My Dahlias at Skylands
There are only a few more days of summer left, but my gardens continue to produce beautiful blooms - right now, it's "dahlias for days."
I love dahlias, and grow lots of these colorful flowers at my Bedford, New York farm, and up at Skylands, my home in Maine. There are several thousand named varieties with flowers ranging from small to giant dinner plate size. They bloom from midsummer right through the first frost. Cheryl Dulong, who works at Skylands, keeps me updated by sending photographs of the property and the surrounding areas from time to time. She recently sent me these images of the gorgeous dahlias growing in my cutting garden.
Enjoy the photos.
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- My dahlia garden at Skylands is quite large with hundreds of different plants in a variety of colors and forms. In fact, dahlias can be found in nearly every color except blue.
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- This year, we planted eight and a half long rows of dahlias in this space.
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- So many of the dahlias are just bursting with color right now. Dahlias belong to the Asteraceae family along with daisies and sunflowers. They are generally most hardy in USDA zones 7 through 11.
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- These tuberous plants have slender erect stems which are not always capable of supporting large blooms. In order to keep the leafy stems upright and to prevent damage to the flowers, dahlias need to be staked. We used six foot one-by-one stakes and then pounded one foot of each stake into the ground – the stakes are very sturdy and very straight.
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- Using jute twine, which we use for most of our garden projects at Skylands and at my Bedford farm, my gardener, Wendy Norling, ties the twine around the first post of each row.
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- And then loops the twine around each stake as she goes down one side of the row.
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- Wendy ties it just tight enough to support the stems but not crush them. The goal is to essentially corral the greenery, so the stems are supported.
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- Once she has gone down one side of the whole row, she returns up the other side of the row in the same way – looping the twine around each stake. Here are some of the dahlias supported within the twine loops.
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- As the dahlias grow, Wendy adds another row of twine to support the rising stems. The crew also put down weed cloth in between each row.
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- The result is a very tidy cutting garden, with all the gorgeous blooms intact.
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- Dahlias originated as wildflowers in the high mountain regions of Mexico and Guatemala – that’s why they naturally work well and bloom happily in cooler temperatures. This is Dahlia ‘Miss Teagan’. It is pink with inner cream white tones and is an excellent garden and cut flower variety.
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- In the cold climates of North America, dahlias are known as tuberous-rooted tender perennials, grown from small, brown, biennial tubers planted in the spring.
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- Dahlias thrive in rich, well-drained soil. The pH level should be 6.5 to 7.0 and slightly acidic.
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- The majority of dahlia species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars, but they are brightly colored to attract pollinating insects. Dahlias come in a rainbow of colors and even range in size, from the giant 10-inch “dinnerplate” blooms to the two-inch lollipop-style pompons. Most varieties grow four to five feet tall.
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- Dahlias are colorful spiky flowers which generally bloom from midsummer to first frost, when many other plants are past their best.
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- The Dahlia is named after the Swedish 18th century botanist Anders Dahl, who originally declared the flower a vegetable, as the tubers are edible.
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- Dahlias benefit from a low-nitrogen liquid fertilizer such as a 5-10-10 or 10-20-20. Fertilize after sprouting and then every three to four weeks from mid-summer until early autumn – just don’t overfertilize, especially with nitrogen. Doing this could cause small blooms, weak tubers, or even rot.
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- This is Dahlia ‘Kaiser Wilhelm’, first introduced in 1892. Its three-inch flowers have neatly curled petals of soft custard-yellow brushed with burgundy, and a green button eye just like that of an old rose – so pretty.
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- This is Dahlia “Ben Huston” – a clean clear bronze color with excellent substance, depth and form.
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- ‘Myrtle’s Brandy’ is a red dahlia with white tips whose petals fold back towards the stems. It is an excellent cut flower variety.
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- Dahlia ‘Mikayla Miranda’ is a seven-inch white and lavender-pink bloom on a sturdy three-and-a-half foot tall garden variety type plant – a floral designer favorite.
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- The dahlias are so pretty – I only wish I could enjoy them in person.
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- In the center is ‘Citron du Cap’ – with lacinated, or irregularly and finely slashed, petals that give this flower a “fuzzy” appearance. These blooms are a delicate creamy yellow, with hints of pale pink. What are your favorite dahlias? Share your comments with me in the section below.
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