If you’ve noticed the gardens around your neighborhood lately, you’ve probably seen a few dahlias blooming.
Dahlias are in full bloom all summer, until first frost. The distinctive, brightly colored flowers bloom in nearly every color of the rainbow — except blue and green — and range from the tiny pompons to the giant dinner plate-sized blooms.
Dahlias are planted each year in May and thrive in the mild heat of Pacific Northwest summers with the dry days in late summer and temperatures under 80 degrees. When trimmed deeply as flowers fade — “deadheaded” — they keep on blooming spectacularly all season long.
Most of the plants at the Dahlia Garden at Hovander Homestead Park in Ferndale were developed in Whatcom County by local hybridizers. The 70-plus cultivars were carefully chosen to represent the full range of dahlia forms.
Designed, planted and tended by a team of dedicated dahlia fans, the Dahlia Garden even includes a few experimental plants, referred to as seedlings, that could become new favorites in future years. Each year, the arrangement of the flowers around the pathways brings new juxtapositions of the plant varieties and blooms, the better to display the seemingly endless range of plant sizes, foliage, bloom shapes and colors.
The WSU Whatcom County Master Gardeners who volunteer at Hovander welcome visitors each year to showcase the beautiful flowers on Dahlia Day. This year’s Dahlia Day activities will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20 in the Dahlia Garden at Hovander Homestead Park. The event is free and suitable for all ages.
Multiple varieties of dahlias are in full summer bloom at Hovander Homestead Park in August 2023 in Ferndale. (Ron Judd/Cascadia Daily News)
Dahlia team members will offer a demonstration and discussion on how to lift, divide and store dahlia tubers at 11:30 a.m. near the Dahlia Garden. Some seating will be available. Tables with information and examples of dahlia flower forms will be displayed from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be staffed by experts. The “Ask A Master Gardener” table will be staffed by master gardeners with information for answering gardening questions.
Fascinating as the dahlia displays are, it’s the dahlias themselves that visitors come back to see every year.
The Dahlia Garden itself is a spectacular display, alive with the vivid colors of the dahlias. Best of all, Master Gardeners will be carefully cutting the flowers throughout the event and giving them away as free bouquets for garden visitors.
After their day in the spotlight, the dahlias will be cut down and dug up the following week so the tubers can be stored safely away from pests over the winter. Many will be included in next year’s plant sale at Hovander, so be sure to take notes on your favorite cultivars. You just might want to plant one in your garden next year.
Marie Metivier-DeMasters is a Whatcom County master gardener and professional writer. She lives in Bellingham with her husband Bill, a burly black cat named Ollie, in a kitchen garden filled with beds, berries and a small orchard. Marie is a grandmother, musician, mountain biker, quilter, former technical writer, part-time sci-fi writer and passionate garden geek who loves sharing the many benefits of gardening. A gardening column will appear monthly.
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