A Dahlia Year In Review: 2024

January is always a time of reflection and planning on the farm. I’ve been looking back at last year and forward into 2025. It’s going to be amazing for dahlias- I can just feel it! However I didn’t want to let the opportunity pass to write a review of 2024. It was interesting to say the least….

The year began in March with removing the covers from our over wintered dahlia trial. The plants were already sprouted when we removed the tarps in early March. We even got lucky last year and only had one mild frost after the tarp removal. This nipped the plants back just a bit but not much.

We also took loads of cuttings last spring to fill up our field with new varieties. We worked in a makeshift grow room last year and I’m so thankful for a much upgraded set up this year.

We planted all through May and June. We also harvested blooms during this time too- This was a new experience to be harvesting and planting at the same time. But we had blooms off our early over-wintered during May through June. At the end of June we cut those plants back to give them a break during the high heat of July. We also had some extreme heat temps in June which did cause some loss. Some of the later tubers we planted didn’t make it, they literally cooked in the ground. The rooted cuttings however did much better. Because they already have roots when planted- they establish much faster.

Left: Over wintered dahlias budding up
Center: First Blooms!
Right: Over wintered dahlias cut back and in need of some weeding

July and August came and went and we just did what we always do— Remained consistent in feeding and managing pests. It’s the only way to get through the yuck of summer and leads to beautiful fall blooms.

September came and we cut buckets and buckets of to die for blooms!

It was amazing until it wasn’t. In less than 24 hours, Hurricane Helene came through and left a wide swath of damage. We were lucky- most of the damage was in our woods with fallen trees. We still have damage to our barn to fix but it’s nothing compared to what so many experienced just an hour north of us.

From a dahlia standpoint, it did end our season early. We got about another week’s worth of blooms. We lost a lot of plants to rot in one of our fields that was just beginning to bloom for the season- several 1000’s of dollars worth of loss. We won’t really know the full loss until we pull back the tarps this March to see what tubers still remain. I’m fully planning on making extra cuttings to replace the ones that rotted. It was hard to tell at the end of the season. Several rows had 20-30’ of rot and then the rest would be fine. Overall the hurricane was also a big contributor to lower tuber yields this year too.

But that’s another reason I’m thankful for an upgraded grow room this year. We are growing lots of rooted cuttings for our farm and for sale!

Here’s to 2025— May she be free of extreme heat waves and devasting hurricanes!