Our Favorite Dahlia Varieties

Get ready to fall in love with dahlias 🌸

In this week’s episode of Gals Who Grow, we’re diving into our all-time favorite dahlia varieties just in time for tuber shopping season! We’re sharing the tried-and-true blooms that earn a spot in our gardens year after year, what makes each one so special, and our go-to sources for finding high-quality tubers.

Whether you’re building your first dahlia collection or adding a few new beauties to your lineup, this episode will help you shop with confidence and grow with success.

Happy planting, friends 💐

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hi, I'm Monica with Lulul the A-Field. And I'm Cassie with Coppertop Gardens. And I'm Bailey with How Home and Garden. We have been cultivating our gardens and farms for years now, but something really special was sewed when we met and began working together.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Our shared passion for growing the best local flowers and food has made us realize the impact it's had in not only our own homes, but also in our local community.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

We are the gals who grow, and we can't wait to inspire you to grow too.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Hi. Hi. Welcome back again. Long time no chat.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

So this week we wanted to talk to all of you because I don't know about you guys, but I have been seeing so many things about dahlias. Sorry, dahlia's dahlias. Dahlia's you say dahlia, I say dahlia. Um and basically all of these farmers are selling their tubers, and I'm listening to these podcasts about all how, you know, dahlias are like the love affair of a lot of farmers, especially ones in the Pacific Northwest.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

They're like Pokemon cards. Yeah, they are.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

And you're you're gonna start seeing them in all the hardware scores. Like costume. I've been so disconnected because I don't typically buy tubers. Like if I do, I'm buying like ones that are sort of like the tried and trues of them, like cafe au lay and like certain varieties that are very common. I just recently was on a farmer's website and I saw how much they can actually cost for a single tuber.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

And I was shocked because$50 and$60. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

And like girl, I'm not good enough at growing them because when they're like wait, they want these unicorn varieties and like the sales and how they sell out in like less than 10 minutes. It's wild. I say it is wild.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

It's really good for those farmers.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

There's there's also like an underground dahlia trading. Oh there's there is a black market for that. No, I think I think people get their hands on these varieties if you're like in in the in crowd. You know what I mean? Like if you are a dahlia person, you are part of the dahlia society, you're probably getting your hands on these dahlias for free because you have friends that are trading them with you, whatever. They're like Pokemon cards, they trade them, or you know someone who knows how to do cuttings and then you begin.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Or if you've never grown dahlias, they basically look like potatoes with a neck on them. And you plant that in the ground, and then the next like in the fall when you open pray comes up, especially if you spent 50 to 60 bucks on it. But then when they do come up, and once they've grown the whole season and you dig them up, there's basically a whole clump of these potatoes that then people cut into pieces and sell off to make profit. That's like something that flower farmers do regularly. Um so today we just thought we would talk about some of our favorite varieties we've grown in the past. I have had horrible luck with dahlias, but I'm still gonna tell you ones that I like and the ones I got suckered into buying again because I love dahlias. There's just some really images.

SPEAKER_03 3:30

There's some really beautiful ones that don't cost a lot of money, and there's like heavy producers. And if you don't plant them, like every year I'm like, I'm not growing these. I got I'm not growing them again. Come fall when everybody else has them. Then you're like, dang it.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

And you can't. I wish I would have planted them all. You can grow from seed, like I bought some florette seed, which is really easy, honestly. They're just more likely, they're almost always open center.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

Yeah, you don't really know what you're getting. Yeah, it's a gamble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

And that's fine. I was excited about that, and I am gonna grow them from seed, but then I was like, but what if I want some that are not? And in order to get that, you pretty much have to buy tubers. Yeah. And so that's what I did.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Honestly, dahlia seeds are so fun. They're they are like very fun. The mixed packet of I remember you guys telling me though.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

So the first year I bought seeds and I sowed them, and I didn't get a single one to come up, and you guys were like, Man, my dahlia seeds always bloom before my tubers, and I was like, You didn't get mine, didn't even come up. And then last year I had all my dahlia seeds bloomed before my tubers did, and they were great and huge, but they were the neon yellow colors, and I was like, This is stupid.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

I mean, if you do it in your landscaping just for like the beauty of it, they're kind it's like a really inexpensive way to get some really beautiful flowers.

SPEAKER_02 4:56

That's that's how my sister's done it, and she is so good at it. And but don't count on cutting them. No, but she did though, and they're gorgeous. Oh, she did.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

I'm not gonna lie, I'm gonna cut florets. I'm totally gonna cut florets.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Every year I've actually put effort into them, it's just been disappointing.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

So they're beautiful, and and that's just a me problem. I was hoping to have a better mix this year and hoping the neon yellow has been weeded out of Florets.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

I'm gonna I had I had better luck with their seeds than I did um like Johnny's mix packet, but I think I'm just gonna direct sew some of Johnny's.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

I did Johnny's last year.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Did you direct you direct sew?

