Over Wintering Dahlias in Michigan: Part 2

June 29th - A field of dahlias in full bloom.

It’s July 1st, 2024 and it has been an INCREDIBLE spring here in Michigan.  I think it’s incredible because the weather was SO warm, and we’ve had good rain, and it’s been enjoyable to be outside most of the time.  It was an early spring, a hot spring, and a pleasant one too.  It’s also been a little scary in terms of global weather changes here and abroad, and us cut flower growers had to really hustle in a way we haven’t had to in the past 5-6 years (or for as long as I have been doing this!). Daffodils bloomed early, tulips bloomed early, and peonies bloomed way early.  I’ve never had a year where the hustle of planting coincided with the hustle of harvesting peonies. My timing and sync was and still is all off this season; I’m not used to having so much abundance so early in the season - I’m in awe of what happened on the farm this spring.

I wanted to update the dahlia project with what I have learned so far - I’ve had a large number of other cut flower growers and home gardeners reach out about how I’ve been cutting BUCKETS of dahlias in June! My answer is this…I overwinter my dahlias and we never had any late frosts this season. Our last frost was in late April this year, we had a mild winter, and when I took the dahlia tarps off on April 29th - we never got another frost and the dahlias just exploded and grew uninterrupted by frost since then!  

In the first week or two of May, the dahlias were up and green and bushy little plants with multiple stems, and by the middle of June I was cutting dahlias.  And by the end of June, I was cutting BUCKETS of dahlias from plants that are taller than I am. People have come over and are astonished by the dahlias, and I have to say, I’m blown away by them EVERYDAY too. I can’t say this is going to be the case ever again, but either way, overwintering dahlias, in my experience, has been a very good thing.  It will be interesting to see how long the plants can produce for and when our late frost will come this season. Until then, you can find me in the field cutting dahlias!

If you have been following along, one of the dahlia patches has now been overwintered twice (so in the ground for three seasons) and they are MASSIVE - many were 5-6 feet tall by mid-June. The newest dahlias garden that I overwintered actually had the first blooms, but are smaller plants than the other garden (which is absolutely ok with me, lol). What I’ve seen so far is that the more years they have stayed in the ground, the bigger the plants. And there is no way in hell I need any of these plants to get bigger than they already are.  We’ll see if that pattern continues!

To understand this entire process, please read the first blog post HERE. A big thank you to Jennie Love at Love’n Fresh Flowers in Philadelphia, PA for sharing her incredible knowledge with all those willing to learn how to grow bigger, better, healthier flowers.  Please let me know you you have any questions or comments! You can always email blackdogflowerco@gmail.com as well.

Please enjoy a little 2024 dahlia photo timeline: Photo 1 is April 29th - last photo is June 29th.

End of the season update! Nov. 2024:

I’m so happy to say that the dahlias produced until the first frost which came in Mid October. I was a little uncertain how long they would last since they started pumping out flowers in June, but I’m honestly astonished on how much they had left to give in October.

We had an incredibly dry summer and there were some weeks the dahlias really struggled. They were in dire need of rain and nutrients for weeks on end. Plants that big that have been in the ground for that long, need a lot of food and water! The biggest saving grace for me in all of this is that I have a lot more dahlias planted than needed, so I’m lucky in the fact that I had more than enough to fill my orders.

I’m currently in the process of tucking the dahlias in for the winter again. I’m SO grateful to the wonderful friends of the farm that donate leaves, it takes quite a bit to put both gardens to bed for the winter. Happy growing and happy resting season! If you ever have any questions about overwintering your dahlias, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Dana

October 3, 2024