Modern Homesteader

The Dahlia. A coveted addition to any flower garden. These plants are the most widely grown and well-loved in the flower world. The plants produce blooms in an array of colors, whose beauty is almost too hard to describe in words. Pictures don’t even do them justice. Which is why I wanted to grow them myself. Dahlias aren’t considered perennials necessarily, they are extremely cold sensitive. So, in order to grow them the following year, the tubers (they look like a clump of potatoes) need to be dug up in late fall and stored over winter. Dahlias can be successfully grown in Montana’s climate, or any climate whose soil temperature drops below 60 degrees, with a little extra work. At the beginning when I first started to grow dahlias, I read that they were a high maintenance plant. Not only because they need to be dug up and replanted every year, but they are susceptible to several diseases and controlling the beetle and grasshopper population can be more work that you initially bargained for. Aphids are a dahlia’s worst enemy. They will literally suck the life out of the plant, draining the blossoms of all their color. Despite the many setbacks and failures, I’ve experienced from growing dahlias, I personally believe they live up to their reputation and when those blooms start to open, I feel all the hard work and frustrations are definitely worth it.

Because of the climate we are in, I start pre sprouting the tubers in March. The garage (which is heated), fills up with around 150 pots spread about wherever I can find the floor space. This year, alongside the 150 pots of dahlias, there were three tables of plant babies, a brooder of ducklings and a brooder full of chicks. So, suffice to say, I have officially been evicted from the garage, because I surpassed my 50% percent allotment. My fingers are crossed for a greenhouse next year.

Continuing on, as spring grows near, every morning I would carry the dahlia pots outside to catch the day’s sun, and then they would be carried back in again at night. Not only are the leaves a delicacy among the wildlife, but the tubers will get dug up and eaten in a heartbeat. I do this routine every day, twice a day, for a good two months, until the temperature continues to stay above 50 degrees. Then they can finally be moved out into the flower garden. Dahlias will bloom in the late summer and early fall, so when everything is starting to die back, they come in and steal the show.

Once fall has come and gone, you need a few light frosts to hit the dahlias before you can dig them up. The frost will kill the leaves and flower heads, which will then send a signal down to the tubers letting them know it’s time to go into hibernation. I dig up each plant with excitement because over the summer as the plant blossoms, the tubers multiply. When you go to dig these tubers up, you will have twice the amount you had when you planted them in the spring. These tubers can be divided before planting again, allowing you to double your stock. It’s quite addicting. I then will store the tubers in plastic totes with wood shavings to protect them and keep them from drying out over the winter.