Dirt Poor Dahlias

I haven’t done much with the flowers this year.

I’ve come to realize that this is far too much for me in life.

Countless hours of digging, diving, labeling , wrapping and storing….there just too much for one person to do when you work full time and have a very busy kiddo.

I put a lot of thought into this and have decided that I’m done with this many dahlias.

I’m still keeping a handful, ok probably more than a handful, but getting them scaled back to my absolute favorites and those that have our family names in them…I even kept a few seedlings…for now.

After a while I’ll take the time to shut the page down. I don’t like being on social media as much as this needs me to be present, which was also a deciding factor.

I want to thank everyone who has loved my flowers, purchased tubers from me at one point or another and has supported me along the way. It’s a bit bittersweet, but there so many other things in life that I need to put my time and energy into and unfortunately, this isn’t one of them.

Another fun 1st year seedling.
Open pollinated
Seed parent Sandia Brocade

One thing I love is collecting names of dahlias to represent the different members of my family.

Here are two new additions to the collection this year:

Marcella Louise for my mom (Marcella) and one for my Uncle Mickey, Mick’s Peppermint.

Someday I’ll have one for every family member. And if I can’t find one that’s already named, then I’ll just have to grow them and name them myself.

So close to ready…..
Planting Tip:
You want your soil temps to be about 60 degrees consistently to plant out your dahlia tubers.
With our nice weather coming up this week…it may just happen soon!

Here is a list of my remaining tubers for sale (see first photo).
Sales will close by May 2nd!

https://dirtpoordahlias.square.site/

This is the last few tubers I have available for sale! Soon it will be time for planting here is the PNW! Get your favorites before they’re gone!

https://dirtpoordahlias.square.site/

Todays featured dahlia is HONKA!!

Honka is a super fun miniature orchid-flowering, bright yellow star! It makes a great pop of color and uniqueness to your bouquets!

I have 5 of these beauties left- all tubers have visible eyes or sprouts!

Get them here before they’re gone for the season!

https://dirtpoordahlias.square.site/

See these tiny tubers? This is why I never give up on the ones that are shriveled, as thin as a pencil, or as long as my finger…these babies want to GROW!! And grow they will…into beautiful plants!

I have several of these “ugly” tubers potted up and they will be for sale once they have broken through the surface…just in time to be planted up in your garden!

I’ll do the work of getting them started- you plant and enjoy!

Lots of varieties still available for sale at

https://dirtpoordahlias.square.site/

Local pick up AND shipping options!

Our spring last year was horrible to say the least- which in turn, turned out some tiny tubers. I’m seeing if these beauties will grow, even though they are the size of my thumb or less. (I should have taken a picture of their size before potting them up 🤦🏼‍♀️.)

Eeekk!!! We are *FINALLY* open! Check out what I have. Local pick up available as well as shipping.

All tubers have a visible eye that get shipped.

I’ll have a “reload” once the rest of these sleeping beauties wake up from their winter slumber!

Happy shopping!!

Dahlia Tubers | Dirt Poor Dahlias Tuber Sales for 2023 now LIVE!!

I’ll be working hard over the next couple weeks getting my tuber inventory completed and website updated!
Tuber sale should open at the end of the month….stay tuned!

Lorinda Nelson on Instagram: "@dirtpoordahlias #letitsnow #farmersdonttakeholidays #pnwsnow" Lorinda Nelson shared a post on Instagram: " ". Follow their account to see 87 posts.

The night before Thanksgiving has me thinking about all the things to be thankful for as I’m listening to my daughter play in the tub while I’m collecting seeds and having a glass (or three) of wine!

Life is full of beautiful chaos. And I have nothing to grumble about.

I’m thankful I have a husband who loves me for me- even when I become a crazy flower lady.

I’m thankful for my daughter who makes me laugh as much as she drives me crazy.

I am thankful for my family and the friends whom I consider my family; they are my lifeline.

I’m thankful for the life God has given me, even when I think it’s too hard.

I hope you all can find something to be thankful for as we enter the holidays this year. Life can be cruel, but keep your head up and look for that glimmer of beauty that’s there!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and may you be blessed this holiday season!

Seed! There are *So* many of them and I have just begun!

I have been asked by a few people if I’d be selling any and I honestly didn’t think I would.

However- there are more seeds this year then I could ever plant next season.

Once I have all my seeds separated from the pods and evaluate what I have, I’ll post what’s available for sale.

💗💐💗🌺💗🌼💗💐💗

Now that all my tubers are divided and put away for the winter, the next stage begins!

I collected seed pods from each of my plants this year and since the frost was hitting, I put them into a vase of water to finish maturing. I have never done this method before, so it will be interesting to see what seeds actually finished developing this way.

My first year that I collected seeds (2020) I happened upon a seed pod, not having a clue what to do with it or that dahlias even grew from seed!

There’s no way I’m planting all these seeds next year…although we technically have the space for them on our farm (if we got rid of the cow pasture and hay field 🤷🏼‍♀️), my husband would for sure put the hard and fast no on that one!

I plan to pick a few each year to grow and see what is a keeper and what isn’t.

Who knows…maybe someday I’ll have seeds available for others to grow and enjoy!

The last of the dahlias have been chopped down for the season. Half of them have been pulled up and divided. These last few will be dug up, divided and stored over the next week. I honestly can’t wait until next season!
Out of 10 2021 seedlings, only 7 have made the cut to be grown a third year.
And out of 28 2022 seedlings, only 4 made the “potential” cut and 4 others that will get a second look next year. All the others were either super ugly or didn’t grow at all.

This bloom barely made the cut! TAS’20 4-21 is the last of the second year seedlings that will get another look next year. She has made it through a light frost and rain over the last week and still managed to give me two pretty blooms.

A few more blooms that made it through our frigid night last night! 🥶
Most of the plants have been cut down today. There are about 15 more to go! 🥴
Blooms today:
~ Tiffany Lynn
~ Willie Willie
~ Verrone’s Obsidian
~ Camano Zoe
~ Jitterbug
~ Tahoma Moonshot

While taking advantage of the weather (not raining), I’ve been busy chopping down all these beauties!
Here’s what I found in my jungle of plants:
~ Shadow Cat (😍)
~ Honka
~ “Rose Pink” my tiny, no named dahlia, that is the size of a quarter!
~ Mingus Toni (red)
~ Gitts Attention
~ Wildcat

Terracotta….one of my favorites! She has been my trouble maker for the last two years and she has *finally* bloomed…just in time to be chopped down of course!

She’s such a pretty one! Definitely worth the work to keep her going!

Checked on the tubers this morning and they were dry enough to wrap.
I’m trying my hand at the suran wrap method this year again. However, I had them drying in the basement where they will live for the winter instead of the shop. I’m hoping that this will have them acclimated to the basement temperature and not start to mold like they did last year. I’m pretty sure that because I wrapped them outside in the shop where it was cold, and then into the basement where it was warmer, that they produced some extra moisture which contributed to them getting moldy. Thankfully I caught it early so I didn’t lose any tubers. I’ll check on these over the next couple days and see if there are any issues.
2 plants down…about 58 more to go! 😵‍💫🤣💗

The first two are out of the ground and divided!