SPEAKER_01 5:33

No.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

You started them inside.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

I so I started them inside. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:36

I think you can direct sew them. I think they come up pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

I got Floret's like, is it the bees mix? Yes. Mm-hmm. Um, which is really pretty. Um, and we can post some photos of some of these daily varieties that we mentioned today. Um and it looks like she still has some neon in her in her mix, but she has other colors as well, which is a lot of the anemone ones.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Yes, yeah. Um that have like the tough, the like fluffy tough.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

I really like those. That's what I keep looking at your painting up here and I'm like, Apple Blossom. I can tell. It's gorgeous. Thank you. But apple blossom is a variety of Dahlia, and it is so cute.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I'm so glad you recognize that because I I painted it based off of Florette's book. So I'm gonna tell immediately. Oh my gosh, Kezie! I didn't need to post a picture of your paintings. Baby is quite the artist. I have been picking it up recently, and I'm trying to get better.

SPEAKER_02 6:35

I've actually just been staring at them the entire morning, like, oh my god, they're so cute.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Well, I've been staring at hockey.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Yeah, we have the hockey, the US hockey game on um because we recorded this a long time ago.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

But that's funny.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Go US.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Hockey not as inspiring as Bailey's paintings. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Um, yeah, we can post some photos of the paintings. I'm gonna have, we're gonna try and record like photo record some of them, or what is it called, make a record of them. Like my I was gonna put Joey on taking photos of them. Um let me know if you want me to come photograph some. Okay, we might have you set up a little scene. Yeah, we might have you help direct us on how to because I I don't know really where to start on how to do it.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Um, yeah, so app add apple blossom to your list. That's a that's an anemone variety that's really pretty.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

And it's like soft pink and like golden buttercream.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Like it's like the perfect mix of like yellow and a little bit of peachy. So happy, such a happy flower.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Another one that I really like that's anemone style, but I had it's so amazing about the dwarf bride.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Oh no, but totally tangerine. Oh yeah, that's a fun one too, though.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

It is really fun, it's so pretty, and it would be really pretty if it was taller than 12 inches.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

I love totally totally tangerine, and I love um well I've never oh a cardinal. Oh, a big fat cardinal.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Oh wow on the bird theater outside. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

Um wow. I uh really want to grow giggles. Oh, I don't know that one. Oh, I think I see it's also another one. Is it orange? It's like a kind of like a corally, I think, is what my memory coral.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Oh, dang. That one reminds me of like the Florette one. Let me see. Except more peachy. Oh. So this one has more like rounded petals with like a secondary petal. Like almost like I like whiskers for it. You know? Yeah, kind of. With like a yellow center. Um Floret's Florette's daily looks like that, but Florette hasn't figured out how to get hers out in the world yet. Hers is pinky though.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

And it's uh I'm a sucker for the water any water lily variety. It looks very shy. Oh, yeah, Florette. Oh, that's wild. Yeah. Um, so I will always stand by anything Cornell. Oh, yeah. Cornell bronze. So beautiful is one that I've loved. Perfect burnt orange. I love Castle Drive.

SPEAKER_02 9:21

Castle Drive.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

That's a very good one. I think I'm getting that one this year.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

I loved that one when I had it. Shh sh.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

I am just gonna pull up my cart right now.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

What's your red one that you always grow, Monica? The red burgundy one.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Naomi Karma Naomi.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Karma Naomi.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

She is any of the karma varieties are really pretty. Um then I also do Marn. Oh, yeah. Also sometimes known as Sylvia. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Um, there's a pink Sylvia too, and I really like that one. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

It's like a true pink. What about um well, we all know Cathaola. That's probably the pro the most well-known dahlia.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Is um I have a love-hate relationship with her.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

I know they're not as productive.

SPEAKER_03 10:17

Well, and they're not consistent. They're hard to net and the bugs love them.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Hard to design with. That they're really pretty.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Um I have on the anemone variety, I have in my cart right now Kelsey sunshine. I've heard of that.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

I don't remember what it looks like. Um there's so many kinds, guys.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Like, yeah, I also really want to add Karma Serena. Heard of that one in my variety. Um, and I want to grow a little bit more of the um pom pom varieties. So I have zippity doodah in my cart. That sucks. Which is like a cute little button pink. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Um that would be fun. And then I was that a bird. No.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

I have no idea. We just had like a flash of light. Did I I have no idea what just happened. It's fine. It's fine.

