How I Started Growing Dahlias

By: Jamie Seitz

After almost splurging on a cart full of dahlia tubers to beat the winter blues, I turned to a friend’s local farm for a crash course in growing dahlias.

My journey growing dahlias

Every season, I add a little something to my backyard garden; a pretty perennial, a new rhubarb patch, adorable solar string lights, etc. But this winter, I had my best idea yet. While researching a writing project, I learned about dahlia farms in The Netherlands and was beyond intrigued. The dinner plate dahlias especially caught my attention. What winter blues couldn’t be cured by gorgeous, brightly colored blooms the size of my head?

Dreaming of dahlias

So, I did what any other midwestern gal in Iowa in February does to make herself forget that there are at least six more weeks of winter. I added dahlia tubers in all shapes, sizes, and colors to an online shopping cart. Several hours later, I snapped out of my fever dream and returned to my body, just seconds before confirming a three-figure flower purchase that would have raised my honey’s eyebrow when the credit card bill came in the mail. I had to remind myself that it was still too early to plant and that I was getting way ahead of myself. I had no idea how to actually grow dahlias.

Before I could do something reckless, I closed down the shopping cart. Instead, I posted to social media about finding the one thing to thaw my cold, dead soul…dahlias. Lo and behold, I had a friend in town who knew all about dahlias. She even sold tubers at a fraction of the fortune I was about to spend.

GDT Weeds OCT

Learning how to grow dahlias

Several weeks later, I drove to her farm and got a crash course on becoming a dahlia farmer. She explained that dahlias multiply and must be dug up carefully every fall. The tubers have to be separated, dried just so, wrapped delicately in plastic, stored at the perfect temperature with the right amount of humidity, and awakened at the right time in the spring so they are ready for planting. For a brief second, I worried I had bitten off more than I could chew. But…you know me. I’m usually up for a challenge and have an inappropriate amount of confidence in my ability to learn on the fly.

My friend picked out a wide variety of colors for me, each neatly labeled. The organizational system of keeping track of your dahlias was enough for me to know that this was a hobby for my Type A personality.

Spring came and I carefully planted my tubers in the ground and covered them with mulch. Then I waited. And waited. Several weeks later I saw the tops of dahlias emerging. I followed the advice of dahlia experts and topped my dahlias to ensure bushier flowers and more blooms, even though it stressed me out. Finally, I had my very first bloom — a gorgeous deep purple ‘Thomas Edison’ dahlia. It was quickly followed by a spiky white ‘My Love’ and a ‘Noordjwyks Glorie’ the color of butterscotch.

With that, I had my very first dahlia bouquet, which was the entire goal of the summer. I did it, friends. I’m a dahlia farmer now.

Jamie is nothing if not extremely organized. If she wasn’t going to be a writer or a dahlia farmer, she most certainly would have been a personal organizer. So, it’s not surprising that she is just as excited about the beautiful dahlia flowers as she is about the tuber storage system she’s already planning.

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