Au Revoir to the Dahlias, But not goodbye

If you ever pop over to see me on Instagram, you will know that I’m a tad obsessed with my dahlias. I don’t like to call myself an expert, but I’ll happily take the label ‘enthusiast’. The capacity of my garden to produce riotous, unending basketfuls of color is something I find quite intoxicating.

I often say that dead-heading is boring, but bringing color indoors is fun … and achieves the same result! I have cut my dahlias for bouquets 2-3 times a week for the past couple of months, filling vases in my home and gifting huge bunches of blooms to my friends. I’m fortunate to have my office at home, and when the emails get too many, I love to leave my desk and wander in the garden for half an hour, secateurs in hand. Color therapy is a real thing.

This year has been a great year for dahlias, the warmth, the occasional rain, and the clement Fall makes for a growing season that started late June, and is still going strong as we head towards the end of October.

I have a couple of favorites this year. First of all, my classics, like Café au Lait, Penhill Watermelon, and Penhill Dark Monarch. Omega has been spectacular, and of course, the dinner plate-sized heads of Emory Paul never fail to cause a stir.

But I have some new stars too. Breakout was absolutely amazing, as was Big Brother. I definitely have a preference for the large, fluffy dahlias, but I also grow smaller pompoms to add variety and allow for making smaller bouquets with more variety of shape.

Don’t forget the other autumn blooms that cohabit perfectly with dahlias, and that you’ll be grateful to use in bouquets too. I’m thinking about Cosmos, many different varieties of Salvia, zinnia, and japanese anemone. And since the dahlias start blooming so early, they also work very well with roses.

My tips that I’ve learnt along the way:

• Good soil is everything. Here we mulch the whole garden in the fall, and again partially in the spring.
• Don’t forget to stake – it’s tedious to do but so worthwhile.
• Pick, and pick, and pick again. Dahlias are a plant that produces more providing it is cut. If you stop cutting it will slow down production. Don’t be afraid to cut longer and thicker branches, they will grow again quickly.
• Do I lift my dahlias? I used to, but I don’t anymore. We are in a climate where our winters get cold but not too extreme. I’ve found that dahlias can survive in the ground fairly happily. I may lose a couple, but no more than I would lose when I lifted them and stored them in a cellar for the winter.
• Divide and take cuttings to increase the number of plants. The only reason I’ll be lifting any dahlias this fall, is because there are certain varieties that I’m keen to divide and multiply.

I know that a lot of you are also growing dahlias, and that like me, you’ve worked out what thrives in your part of the world. I’d love to know which varieties have been your favorites this year? What’s the single most surprising thing you’ve learned when growing your own flowers? If you are thinking about dahlias, are there any tips that you may have or follow?