Adding Dahlias to My Garden

Years ago I bought quite a few Dahlias for my garden. To say the flowers on them are “showy” is an understatement. 
I’m not quite sure what happened to them, but I’m sure they probably didn’t fare well lifting them out of the ground and storing until the Spring. 



I’m not sure why, but so far, I have not had any luck overwintering bulbs and tubers that need to be lifted from the ground in the Fall. 

Last year I had quite a few Amarylis that I put into storage after letting the leaves die, and when I took out to plant again, the bulbs seemed to be dried out. 

I am hoping to have better luck with the Dahlias. 



Dahlias tend to be very tall and the flowers are pretty big. So just planting in the garden with no support will not work. They either have to have separate supports of some kind or, if you are planting in one bed, one big support system. I saw a great support system for in the ground or raised beds that looks like it will work nicely. It basically has stakes at various points and twine tied diagonally to the stakes. That way, the Dahlias grow up through the twine and are supported as they grow. The twine is at several levels so the plants get support as they grow. It’s nothing fancy, but looks like it will do the trick. 

My 7 year old grandson has already said he was going to help me get this support system  going so we can enjoy these beautiful dahlias. 

I have a raised bed about 8 feet long with a fence around it, that I put cucumbers and herbs in last year and something still got in there and ate everything. So I thought I would try Dahlias in there this year. 

I am going to fence with the some fencing and attach chicken wire to the inside of it to make sure they can’t get in . I have read that woodchucks and rabbits will eat them so we will see how that works. I have a raised bed with legs that is pretty high off the ground I may try some in there as well just to experiment and see which one works best. 

I have never had a problem with rabbits and woodchucks but the last couple of years I seem to see them eating a lot of things that I plant. I have had to put fencing around certain plants so they cant get to them, which doesn’t exactly make your garden look great, but it does give the plants a chance at establishing. 



It’s also important to fertilize Dahlias with a low nitrogen fertilizer. On fertilizers, there are always three numbers to classify what is in the fertilizer. The first number is Nitrogen, the second Phosphorous, and the third is Potassium. So in this case, you want the first number to be much lower than the other two. 

I ordered some great varieties of Dahilas so I’m anxious to see how they turn out. 



If you’re looking for a great cut flower, Dahlias are perfect. 

Update: I bought some Dinner Plate Dahlia tubers at the garden center this past weekend. They were $10.00 for 2 bulbs. Pretty reasonable for such gorgeous flowers. 

Stay tuned…………