We have grown dahlias for over forty years.
There was a time when we shipped dahlias around the world and grew many hundreds of varieties. We specialized in dahlias for the exhibition grower featuring the latest introductions. We learned to grow what the Europeans call “pot tubers”. Rather than planting the dahlia to the field, it spends its life confined to a pot such that it produces a compact tuber that ranges in size from a walnut to baseball size (we prefer the smaller ones as they are easier to ship). We never cut these tubers. Instead you get the entire “clump” complete with the smaller roots that let the dahlia take off quickly once dormancy is broken.
We generally ship these in their pots and we include instructions on how to deal with them. Sometimes the pots are completely full of the tubers and hard to get our without cutting the pot off. And sometimes they are as small as a walnut or so. We have a 99% success rate with pot roots and of course guarantee your satisfaction.
These days we aren’t so focused on the latest varieties. Instead we look for dahlias that are prize winners in their class, but only the ones that are well suited for cut flowers, and the cultivars that are healthy. So instead of many hundreds of different varieties, we now grow no more than a hundred different cultivars. And that gives us a marvelous cut flower garden.
As we get time, we will scan in some of the old catalogs, many from the old Golden Rule Dahlia Farm that we operated in the 80s. It was the oldest dahlia farm in the country, in business since 1923. We have interesting catalogs that are almost a hundred years old. You will be surprised.
We scanned the oldest one we have – 1929. Remember that 1929 was the beginning of the Great Depression: 1929 Golden Rule Dahlia Farm Catalog
