Storing Dahlias Through Winter
With Spring just around the bend I wanted to share with you how I harvest and store my Dahlias here at Sunnydell Flower Farm.
But first just a little side note on this incredible and magical plant.
Truly Dahlia’s humble beginnings never cease to amaze me.
But for today it is still Winter and my Dahlia Tubers are all tucked away in our basement.
I am always amazed every single time on how their gnarly, brownish tuber-so ugly and seemingly hopeless finds a way to produce a blossom so incredibly wonderful!
What is a Dahlia Tuber?
They are the fiberous and fundamental root system/body that provides starch, food, water and nutrition for the Dahlia plant until it grows roots of it’s own.
If there was a lesson to learned from the tale of the Dahlia, it would be “don’t judge a book by its cover.”
In the late Fall I dug up my Dahlia Tubers, washed them, dried them for 24-48 hours then stored them all in quart size plastic bags.
Each bag has a moderate amount of coarse vermiculite in them which allows for an exchange of moisture from the tubers and vermiculite.
These bags are stored in our basement ( it’s best to keep the basement at about 50 degrees if possible.)
I have checked the Dahlia tubers periodically and discovered that a few of the tubers were getting mushy, so I tossed them away.
However 95% of the the tubers have stored very well.
After placing the vermiculite and tubers in the bag I sealed them shut, writing the date and name of the Tuber on each bag.
This is actually quite neccessary as it is very easy to forget the names of each and every Dahlia.
While there are many flowers that steal my heart there is none quite as much as the Dahlia.
For me there is magic in every one of their unique blooms and unique they all are.
Sharing the joy of their whimsical beauty with you all delights me.
I invite you to visit the Farm in the warm months of Summer and take a few photos, enjoy the bees and go home with a hand picked bouquet of joy.
