The “It-Girl” of Flowers
Some of my 2023 dahlias
If you love flowers, you are probably familiar with dahlias. I think everyone recognizes them—big bodacious blooms with many forms that come in almost every flower color imaginable except blue. They have become the “It-Girl” of the flower world. Growers set alarms and bookmark pages to be the first at on-line tuber sales to make sure they have a chance to grow all the latest varieties. Despite the fact that small growers all over the country have started selling tubers, there is still a shortage of some of the most popular plants. I am not one of those growers. I have always admired dahlias, but I would not say that I was obsessed with them, that is, until they failed me, and I felt shunned like a jilted lover. In typical fashion, when someone or something tells me I’ve failed, I’m all the more determined than ever to get it right, and so, this fall, my quest to grow healthy dahlias began.
My Barbie dahlias
The story starts a couple of years ago when I first started producing flowers commercially. Dahlia tubers were expensive. (Others have been obsessed with dahlias for a long time.) Non-unicorn tubers can range in price anywhere from $8 to $35, and unicorn varieties can cost even more. This was a big expense when I was just starting out and relying mostly on seeds, which you can purchase for pennies a piece. I was an unproven grower so I just planted a small number, about 50 feet worth of dahlias. I didn’t know much, and I didn’t do much except apply some fish fertilizer, and I kept them weeded. They rewarded me with green lush plants and abundant blooms that came on strong in September. I felt accomplished.
Fast forward to last season when I planted many more. I knew a little bit more last season so I did more. I dialed into their nutrition, scouted for pests and disease, and eagerly anticipated the fall bounty. From the very beginning I could see things weren’t going to plan. My dahlias grew more slowly and when blooms finally arrived, they were sparing, nothing like the season before. I was flummoxed, but I was in the hectic part of the season and couldn’t figure out what to do. After my year of success and the anticipation of so many fall flowers, I felt the loss of prolific dahlias in my field.
Amending the soil
I longed for their fluffy vibrancy. Dahlias remind me of those “candy by the pound” stores where you can dip in your scoop and pull out all those pinks and purples and oranges. The intense color coupled with the anticipation of all that sweetness was the same feeling I’d come to associate with the dahlia bed. I was disappointed. But as with most things in the garden, there wasn’t much time to linger over my failure until the season winded down.
Image from Johnny’s Seeds. (Phacelia tanecetifola or lacy phacelia)
When it came time to dig the dahlias in the fall, I think I discovered my problem. I did a soil test and learned that my soil was in good shape, but upon digging the potato-like tubers, I also discovered that my bed was just too wet. I have a lot of compaction in my field from the years of grazing and tractor use, and it was a rainy summer. The tubers suffocated.
I made some changes for this fall. I raised the bed by taking native soil from both sides of the pathways and tossed it to the center; I broadforked the heck out of the bed; and I added gypsum (to boost calcium) and feather meal to provide nitrogen. In early March, I also planted a phacelia cover crop. This plant grows well in cool conditions and when it blooms it provides food for pollinators early in the season when there aren’t a lot of other options. It will also serve to get some roots in the soil of my new dahlia bed in the hopes of boosting the microbial life, where soon the dahlia roots will be. Before I plant the dahlias, I will mow the phacelia and give it a bit of time to break down, adding more nutrition to the new bed.
I’m still a few weeks away from planting dahlias in the ground, but I’m hopeful that I’ve solved the problem of last year’s failure. I’m also a little disappointed that I’ve now joined the crowd of dahlia-obsessed growers, but I’m hoping this year to have more “it-girl” flowers to share with you.
A few of the photos I hope to add to bouquets this year (ones that remind me a lot of the candy store).
Photos courtesy of Swan Island Dahlias (or my field)
