We’ve kicked off the 2022 growing season and wanted to share our dahlia growing list! Thanks to my sister-in-law, Abby, we have a huge variety of tubers this year. With most of our stock being wiped out, we needed to replenish for this year. We purchased some from a few trusted growers online, we had a few overwinter and Abby provided the rest from her stock. Many of the varieties we are growing this year are single tubers. We have a few that we have up to 4 or 5 tubers. Our goal this year is to grow each variety well, save tubers and increase our stock to trade back with Abby and possibly share with others.

We purchased tubers from the Dahlia Shed (located in Newport, Rhode Island), Summer Dreams Farm (located in Oxford, Michigan), and Restoring Eden (located in Northern Georgia). This is our 3rd year purchasing from Dahlia Shed and we couldn’t be more pleased with the quality of their tubers. All three have great dahlia growing resources if you are interested or working to grow your own!

Here’s the rundown of all the varieties in the ground! For those of you interested, I’m linking each variety to a Google Image search for you to see what each will look like when they bloom (I’d love to pull the images here, but I don’t own all the images!). I’m also adding a note about their form. There are many categories for the classification of form, but I’m keeping it simple here.

White / Blush

Fleurel – Dinnerplate – One of the first dahlias we grew and the blooms are as big as my face!
Brookside Snowball – Ball
Cafe Au Lait – Dinnerplate

(Shown here: Fleurel)

Pinks

Labyrinth – Dinnerplate – A stunning favorite, but late bloomer each season
Sonic Bloom – Decorative
Intrigue – Decorative
Islander – Decorative
Colorado Classic – Decorative
Coralie – Decorative
Wizard of Oz – Ball
Otto’s Thrill – Dinnerplate
Jowey Winnie – Ball – We love the color of this one!
Castle Drive – Decorative
Linda’s Baby – Ball
Mystique – Decorative
Rebecca Lynn – Ball
Cafe Au Lait Royale – Dinnerplate
Kogane Fubuki – Decorative – Excited to grow this one – so unique!
Peaches N Cream – Decorative
Star’s Favorite – Cactus
Ala Mode – Decorative

(Shown here: Otto’s Thrill)

Oranges / Yellows

Apricot
Penhill Watermelon – Dinnerplate
Cornel Bronze – Ball
Marrn – Ball
Big Brother – Dinnerplate
Jowey Linda – Ball
Sylvia Craig Hunter – Decorative – the petals on this are so unique!
Terracotta – Cactus
Bracken Sarah – Decorative
Bonaventure – Dinnerplate
Hamarui Gold – Dinnerplate

(Shown here: Maarn)

Purples / Reds

Ferncliff Inspiration – Dinnerplate
Vassio Meggos – Dinnerplate
Almand Joy – Dinnerplate
Robann Royal – Ball
Purple Flame – Decorative
Creme de Cassis – Decorative
Rip City – Decorative
Ivanetti – Ball
Lights Out – Decorative
Arabian Night – Ball
Thomas Edison – Decorative

(Shown here: Rip City)

We have just over a dozen dahlia seedlings in the ground now too – those will be trialed this year for hardiness, color, form, and general interest. If we like the flowers, we’ll keep the tubers to grow next year. If they are not very interesting, they will be composted (it sounds harsh, but we need the space!)

We’d love to know which of these varieties strikes your fancy! Which would you choose for a bouquet?