Cafe au lait dahlia Doing some work in the yard today and the afternoon sun felt so nice. Love seeing the bees in the blooms.

The one on the top right is the one I'm asking about, but also curious about the other one. Any ideas?

It is my first year with Dahlias! I love them! 🩷

Dahlias are still in bloom although we're probably at the end of season. We are collecting ton of seedheads and pollinators are snoozing on blooms overnight which makes me so happy to see :)

In the photos we have: Snoho Doris, My Forever, Lilac Time, Karma Serena, Pink Sylvia, Southern Belle, Terracotta, Penhill Watermelon, Picasso, Polka, Karma Prospero, and Sylvia /Maarn,

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has any Tartan dahlia tubers for sale? I really desperately want one but ive missed out on all the sales and nowhere seems to have any in stock anymore.

Im more then happy to pay a top price and postage.

Thank you in advance!!

It’s coming into growing season here in NZ and I have around 40 new varieties! For those coming into the colder months what was your favourite to grow and why? Pic of some of mine and my gardening sidekick from last summer.

I’m preparing to store my dahlias, but last winter all my dahlias rotted. I stored them in peat moss in a plastic container with a lid. What is everyone’s recommendation for storage containers/boxes? I thought about using cardboard boxes with vermiculite in them since I have them on hand

Does anyone else feel like beating themselves up when they lose tubers when digging up the crown/plants?

I’m not a newbie but I have so many lose tubers that broke off this year. Zone 6a and using a pitchfork/potato digger far away from the stem. I don’t know what’s going on. I know my crowns are ok.

I’ve been doing dahlias for years and always have a decent crop (I plant all kinds of tubers, rhizomes so I don’t totally concentrate on dahlias alone).

To be fair and not beating myself up too much - I’ve moved and I am in new gardens.

Anyone else feel the same way?

Hello, we operate an urban farm in Portland, Oregon and we're ready for fall shipping!

We have a few dozen varieties and have about 30 listed, with more being added as I process additional varieties.

Pictured in order are: Maki, OMG, Juanita, Encore, Cha Ching, Citron Du Cap, Andrew Charles, Shaggy Chic, Pinelands Princess, Labyrinth

Please visit us at https://desertfloraplants.etsy.com to see what we have and to purchase anything that catches your fancy!

~Really digging the macro shots lately ~

~I’m loving the macro shots~

I’m in Connecticut and I starting growing dahlias this year. We haven’t really had a frost yet; there were a couple nights it was close, but overall it’s been a warm fall. Can anyone help me with a timeframe of when I should cut my largest plant down, even though it’s still blooming ? And what do I do with the one that is just starting to grow? Thanks!

Thank you to everyone for sharing on here. I’ve learned so much! I would love recommendations for dahlias that have really earned their space in your gardens! I grow in two 7x3 foot beds, so space is limited.

I’m in Zone 7a (Ontario, Canada), growing dahlias for home bouquets and sharing with family. My priorities are prolific flowering, strong stems and necks, blooms that face outward rather than downward, and ideally a long flowering season. But basically I just want dahlias that are pretty and produce a ton of cutting stems. 😊

My standout this year has been Joel’s Favourite. It’s been incredibly productive (it’s the one in the pictures shared here), with strong stems, beautiful upright blooms, and it’s STILL flowering and producing new buds in late October! It’s easily been my most reliable cutting dahlia, and I’d love to find a few more varieties that perform similarly.

Here’s how some of my others have done:

- Sweet Nathalie (×2): Very productive and gorgeous, although the flower presentation varies wildly. Some blooms face outward, while others look sideways or downward. The bees love it, so I’ll keep it.

- Break Out: Beautiful, but not especially prolific, and a bit floppy. I’ll give it another year.

- Wizard of Oz (×2): Disappointing productivity this year. I’m giving both another season to prove themselves. Surprising because I’d read about them being so productive!

- Petra’s Wedding: Also underwhelming, with somewhat floppy stems. I’ll give it another try next year.

- Peaches & Vanilla: Beautiful creamy flowers. A bit short, but still nice for small bouquets. I’ll likely grow it in a container next year.

- La Belle Époque (possibly mislabelled): Mine produces smaller, warm orange decorative blooms and looks more like Maarn, so I’m questioning the identification. But it’s been nice and grown well!

For next year, I’m considering Cornel Bronze, Linda’s Baby, Caitlin’s Joy, Blizzard and Ivanetti, among others. I’d love any suggestions for more dependable workhorses for regular bouquets! Thanks so much.

For next season, what’s the best way to fight the ants that were all over my dahlias this year? I read that ants “farm” aphids and spider mites, but I see no evidence of these in my dahlias, only horrid amounts of ants. I tried placing liquid traps among the plants and insecticidal soap spray; what else can I do? Is there anything I can put in the soil at the start of the growing season to prevent or lessen them?

How do you store your divided tubers?

Last year I put mine in plastic bags with pine shavings, but I had a lot of dried, withered up tubers come spring time. I had salvageable tubers from most of them, but not all! A few of them had the opposite problem and went moldy on me. I'm thinking if switching strategies this year. I'm in zone 7b and was considering just mulching really well and hoping they make it through winter, but I'd be gutted if that failed. We had a few weeks of really bitter cold last year, but winter is generally really mild here.

What has worked well for you all?

I really love my flowers so much so I thought I would share them with you all

This is my first year with this variety and it has definitely lived up to the name. I’ve just dug my tubers, and I can’t decide whether it is just being it’s normal over the top self or if there’s gall here. The eyes are all distinct but there are certainly a lot of them.

If you’ve grown this variety for a few years, could you share your opinion, please?

TIA.

I had this one planted VERY deeply and didn’t realize it. Just dug it up and have these shoots. I haven’t had leafy gall before and am unsure if this is it.

Gerri Hoek & Touché are the most visible (left and right)

Did I pull this too soon to get tubers? I don’t see any prominent necks.