This spring we planted 13,000 dahlias from seed that we collected last autumn. The hope is that we can start hybridizing new varieties with the colors and flower forms floral designers, flower farmers and gardeners are after. Dahlias grown from tubers or cuttings are an exact clone of the parent plant but dahlias grown from seed are a crazy mix that you really have little to no control over. I’ll share the whole process soon so you can try your hand at dahlia breeding if you want.
I had to stand in the bed of the truck to take the photo above since many of the seedlings in our dahlia breeding field are 6+ feet tall. It’s a jungle out there!
We’re also knee deep in writing a book all about dahlias and I’m so excited to have a place to pour everything I’ve learned about these amazing flowers over the last 15 years.
This week we harvested 650 different dahlia varieties, sorted them into color order, wrote about them, graded them and photographed them for a new book we’re writing all about dahlias. It was an all hands on deck project and thanks to Team Floret we made amazing progress. Below is a photo that captures what life looks like right now: Jill writing with me about flowers and Chris taking pictures of them in the background. I can’t wait to show you everything we captured!
The goal of the #AYearInFlowers project is to highlight and celebrate what’s blooming in gardens across the globe each week.
How to participate in #AYearInFlowers
1) Capture.
Take a photo of flowers that currently are in season in your area, whether it is a fistful of flowers from your backyard or a bouquet from your local farmers market.
2) Post.
On Instagram, upload your photo and tag it with #AYearInFlowers;
On Facebook, upload your photo as a comment under my weekly post.
3) Share.
In your photo caption, please share what flowers are featured (if you know them) along with your location and date. Bonus points for listing your USDA hardiness zone and week number (i.e. #week33flowers)
Here are a few submissions from this week:
Blooming in Sioux Center, Iowa:
Blooming in Nutana Saskatoon:
Blooming in Seabeck, Washington:
Blooming in Alton Bay, New Hampshire:
Blooming in Archbold, Ohio:
A note about week numbers: week numbers are commonly used in the floriculture industry and are standardized across the years. This is the 33nd week of the year.
By using the #week33flowers hashtag on Instagram, you can sort photos by what’s in bloom this week all around the world. In addition, week numbers allow you to compare what’s blooming in your own garden from year to year.
Next week, I’ll be posting my week 34 flowers to social media and also here on the blog along with a selection of other participants’ photos. If you’re participating on Instagram, please add the #week34flowers and #AYearInFlowers hashtags to your caption. Be sure to also include your zone and where you’re located in the caption.
Thanks for playing along!
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