Dandy Dahlias: U-Pick at Jamie’s Dahlias and tips for growing your own

Dahlia fever

Clark County’s dahlia breeder Adrienne Hale, a board member of the Portland Dahlia Society and chief exhibit decide for the American Dahlia Society, first fell in love with dahlias on the Clark County Honest. Her daughter had entered an artwork competitors throughout from a dahlia exhibition. Hale had grown dahlias in her personal backyard for a few years however by no means thought that her flowers may win ribbons.

“I began all of those flowers and there was this one man who stepped into all of those dahlias. I assumed, ‘Nicely, I develop dahlias. If he can, I can, ”mentioned Hale. “So the subsequent yr I put my dahlias on the Clark County Honest. That very same yr – 2012 – there was a nationwide dahlia present in Portland, which was unbelievable. “

She was addicted. She joined the Portland Dahlia Society in 2012 and the American Dahlia Society in 2013, and now she grows award-winning present dahlias in her backyard in northwest Vancouver. A part of the flower’s enduring attraction, along with its lengthy flowering time, is the wide range of flower shapes, sizes and colours.

“It is an unknown quantity, there are such a lot of,” mentioned Hale, who rapidly unwound a dozen flower shapes, together with absolutely double flowers, spheres, miniature spheres, palm bushes, formal decorations, casual decorations, orchids, orchids and water lilies.

Hale had many suggestions for first-time growers. Dahlias develop greatest in well-drained soil with full solar. They like water however can rot if overhydrated, and they won’t survive freezing temperatures. Hale advisable fertilizing on the time of planting, then as soon as a month by way of August. She additionally discovered that tubers multiply as soon as they’re within the floor. So if you happen to plant one tuber, you would possibly find yourself with 5 tubers on the finish of the season – good for sharing with mates or including to your assortment. Hale mentioned she digs up her tubers when it begins raining so she will be able to divide them up and ensure they do not die in the course of the moist, generally snowy, winters within the Pacific Northwest.

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