Beautiful Dahlia Arrangements from My Garden
My home is filled with gorgeous, bright, and colorful dahlia blooms - I just love them all.
As you know, we planted our first all-dahlia garden this year at my Bedford, New York farm. Many of you have seen some of the photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. The garden was planted in June and through the summer, we all watched its progression. By late August, we had many beautiful dahlias with flowers ranging from small to giant dinner plate size. Some of the dahlia tubers are from Floret, a family farm and floral design studio in the State of Washington that specializes in organic, handcrafted arrangements for special events. Others came from Brent and Becky’s, a family-owned farm and garden in Gloucester, Virginia. And this week when the garden was at its peak, we cut a variety of dahlias to make several cheerful arrangements.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Look at all the colorful dahlias just cut from my garden – white to orange to pink in a variety of sizes and forms.
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- Some of you may have seen the very beginning of our dahlia garden back in June. This bed behind my main greenhouse was previously used for growing gooseberries.
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- By early July, the dahlias began sprouting. There’s no magic soil formula for growing good dahlias. They thrive in soil that drains well, with plenty of nutrient-rich compost, and a pH of 6.5, which is slightly acidic.
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- Late last month some of the plants were about waist high with beautiful blooms.
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- This week, they all hit their peak, just at the perfect time – late summer, when many other flowers have already gone.
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- Enma cut a few blooms to decorate my kitchen, but they were so beautiful, I asked her to cut many more.
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- This is ‘Karma Corona’. The Karma series was developed for the cut flower market. This variety has strong stems and flowers that open with a blend of beautiful salmon, yellow, and bronze.
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- The darker blooms are ‘Nuit d’Ete’ – a cactus type, very dramatic. Enma places them in bins topped with simple baking cooling racks from the kitchen. The stems just fit through the holes – and are free to dangle underneath without getting damaged.
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- ‘Maltby Pearl’ has soft, creamy pink petals edged with lavender and tipped with white. This unique color combination gives them an almost metallic effect.
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- This is Dahlia ‘Hugs N’ Kisses’. Its three-inch blooms are a beautiful lavender with a deep purple reverse on the back of each petal. Each petal rolls slightly making it quite unique.
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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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- And ‘Bright Diamond’ has large, white flowers with dark red streaks throughout. These blooms reach two to three inches in diameter.
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- This is Dahlia ‘Castle Drive’. It has a soft blend of pink and yellow and is great in arrangements and gardens. This plant is also very attractive to bees and butterflies.
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- Among the most popular varieties is ‘Cafe Au Lait’. This late summer bloomer grows up to 48-inches tall with 10-inch flowers. Many dahlia varieties grow tall and cannot support themselves when they reach maturity. Be sure to stake them once they grow above a foot high.
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- And if you like yellow, you’ll love ‘Kelvin Floodlight’. It’s a classic, butter-colored flower that’s dinner plate-size.
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- Within minutes, we had two bins overflowing with dahlias. To prevent wilting, cut only in the early morning or late afternoon. And only cut them after they open to mature size – dahlias will not open after cutting.
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- Here, Enma is ready to transport them up to my Winter House. It is easy to see how well these cooling racks work for these cut stems. And once they are inside, they can be placed in water.
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- These three single blooms look so pretty right on my kitchen counter.
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- I used these big dinner-plate dahlias in my servery.
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- And then created several colorful arrangements in glass vases. The stems don’t have to be too long – we cut these to about a foot each and then trimmed them indoors to fit these vessels.
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- I love this one in my small dining room – orange, and pink, and dark burgundy. Dahlias come in almost every color except true blue.
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- Another arrangement sits on the dining table. At the end of the growing season, dig and store dahlia tubers for the winter to replant next year.
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- This blossom is on a table in my foyer.
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- And nearby is this arrangement – so many different kinds of dahlias and every one of them pretty. If you don’t already, I hope this inspires you to grow your own dahlias. What are your favorite varieties? Share them in the comments below – I can’t wait to hear from you.
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