Wow, I thought dahlias only bloomed in late summer!

Wow! Gorgeous color! Did you buy them as tubers?! Or as plants already growing?

Here are my dahlias!

Hahaha!

These are a tad bit further along:

But still a long way from blooming!

The photos above are all overwintered dahlias but the tubers I bought new this year are in the same state as these (mostly like the first photo, with little leaf buds just poking above ground)

We colder-zone dwellers will have to live vicariously through you warmer-zoners for a few months, lol, so keep those dahlia pics coming!

:)

Dee

@bart bart, thanks! Dahlia blooms here from early summer into end of fall. A long blooming season

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, You have over 40 Dahlias. In a few weeks your garden will be so beautiful! Our Dahlias were all bought as tubers originally. We are in much warmer zone, however I am now wondering if I bring the tubers inside at the fall and plant them outside next spring, maybe we will have an earlier blooming season. That said, unlikely I will do it. Leaving everything in ground is so much easier.

Oh my yes, newbie! I would definitely leave the tubers in the ground if I could! I really dislike the whole digging up, storing, dividing and repotting then planting out thing. Ugh. But, how can you not? For goodness sake you are getting free plants! And the dahlias are so beautiful. They are definitely worth the effort and I tell myself that every time they start to bloom

So funny you counted them - I haven't even counted them yet lol. I have about another 10-12 out in the garden, and 4-5 more in a tray of potting mix, waiting to see if eyes will sprout. I barely divided any this year. I mentioned on another thread how I am feeling lazy this year, plus I am sooooo incredibly behind because of weather - sheesh, it's June and it's so cloudy and cold and windy today, and pretty much has been all spring. And rainy! So anyway I planted some pretty big clumps this year. If I had divided them I would have had at least double what I have, if not triple or more.

I give away a lot to friends (when I divide) and last year I sold some so that was nice too. Oh, and occasionally I miss a dahlia and it does come back! I actually just found TWO in my daughter's garden! They are right in front of her very sunny foundation, so in a nice protected spot. So that was an unexpected bonus!

:)

Dee

Mine didn’t sprout from the bulbs, so no dahlias for me this year, I guess.

Looking great!

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, amazing you take care of so many tubers and plants. that is tremendous work

@L Clark (zone 4 WY), you are zone 4. there might still be time for them to sprout? and maybe not too kate to grab a potted dahlia from homedepot or Lowes?

I have 5 of Heatwave and they are all ready to bloom

I will have to if I want some . I tried to grow Cafe au Late

@C T, oh I never knew that! Thanks for sharing

When I pinch mine to make them bushier I always stuck it in soil and most take (in the Houston area, so high humidity). They often all die in the summer, no matter how much I water or try to be careful so they don’t rot, but that’s something else.

@C T, so rooting is easier but keeping the baby plants alive is more of a challenge. I will try with this Dahlia I got from Costco a few years ago. A friend asks for it and I am going to divide the root and share with her. Maybe I can get away by rooting a couple cuttings

Dynamite also from Costco bare root this year. Not sure if I like the variegated flower. I have 3 plants

I have 5 Heatwave plants

I didn't know either that dahlias root easily from cuttings. Good to know!

newbie that first dahlia with the pink and yellow coloring is lovely. Do you know the name? Lol because yes, that's exactly what I need - yet ANOTHER dahlia with pink and yellow coloring! That's my favorite and I always tend to buy more of these than trying other colors. Kind of like how I keep buying variegated hostas and apricot-colored roses.

I always find myself torn on those variegated blooms- on any plant. On one hand, they immediately catch my eye. But on the other hand, once the initial ooh and ahh is over, I'm not sure I like them..... I think maybe it's the contrast I don't like?? (even though that's probably what caught my eye in the first place!) I don't mind the different colors on one bloom, but I like when they *blend* into each other more than stand out - like the way that pink and yellow bloom blends. There are obviously two colors there, but they way the flow into each other, in my opinion, is more harmonious and less jarring than two distinct colors side by side...

:)

Dee

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, l wish I knew the name of the pink/golden dahlia a few years ago from Costco. It was in a mix bag and I did not pay attention. lt looks a bit like Foxy Lady but hard to be sure.

I am like you considering mix color bloom. Normally I like solid colors, or with colors that can blend well. Not different distinct colors put together.

