- In this video, I'm gonna show you everything you need to know to get started with one of the most beautiful flowers in the world, Dahlias. This video is sponsored
by flowerbulbs.com, but more on that later. So, dahlias, they are
native to Meso-America, so Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, but really well known in
the high plains of Mexico, where they are the national
flower, and they are insane. There are 40 different species of dahlia, and believe it or not,
57,000 different cultivars, for one specific reason,
dahlias are in the same family as sunflowers, daisies, and zinnias, but they have something really incredible that few plants share, and that would be they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, which is a botanically
nerdy way of saying, "way more ways that those
genetics can be combined to form some of the incredible
variants in height, size, flower shape, color, et
cetera, that you see." That's why there are
57,000 different cultivars, because they breed so readily. You would think with that many
varieties, tens of thousands, that there would be a
blue dahlia, but, in fact, that is still currently
genetically impossible to produce a true blue dahlia. In fact, in 1846, there was a competition to see if any breeder out
there could develop one. And, while people have gotten close, there is still no such
thing as a true blue Dahlia. So, if that ever comes out, you better believe I'll be growing it. When the Spanish first came to Mexico and discovered the dahlia, the native peoples there were using it, not just as a beautiful flower, but also cutting the stems
and using those as straws. And then, of course, the
tubers are actually edible, whether they're gathered from the wild, or cultivated for that purpose. Dahlias made their way
back to Europe in 1789, when the director of the
Botanical Gardens of Mexico sent plant parts to the
director of the botanical garden in Madrid, and they quickly
spread throughout Europe, to the point where the first
new dahlia species in Europe was developed just about
15 years later in 1804. Because there are so many different types, the Royal Horticulture
Society had to classify them into 14 different groups based on the flower shape and
the florets, single-flowered, anemone-flowered, collarette,
waterlily, decorative, ball, pompon, cactus,
semi-cactus, miscellaneous, fimbriated, single orchid,
double orchid and peony-flowered. What I'm getting at here, guys, is if you like a particular
flower, shape, size, or color besides blue, dahlias
are the plant for you. So, let's figure out how to plant them. Although you can cultivate
dahlia from seed, and that's how all the
breeding takes place, if you grow it from tubers,
or clusters of tubers, you're going to get a genetic
copy of the plant last season. So, it's a good way to preserve. Let's say I love this beautiful, sort of, orange-ish red dahlia. If I use that tuber, and
plant it somewhere else, I'll have the exact same
plant come out next season. So, let's take a look at this. This is a cluster of tubers. Here's an individual
tuber off of the same one. This one just fell off. Now, anatomically you've got a tail. So, this is the trailing off piece. You have the meat of the tuber right here, the neck, and then they all
come together to form a crown. That crown is just where they all meet, right before the main stock, which, in this example, isn't quite clear. So, I'll grab this example here. And, take a look how all
of the dahlia tuber necks, kind of, cluster right here, and you've got this little
chopped off main stock that would've shot up, and that's where all the
growth would come out of. So, the magic piece you
really want to be looking for are the eyes coming out right
around that crown point. This is where the new
growth, and on this variety, you can even see that
new growth coming in. That is the special sauce
when planting a tuber. If you wanna plant by tuber,
you can do it two ways. You can plant the entire clump, and there's absolutely
nothing wrong with that. The benefit of that, is that you're guaranteed gonna
get something that comes up. If I just plant one tuber like this, well, if it doesn't have an eye,
then it won't come up at all. This one does. But, if something goes wrong with it, you're just gonna have a little patch where nothing comes out. So, if I really wanted to split this up into its own single tubers, I just need to make sure
that I'm including an eye on every single one. So, I've got an eye right there. I'm gonna go ahead and make a chop. This one should be completely
fine, so should this one. And, as long as I've got
an eye, again, I'm good. So, you know, it might
be tempting, let's say, to cut this tuber off right
where it starts to neck. But, if I did that I'd be
missing this little piece, right here, which of course
is how it's going to grow. So, again, being very
delicate, coming through and chopping it off right about there. I've got the tuber, I've
got the eye, I'm good to go. But, if you're in a warm zone, zones 8+, you can just plant this, and
then leave it in the ground, ideally forever, and it'll
just keep coming up over, and over again, over the seasons. It just doesn't get cold
enough to freeze the tuber, and damage them over the winter. In a cold zone, you're
gonna have to dig them up if you want to preserve them. I will say, these probably
run about the same cost as your annual ornamental plants. So, if you want to not deal with it, go ahead and just leave 'em
in the ground, they'll die, you can replant them, no big deal. Of course, you're just gonna