SPEAKER_03 11:14

We'll just pretend it didn't happen. I have Jesse G in my cart. Ooh, I've grown that one before. Premium Pete.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Um, I just bought a pack from a local farm here called Flying Dirt Farms. Um and I bought the Soft Sunset one, which is a bunch of peachy and oranges. Um, so Castle Drive is in there. There's one called 20th Avenue Memory.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Never heard of it.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

I know. I had not I had never heard of it either. And then um just some other like golden ones. There's one called Oretti Adele. Um, so I had not heard of any of these previously, but I was I I was just feeling like I'm gonna miss out if I don't have it.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Oh, the 20th Avenue memory is very beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah, look at Oretti Adele. So this one's like a peachy apricot red. So we're gonna post some of these photos so that you guys can see them on our Instagram. Um, we'll label the varieties and then I love Natalie G.

SPEAKER_03 12:17

Oh yeah. Natalie G. She the one of these pictures reminds me of that. Um wait. Yeah. Natalie G? Sweet Natalie. Sweet Natalie. Those are two different ones, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

They are not. This is not telling you of sweet Natalie. There's Natalie. There's thousands and thousands and thousands of dahlias. Yeah. Natalie is like a uh like a light coral peachy.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

I like both.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Sweet Natalie.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

It's important that when you search for these, you type in Dahlia. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Because Natalie G just showed up as not a dahlia. Natalie G is very pretty. Um yeah, you can pretty much find every color, and honestly, after a while, it's sort of like crazy that the unicorn varieties still exist because they sort of all look like you can find them.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

I mean, some of them are kind of like I don't know. Like people go gaga for the KA varieties. Oh, yeah, KA varieties. I've never spent the money on them.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

I was gonna say, who um I'm too irresponsible of a I'm just I'm not gonna be able to get it. Yeah, that's for certain because I have never gotten mine to live another year.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

So I could only justify it if that was like all I grew and I was really, really into it and I was good at follow-up, and I'm not.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I'm telling myself that this year I am going to dig them up. I'm going to put them all in one bed and I am going to dig them up.

SPEAKER_03 13:46

It pains me to know how many dahlias I could have right now if I just properly saved them. Because I look at my old pictures and I'm like, I don't want to think about it. I definitely haven't had that in years.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

I know. I say I say I'm really bad at growing them, but I have pictures that are pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_03 14:02

And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like peaches and cream. Yeah. Where did all my peaches and cream go?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Oh, that's glorious. That's pretty. What's that one? This one's called Palmaris, which I've never heard of. But it's literally peach with pink on the tops and like in stripes throughout, but it's a ball variety of it.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

I definitely like the ball variety. That and the water lily, I think, are my two favorites.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah. I I love water lily because I think that one is much more like the ball ones are cool, but I think the water lily shape is just so much prettier to me.

SPEAKER_03 14:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

But the balls are nice because they last so much longer.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Have you seen the ones where people like are calling them the peony dahlia? Like they're they're vaguely heard the heads like are more upright and the petals kind of like fold in. They're like a to me, they're like a water lily that hasn't really opened all the way. Oh, interesting. They're very roughly.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Yeah, honestly, they take every form. There's there's the anemone style, there's the water lily style, there's the ball style, there's the breeding is so diverse and like new stuff can be. The open center, what would you call those?

SPEAKER_03 15:16

I call them the anemones, but are those still anemones?

SPEAKER_01 15:19

I don't think that's proper. I was gonna say I didn't bring my value book with me, but there are tons of types, so it's really just a matter of what you think looks nice and what you want to do.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

Just make sure if you want like a cut variety, you're not buying the dwarf. Oh, another one that's very popular and prolific, David Howard. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

And that's another orange, right? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

That one I've got to do. I've definitely got it.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

Um, the gardens in England. Like the Hyde Park.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

There's another one. Dinner plate is another that's what um cafe Olay is.

SPEAKER_03 15:55

But cafe is like kind of small in comparison to some of them, the dinner plates. Some of the dinner plates actually get to be the size of a dinner dinner plate. Like they're huge.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

My sister grows one that I gave her. It's Michaela Miranda. It's like a lavender and white. That is a huge huge bloom.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Okay, so there's actually a lot of types. Okay, here I'm gonna read you. Oh my gosh. Okay, here's the shapes of dahlias. There's the ball, which are fully double sphere shaped, uh, 3.5 inches or larger. There's a pompon, which is perfectly globular and two inches or less. Yeah. There's a formal decorative, which are double blooms with broad, flat, open, blunt petals arranged in regular, uniform layers.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

I think I normally grow those.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Uh informal decorative, which are double blooms with wavy, twisted, or curvy petals. A cactus, which is the fully double with really narrow and tubular, sort of pointy and spiky petals. And within that, there's three different types of cactus ones.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

Actually, I will say there's one of those that I do like.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

What one?

