Planting Prep

The end of February is creeping up and that makes me want to get all my ducks in a row for planting out dahlia tubers this upcoming spring.

First, and most importantly, you will need dahlia tubers or dahlia seeds. Did you know that you can plant either to get a dahlia? When you plant dahlia seeds it is like rolling a dice in the sense that you don't know what you are going to get. The shapes, sizes, and colors are unique to each seed. When you plant tubers, the 'daughter' plant is an exact clone of the 'mother' so you know exactly what you are going to get. My preference is planting tubers because I know what flowers I can plan on harvesting in the summer. We offer several lovely varieties of dahlia tubers that ship in time for spring planting. If you are just starting out I would recommend growing 5 different tuber varieties. We offer a Grower's Choice pack of 5 tubers that would be perfect!

Supplies:

Along with the selected tubers the other things you'll need are:

• Trowel for digging 6 inch hole
• Blood Meal for adding fertilizer to the hole
• Wooden Stakes for labeling variety name
• Sharpie for writing on stake
• Twine wrapped around T-posts for stability

It can take 60-90 days until the tubers that was planted flowers. It seems like a long wait, but dahlias will bloom again and again until it frosts (in Lexington, OR that is typically mid-October). You will be rewarded with a bounty of blooms! Growing dahlias is so rewarding. What are you favorites to grow?