The weather here in the PNW is starting to turn cooler and wetter, and we know that frost is right around the corner. As we look toward fall and the end of blooms, we wanted to share a few things we’re doing right now to prepare for the end of flower season.

Label Your Dahlias

Now is the time to make sure that all of your dahlias are labeled correctly and labeled well. If you followed our advice and labeled at planting, you may already have a stake next to each variety with the name on it. We recommend double-labeling all your dahlias by either attaching a tag to the base of your plants before harvest (we use surveyor’s tape with the name of the variety written right on it), or by carefully creating a garden map that shows where each dahlia variety is planted. We do all three forms of labeling each fall at our farm, in order to keep our 60,000+ plants organized after frost!

Gather Supplies for Digging and Storing Dahlias

Assess your supplies and decide if you need to purchase more before it’s time to dig. Besides a shovel, digging fork, and loppers, you’ll also need to think about supplies for overwintering your tubers. There are lots of different materials to store tubers in, including our favorite—coarse pine shavings. Make sure you have enough storage bins for your tubers and figure out where you’ll store them. Tubers do best in a dark area that stays below 50F. If you need more info about how to dig tubers, you can find that here.

Prepare a Way to Clean Your Tubers

If you grow very many dahlias at all, you’ll thank yourself for taking the time to set up a tuber washing and drying station before it’s time to start digging. We rinse our tubers on wire grates set up off the ground so that water and dirt can easily run off. You’ll also need a place for your tubers to dry out before tucking them away for the winter. 

Washing your dahlias isn’t required, unless you need to remove all the soil to meet shipping requirements between states or provinces. You can alternatively brush off or blow off the dirt with compressed air before storing.

Take Final Pictures and Notes About the Blooms

Now is the time to gather any other bloom information you need. This tip won’t necessarily apply to those of you that just grow for fun. For others of you that have a flower business or are hybridizing dahlias, you’ll want to confirm that you have all of the pictures and notes you need about each seedling or variety. (If you need a good way to take notes about dahlias that you’re hybridizing, make sure to check out our new Dahlia Seedling Resource. It’s free!) Also take note of what went well and what didn’t this growing season so you can make adjustments in your garden next season. 

Collect Dahlia Seeds

Growing dahlias from seed is always an adventure because you never know what you’ll get! If you’d like to try hybridizing your own dahlias, let some of your best dahlias produce seeds and then harvest the seed pods before the frost. If you’d like to learn more about harvesting seeds and hybridizing dahlias, we’ve written about it extensively here on our blog.