Once you purchase your dahlia…either grow it in a pot or plant in your garden,
They flower for months, so when everything else in the garden is starting to fade in late summer, they’ll still be going strong. Find out how to grow dahlias.
Choosing your dahlias
Dahlias range in size from giant to dwarf, some reaching over 2m (6.5ft) tall with dinner-plate-sized blooms, while others grow to just 30cm (1ft) high and make fabulous container plants. There’s a range of different flower types too, including spiky-looking cactus dahlias, huge multi-petalled decorative dahlias and neat round pompom dahlias. If you’re looking for bee-friendly flowers, single dahlias are your best bet, with a single row of petals around an open centre that’s easy for pollinators to reach.
Growing dahlias in pots outdoors is a simple solution when space is limited. Fill the containers with multipurpose compost, add a slow-release fertilizer like Osmocote, and plant the tubers 10cm (4in) deep.
Caring for dahlias
- Feed plants fortnightly with a balanced liquid feed and water regularly, especially in dry periods.
- Once plants start flowering, feed fortnightly with a high potassium feed like Tomorite.
- Slugs love dahlias, so protect your plants with pet-friendly slug pellets or make evening patrols with a torch to find and destroy marauding slugs.
- Deadhead regularly to encourage the plants to produce more flowers.
- Dig up tubers after the first frost. Brush off surplus soil and hang the tubers up for a couple of weeks to dry. Then pack them into a box, covered in moist sand, and store somewhere cool and frost-free over winter. These can then be planted outside again the next year once frosts have gone
Check out our Dahlias in store that have been grown here at Barn Farm Plant.s