have to pay a little more for that. So, let's get to planting these guys. First, let's talk about how
to plant a dahlia tuber, in general. And, I'm gonna use the
raised bed as an example, 'cause it's basically
just a huge container. So, this would apply for
container gardening, as well. What you want to do is select an area with 8+ hours of sunlight,
rich, well-draining soil. They do not want to sit in moisture, to the point where I'm actually
not even gonna water these in, after I plant them in. So, what I want to do if I'm
just doing a single tuber like this, is I'm gonna grab it, I'm gonna lay it on its side,
and I'm gonna look for the eye to be pointing upwards. It doesn't really matter that much, but if we're being particular, pointing upward is just
gonna give it an easier shot at life. So, in I go, about four
to six inches deep. I don't need to get too
fancy or too precious here. I've cleared that area out. Let me go ahead and orient,
in I go, facing to the side. Most of these you want to
give at least about 18 inches, or so. And, timing-wise, you need
to wait until the soil is 60 Fahrenheit, or 15 Celsius, or warmer up until that point, you
can still grow dahlias but you can grow 'em in little containers. So, you could plant this
tuber in a small container, let it size up, even
put it under a heat mat, kind of, like you do with a
tomato before you plant it out, and then go ahead and transplant it out. It really doesn't want to deal
with too cold of soil temps. Clump-wise, I'm just going
to orient it like this. I'm just gonna, kind of,
drop the clump right in. Not stress too much, plant it
probably just a tad deeper, and then backfill around it. Now, I've got a couple
different varieties, 'cause why plant the same thing. This one here is color spectacle. Whoop, this is a semi-cactus variety. So, I'll go in with
another clump right here. This is that main stock. So, again, maybe point that guy up. Here, I'll go in with the
temple of beauty, a decorative. With 57,000 cultivars, I feel
like I'd run out of things to call these. So, I'm just gonna lay these out. Here, I'll put a tuber here, tuber here. So, this will be the same three varieties. Trying to follow my own spacing rolls. I feel like I always tend to space things too tight together, and you gotta just chill
out, and let the plants grow. So, water-wise, when
this starts to come up, you want to give it about
an inch of water a week, when they're really growing and blooming, two inches of water. So, they don't want a lot of
water when you plant them out, but as soon as they start to bloom, you really do want to
pick up on that watering. And, you can, if you're
growing pretty large varieties, actually throw a steak in at
the same time as you plant, because you're gonna have
to steak them anyways, to keep them nice and upright. So, what you could do is
take like a bamboo steak, and put it in at the same time, just to make sure you know it's
gonna be perfectly oriented. But, I wouldn't stress about that. I just think maybe it
avoids hitting a tuber. But, again, you could do
it afterwards as well. Now, it's not too different when you're planting in the actual ground, but I'll show you a
trick that helps a lot. So, if you're gonna plant
dahlias in the ground, which can be very beautiful. You can arrange them around
a raised bed, in a pathway, or by a pathway, you
wanna loosen up that soil. We've already loosened this patch. We're gonna plant about, I
don't know, 400 dahlias in here. So, we've loosened it up. But, one way to do it,
is if you have something like a broad fork, you can just come in, and do a brief little
lift, because, again, they don't want to be dealing
with compacted soggy soil. It's the surest way to fail with them. They'll rot out, or get
disease, or something like that. So, you can come in and loosen
to about 10 inches or so, which this broad fork will do. You can, of course, just use a shovel, or use a little trowel, and then you come in and bury
about four to six inches deep. After you've planted your tubers, it's time to wait for them to grow. And, when they get to
this, sort of, stage, there's a couple things you can do. I mentioned staking. Take a look at this plant right here. It's in a small container, and there are two little bamboo steaks with, just, some twine to
corral these blooms upwards, and keep them nice and upright. Now, another thing you could do is prune. You could do a bit of a top or a clip. In this particular case, on
this variety that didn't happen. what they could have done is, at about a foot or so of
growth, like, maybe about here, you might have cut, similar
to how you might prune basil to bush it up, right here. And, this would've forced
some bushiness out. So, let's say you had a nice
pot that was a bit wider, and you wanted the
plant, also, to be wide. Then what you would do,
is do that pruning method, instead of coming up right like this. That's sort of just dealer's choice. It's however you want the
plant to be expressed. By the way, all of these flower bulbs, came from flowerbulbs.com, who
is the sponsor of this video. You can take a look at
them for information, for sourcing, and just for education. In fact, I had Peggy Anne Montgomery on "The Epic Gardening Podcast" last year, talking about, not just dahlias, but all different types of flower bulbs, which is something I'm
really trying to get into. I love my edible garden, but
it is getting a little drab, with not a lot of color besides green. So, take a look at that. More care guides for flowers
coming on the channel soon. Stay tuned. Good luck in the garden,
and keep on growing. (electronic hip-hop music)