Your dahlias ready to bloom now, or soon? Feeling excited since you have so many.

newbie they have actually put on some good growth, since we finally have had some sun and heat (too much heat if you ask me lol!) Although there are still some that are just breaking the soil.

I'll try to take more photos tomorrow - should be a fun comparison since most of them are still sitting in the same spot in the driveway!

:)

Dee

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, no hurry. They will come and be beautiful!

One of the 4 Dahlias I bought from Homedepot blooms. It should be one of these: Blue Boy, Crazy Love, Crème de Cassis， Thomas Edison

I check the pictures online and it does not look any of the four. The closest might be Crazy Love? Not sure maybe the first bloom is not norm

Yeah, newbie, I'd have to agree - that bloom doesn't look like any of those four! I too thought Crazy Love might be the closest in terms of the color pattern, but I'm leaning more towards this one having been mislabeled, especially at HD. Is this newer - is it the first time ever that it's bloomed for you? I'd be interested to see future blooms because this one seems so unique!

So here are my updated photos. Funny how on some dahlias I've had so much growth and others are just an inch or so high...

From the other end, to show some of the slower growing ones...

These are planted out in the garden in pots - not very attractive, I know, but I treat these more as cutting flowers than garden plants. (Also, this is my sunny area, and you can see the solid rock underneath the pots!) These are some of my prime, favorite dahlias. Lol I do like all the dahlias I buy, but some I like more than others, and these were also better labeled lol, so I KNOW what they are!

I was very excited when I went out this morning to get these pictures, so see this!

My first bud! I suppose the experts would tell me I should pinch this off to make a fuller plant....

:)

Dee

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, I think you are right about mislabelling. I like this bloom so all is good. I just hope at least one of the remaining will bloom purple

Are you going to repot some other than planting them in ground? That is tremendous work! However when they are in bloom, that will feel so rewarding

@forever_a_newbie_VA8 no, it’s not that the babies from cuttings are hard to keep alive, I find most dahlias hard to keep alive through our summers in the Houston area, this year will be the third or fourth time I try.

I think it’s just too hot, and it doesn’t ever cool down at night to give them a break, for months, and we are getting thankfully more rain this year but the previous 2 or 3 were mostly a drought for months. I water everything, but I think I may have overwatered them the year before last, and as a reaction possibly underwatered them last year.

But surprisingly some cuttings made it, while the mother plants didn’t.

Anyway, all of that to say the cuttings do fine, and root easily, and if you can keep dahlias alive they should do fine, and they grow fairly quickly, I think that would be easier than dividing a tuber to give your friend.

@C T, good to know! Will take cuttings after my vacation early July.

newbie I will likely repot most of them. I had plans to put some in the ground, but I am so completely and woefully behind this year that I haven't even done my spring clean-up of some of the beds! It's ridiculous. Between a very cold and very wet spring, medical issues that kept me out of the garden, and just not having enough free time in general, some of my beds are literally untouched since last fall. I'm so ashamed haha. And only one bed is completely weeded and mulched. Others I have weeded but not mulched, and then weeded again and STILL not mulched, and now need weeding again.

So yeah I may end up potting up most of those dahlias. A good 10-12 of them are earmarked for a few friends, and I'll probably add 2-3 more to my daughter's garden (in-ground) and then the rest are for me to find spots for somewhere.

newbie if you haven't yet grown either Thomas Edison or Creme de Cassis, I think you will love both of them. IMO they are both lovely blooms!

:)

Dee

This unnamed dahlia is fully open and I really like it

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, I hope Thomas Edison and Creme de Cassis are in the remaining dahlias. They are very beautiful in pictures. Fingers crossed🙏

I didn’t know that dahlias root easily from cuttings! wish I had know that many years ago…

I grew this dahlia from seed in 2023 or 2024, overwintered it dormant in its pot on my unheated porch, and moved it back outdoors recently to grow again. I was surprised to see it flowering already!

@party_music50, very lovely dainty dahlia bloom. More special since you grew it from seed

@forever_a_newbie_VA8, that is from a ‘Redskin‘ dahlia seed mix and I was very impressed with how quickly they grow and flower. Here are some others from the mix that I grew in-ground the first year:

@party_music50, both blooms are so lovely!