Maintaining My Dahlia Garden

July 22, 2025

Beautiful, colorful dahlias continue to bloom at my farm.

Dahlias begin to bloom with great profusion just as other plants pass their prime and they last right up until the first frost. My all-dahlia garden is planted in a large bed behind my vegetable greenhouse. I have flowers ranging from small to giant dinner-plate size in all different colors and forms. And to keep them flourishing, I make sure to continuously deadhead spent blooms - it’s the key to keeping this garden bursting with flowers all season long.

Here are some photos, enjoy.

: Every day I’m home, I make it a point to tour my farm several times to see how the gardens are doing. This time of year, when it’s hot and dry, it’s important to make sure everything gets watered, weeded, and maintained properly.

: I often say my favorite flowers are those blooming at the time because I love them all. Right now, my dahlias are bursting with color. There are about 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. A member of the Asteraceae family of dicotyledonous plants, some of its relatives include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia.

: The genus Dahlia is native to the high plains of Mexico. Some species can be found in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica as well as parts of South America where it was introduced.

: Dahlias were first recorded by Westerners in 1615, and were then called by their original Mexican name, acoctli. The first garden dahlias reached the United States in the early 1830s. Today, dahlias are grown all over the world.

: It is named after the Swedish 18th century botanist Anders Dahl, who originally declared the flower a vegetable, as the tubers are edible.

: Flowers come one head per stem. The blooms can be as small as two-inches in diameter or up to one foot across. They are divided into 10 groups: single, anemone, collarette, waterlily, decorative, fall, pompon, cactus, semi-cactus, and miscellaneous.

: Dahlia leaves are typically dark green, lance-shaped, and have a slightly rough texture.

: Dahlias can vary in height, leaf color, form, and shape. This is because dahlias are octoploids, meaning they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two.

: They produce an abundance of wonderful flowers throughout early summer and again in late summer until the first frost.

: Dahlias are popularly grown for their long-lasting cut flowers. From the side, many dahlia petals grow all around the flower head giving it a very full appearance.

: And they thrive in rich, well-drained soil with a pH level of 6.5 to 7.0 and slightly acidic.

: The majority of dahlia species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars, but they are brightly colored to attract pollinating insects.

: Dahlias come in white, shades of pink, red, yellow, orange, shades of purple, and various combinations of these colors – every color but true blue. In the 19th century, a London newspaper offered a pound, or a little more than a dollar, to the first breeder to create a blue dahlia—the reward was never claimed, but there have been many attempts that are near-blue.

: And as the flowers finish blooming, when petals have begun to wilt, fade, or turn brown around the edges, it’s time to deadhead, or remove spent flowers.

: Deadheading through the season prevents the plants from redirecting their energy into seed production, allowing them to focus on producing more flowers instead. Ryan clips below the flower head just at the junction with the neighboring stem.

: Deadheading also helps maintain the overall health of the plant, keeps the garden looking tidy and prevents the spread of pests and disease.

: Ryan will check the dahlia garden once a week and trim any faded blooms.

: After just a few minutes, Ryan has deadheaded the entire garden – it doesn’t take long at all.

: And to prevent wilting, when cutting do so only in the early morning or late afternoon. And only cut them after they open to mature size – dahlias will not open after cutting.