After months of waiting, it’s incredible to think that Discovering Dahlias will be officially out in the world in just one short week!
In preparation for our big book launch on March 9, I’ve been signing thousands of pre-order copies, which the shop ladies are packaging up at the speed of light, and we also just finished shipping special gift boxes to members of the press, book buyers, and industry influencers.
We always get so many questions about these special boxes and their coveted contents, so I thought it would be fun to highlight what’s included and raffle off some of these deluxe dahlia-inspired goody boxes here.
Below you can read a little more about each item and the talented makers behind them.
I have long admired Michelle Gardella, who is a public school art teacher, award-winning photographer, and writer based in Austin, Texas. In addition to her many other talents, Michelle is a gifted potter. She handmade a beautiful honeydew-colored vase with fresh cut dahlias in mind.
I’ve been a friend and fan of Rhiannon for many years and was so excited when she rekindled her passion for soapmaking and launched a line of specialty small batch soap that she now sells through her online shop.
This beautiful bar is lightly scented with lavender, peppermint, and rosemary, and sprinkled with petals collected and dried from Floret’s dahlia field.
Floret Dahlia Honey from Z’s Happy Bees
I discovered Z’s Happy Bees through our local beekeepers association, and Andrea and her family brought a dozen of their hives to spend the summer on the farm so the bees could help pollinate our flower seed crops. This jar of extra-special honey came from our dahlia field and is pure magic.
When we launched my second book, A Year in Flowers, my friend Steve Moore sent me the most thoughtful gift of exquisite sugar cookies inspired by the book’s pages—that’s when I first learned of Morgan Gaunt. Morgan is incredibly talented, and her cookies are mini works of art.
On top of being beautiful, they are delicious too. In addition to creating custom cookies, Morgan teaches online baking and cookie-decorating classes.
Floret’s Discovering Dahlias Seed Mix
This past season I purposefully let all of the dahlias in my personal breeding patch go to seed in the hopes of creating a special packet for the launch of Discovering Dahlias. Seeds from this magical mix will produce flowers in a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors — no two plants will be the same!
To learn more about how to start dahlias from seed, open to page 85 when your book arrives.
Floret’s Dahlia Planning Cards
We grew more than 800 dahlia varieties when we were writing Discovering Dahlias and narrowed down our top picks to 360 to feature in the Variety Finder section starting on page 137.
To help dahlia lovers visually plan their patch, we turned this section of the book into a printable set of dahlia planning cards. Each card contains a color photo, the variety name, flower color, flower type, and bloom size. You can download your own printable set here.
As we celebrate the release of Discovering Dahlias, we’re giving away ten of these Deluxe Dahlia Goody Boxes. To enter to win, please comment below telling me something you’re looking forward to this spring. Please note: If your comment doesn’t show up right away, sit tight; we have a spam filter that requires we approve comments before they are published.
Winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 16.
Update: A huge congratulations to our winners: Jessica, Tara, Ava Taylor, Emily, Ras Gupta, Lisa Towson, Christy Hales, Rebecca K., Lori Johnson, and Chelsea Fontana.
Jenise Powell on
I’m so looking forward to seeing my spring flowers blooming, yellow, pinks and violet. After a long winter of cold weather it’s so hard exciting to be planning for my cut flower garden.