SPEAKER_03 17:04

Star Child.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

Star Child.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

Oh, yes. And I really want to get my hands on her, but is it dark colored? Mm-mm. She looks just like a daisy. She's like the little white one that has a yellow center. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

We'll have a photo of her on the Instagram. Starchild. Starchild. Um laciniated petals are split and twist at the tips. Don't know those. Water lily, which are the symmetrical, shallow, flat-backed blooms. Um stellar, which are the star-like appearance, narrow-pointed.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Maybe Starchild's a stellar.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Um a single, which is a daisy-like one, which are the sort of open center ones. Anemones, which are have a bunch of dense petals in the center. Um, sort of like I guess an anemone. Um a collarette, which is a large row of outer pell petals with an inner row of the collar. So that's what florets is, is the collarette. Collerette.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Yes. I've been calling them an enemy. They're not, they're collarettes.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Okay. And then the peony ones, which are two or more rows with a partly open center. And then there's an orchid one.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Oh, I didn't know those were an official variety.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Yeah, it's a peony type. And then there's an orchid type, which is a single row of petals that are rolled backward to look like a pinwheel. And then an orchette, which is similar to the orchid flower, but with the collar of inners. Wow. Okay. Oh my gosh. And then dinner plate micro petal structure structure. There's like other like pieces and parts to it, which is it's crazy. And dahlia breeding is like a whole other thing.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

It's a whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

It is. There's like an official dahlia society.

SPEAKER_03 18:54

Yeah. That's like people are attractors all over the United States, and they yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

I I think a lot of flowers actually have that. Like orchids have that, roses have that. But I think the breeding is a little bit more intense in the dahlias because you can do it. It just and you can use it. Relatively quickly, too. Exactly. It doesn't take seven years like it does roses. Although there are still people who breed their own roses too.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

I just wanted to correct myself that Star Child is not an orchid. They're orchid.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

An orchid style.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Do you have a picture of it real quick? Okay, cute. No. Oh, yeah, that is pretty. She's just really little and cute and perfect.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

I would say that one would be good for design work, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

But I would say if you are feeling in the mood to go out and get yourself some daily tubers, do it. Just remember, you know, like if you live in a climate that is not as warm as an eight, if you like us, we're we're in a six, but you need to dig them up. It could be a five. I don't know. You gotta dig them up. And so just know that any money you put into them, it's you know, not a guarantee that they live more than one year. You can do your best, and we'll do an episode on how to save them.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Yeah, we have we have a couple dahlia episodes now.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

And you'll plant them when you plant your tomatoes.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

Like they do need to warm for plenty.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

But you you can get them started earlier too. You can start seeds now. If you want to, if you want like a low cost intro to dahlia's, buy a seed packet of them because it's just so much more cost effective and you don't feel so bad when they die.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

And if there is a variety that you're like, oh, I really want to have this again, then you can dig up that tuber. Yes. Um I would highly recommend uh doing the seed packet, but also finding a local farmer that will sell them because they are expensive when you buy them from online, but they you can find them a lot cheaper and local places.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

The nice thing about farmers is they they are pretty aware of like um any disease and they cull out the yeah, they know what to look for in terms of what ones are healthy and what ones are not. You can pretty much pr trust that the ones you get are gonna grow and if you go pick them up, you don't have to pay shipping. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

That's that's the idea.

SPEAKER_03 21:20

I'm motivated to start dahlias again.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Except I'm like, man, I really want to make I'm I'm determined to have mine live through the next winter. So I will dig them up and we'll be talking about it.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

I really need to check on mine.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yeah, you want to go do that right now? I'm just kidding. If we were at my house might do uh but yeah, just go out, look for daylists, there's so many types. You can pretty much get inspired with any type. There's every color, like every color but blue, I'd say.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Um if you see a blue one, it's not gonna be blue. It's not a real dahlia.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

It's not real. Get off that website.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

Go grab yourself.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Get off that website.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Go grab yourself some and see for yourself just how beautiful and fun they are to grow. Seriously.

SPEAKER_03 22:12

All right. See you next time. Bye. Hey, thanks for listening to our podcast. If you want to follow us on social, find us at Gals Who Grow Podcast on Instagram and follow us on Spotify or your favorite podcast app.