Planting Dahlias in Your Summer Landscape

Bren Haas
March 27, 2016
1:59 am
One Comment
Creative Growing, Cut Flowers, Flowers, Gardening in Ohio, Spring Gardening
bulbs, dahlia, easy, gardening, hardiness zone, how to, late summer, Philadelphia Flower Show, Planting, spring, summer color, today, tuber, tubers

The blooms on the Dinner Plate Dahlias can be intimidating at the garden centers; trust me! Every year I would admire them when I worked at a garden center thinking I could never grow that! In this post, I show how easy it is to grow these beautiful plants and how to overcome that fear. This post is all about Planting Dahlias in the Summer Landscape.

Getting Started

Before planting your first dahlia out in the landscape you want to take a few notes about the space you wish to grow in. below are a few key points about planting dahlias in the landscape.

Location

Strategically planting Dahlias in the Landscape — Strategically plant dahlias in the landscape next to the tulips that are dying back. As the dahlia grows it covers the spent leaves of the spring bloom.

Dahlia tuber/plant love to be planted in full sun and well-drained soil. The plant doesn’t do well in the hot hardiness zones such as Florida or Texas but could be grown in a container. In Ohio, I plant them in mostly late afternoon soon. A few I have success growing in shaded by dinner time during the dog days of summer.

Shapes and Sizes

There are many different shapes and sizes of dahlia plants. Be sure to pay attention to what variety you have. Some do well in borders and others need to be staked so they don’t fall over.

Dahlias in late Autumn — Look behind the bright dahlias.. everything else in the garden has been hit by frost and tired from a long hot summer. The dahlias bloom late in the season providing amazing color.

Planting The Dahlia Tubers

There are many different ways to plant up dahlia tubers. I have planted dahlias successfully in containers to add to the landscape. In this post, I share what has worked for me in my hardiness zone 5b garden. If you have questions or concerns please be sure to leave me a message on my contact page because I am happy to help. One thing to keep in mind when planting the dahlias is to not be afraid to try new locations in the garden. Be sure to keep an eye on the plant to see if it is getting too much water or not enough. Be prepared to enjoy the blooms later in the summer – they do take a few months of warm weather to produce a bloom.

Step One

Read the package the tuber arrived in! The grower or company that sells them usually labels how deep the hole should be. I found that digging a 5-6″ hole works best.

Step Two

Be sure to the soil around the tuber isn’t too wet. You may even avoid mulching where the roots are planted because the plants like to stay dry to grow.

Step Three

FEED the plant… feeding the newly planted tuber can only be a win for you and the plant. Dahlias like low-nitrogen that you use on your vegetable plants like 5-10-10 or 10-20-20. I usually have my broken down horse manure compost mixed in the soil that I backfill the dahlia tuber with. IT WORKS GREAT!

Step Four

As the plant grows to be sure to pay attention if it needs to be staked or if dead leaves need to be pruned back. Keeping the dead leaves off of the plant will keep bad bugs away.

Favorite Dahlias

Below are a few photos of my favorite dahlias that I grow. I am not as big as Dahlia Hill in Michigan but that would be my ultimate dream garden someday!

Party With the Dahlia

A few of my favorite plants that go great with the dahlias in plantings and cut at listed below. I often grow these in my cut flower garden to use in bouquets together.

Roses
Sunflowers
Zinnias
Cosmos
Gomphrena

Let’s Connect

I can’t wait to share with you the new dahlias I just added to my collection. Be sure to connect with me by following my social media listed below. I also would love it if you ask questions by visiting my contact form page. My friends are invited to comment on this blog post with any questions or concerns you may have.

Happy Dahlia Growing,

Bren Haas
Creative Growing, Cut Flowers, Flowers, Gardening in Ohio, Spring Gardening
bulbs, dahlia, easy, gardening, hardiness zone, how to, late summer, Philadelphia Flower Show, Planting, spring, summer color, today, tuber, tubers

One response to “Planting Dahlias in Your Summer Landscape”

The Houseplant Guru says:

at 12:42 pm

I love dahlias, but haven’t planted them in a long time. Probably because I forget to bring them inside to store in the fall. I will try again because they are beautiful!

Reply