Here at Triple Wren, we specialize in growing dahlias. The beauty and diversity of their blooms have captivated us. We truly enjoy both the rhythm of caring for their roots through the winter and growing their plants well in summer. We’re delighted by propagating vegetatively and by tuber division, and with the beautiful mystery that is dahlia seeds.
We are passionate about growing dahlias well and are committed to doing good in our industry by not only the way we grow, but also by the way we help others grow.
Because of this, in 2019 we began the Triple Wren Legacy Dahlia Program which invites experienced hybridizers to introduce their new varieties and to sell their existing varieties through Triple Wren.
We offer to produce large salable quantities of their varieties (our Legacy Collection), and free them up from mass production so that they can focus on creating.
We have worked hard to build a marketplace and community that can provide our Legacy Program hybridizers with visibility and fair compensation for their craft, and we celebrate and respect them for their unique contributions to the beautiful world of dahlias!
(Bloomquist Whimsical dahlias)
Over the past three years, this program has been very successful, and even as we are inviting more established hybridizers to join, we are beginning to receive a sizable number of requests from new hybridizers asking about how to introduce the dahlias they have grown from our Bloomquist Mix Dahlia Seed packets or Triple Wren Field Crossing Mix Dahlia Seed packets.
Some of the images our seed-growing friends have sent in are exceptionally beautiful, and we are so thrilled to see the fruit of our fields flourishing in your gardens!
Because of this, we’re working on the beginning of a brand-new program here at the farm. More details will follow, but we’re excited to share that beginning summer 2023, Triple Wren will launch a new program here at the farm accepting a limited number of beginner dahlia hybridizers and will help them bring their creations to market.
If you have fallen in love with your dahlia grown from seed this year, and are interested in this program or in simply bringing your own tubers to market, here are a few action steps for you to start with:
1. During the growing season, take photos and keep good records of your first-year seedling. When did it bloom? How productive is it? How would you describe its bloom color, form, foliage color, and plant height? What other notable characteristics does it have?
2. After frost kills back the vegetative portion of your plant in fall, dig, wash, dry and store your tubers properly. Tip: You probably will not need to divide your first-year seedlings’ tuber clump, as it is likely to be very small. At most, divide it in half (although some dahlias are such vigorous tuber producers that you WILL need to divide even in year 1!)
3. The following spring, plant your tubers and label them clearly.
4. When your dahlias bloom, compare the new season’s blooms with your first year blooms. Are your tubers producing the same way they did in the first year from seed? Are you still in love with the flowers, and do you think they’re unique or interesting enough that others will be too? Are the plants vigorous, disease-free, and strong? If yes, then keep taking notes/keeping records and enjoy them all summer, and dig/wash/dry/store overwinter again. Tip: Consider asking a friend who has enjoyed past success with storing dahlia tubers to overwinter some of your precious tuber divisions as a failsafe.
5. In spring, plant your tubers again and label them well. You should have several of tubers by this point!
6. When your dahlias bloom, compare the blooms and plant habit across the whole section of dahlias. Do you see a uniformity in their performance? Do the plants and blooms look the same from year to year? Are you still in love with his dahlia? If yes, then it’s time to consider naming it (if you haven’t already!) and finding a way to share it with the world.
We’ll be providing more information about our advice on how to do this, whether you take the route of entering the dahlia into an ADS Trial Garden (recommended if it fits recognized ADS judging criteria) or going directly to market (recommended if a dahlia does not fit the judging criteria BUT is proven stable over at least 3 growing seasons AND makes your heart flutter every time you see it!), but for now we hope that the information above will be enough to get you started if you are interested in becoming a dahlia hybridizer!
If you’d like more scientific, detailed, and well-organized information on hybridizing dahlias, we highly recommend Kristine Albrecht’s book Hybridizing Dahlias for the Farmer-Florist and the home Gardener: A Step by Step Guide to Hybridizing New Dahlia Varieties From Seed.
(Irish Pinwheel dahlias)
If you would like to be on our email list for more information about this upcoming Triple Wren program or more tutorials about hybridizing dahlias from seed to tuber distribution, please email [email protected] and ask to be included in the New Hybridizers group.
Happy growing, flower friends!
Bloomquist Golden 
Salish Twilight Girl
