The Art of Saving Dahlia Seed

Anyone who grows dahlias can save dahlia seeds, but experienced growers tend to develop their unique methods for saving and collecting dahlia seeds. Their specific methods yield the fantastic results we see in their hybrids over and over.

There are several ways to influence the results of hybridization, and since dahlias have way more chromosomes than most other flowers, it can feel like the sky’s the limit in the “lottery” of what can happen. In our membership community The Garden, we have a space called the “Hybridizer Hub” dedicated to exploring and explaining all the things that go into hybridizing a new dahlia. From identifying the seed-making parts of the plant to exploring the theories that our different Legacy Program hybridizers use when creating their hybrids, we’re creating an interactive, information-rich space for aspiring dahlia creators to learn and grow.

Steve and Sandy Boley

Steve and Sandy Boley, of Whatcom County, Washington, own Birch Bay Dahlias and plant their dahlia forms in small garden areas roughly 500 feet apart. They grow ball forms and mini balls in one section, pompoms in another, waterlily forms in another, etc. and save seeds from each plot separately. The Boleys have found that each form holds the genetic material for its form as a dominant trait. They let the bees pollinate for them, and the proof of how well this method works is easily seen in their gardens, as their seedling rows in each section are largely true to form. When I first heard of this method, I was honestly a little skeptical, since we also keep bees here at Triple Wren, and we know how widely they can forage! But bees are not the only pollinators at work, and even they, given plenty of nectar-filled blooms, can be opportunistic feeders. Pollinators don’t have a big need to range across the 500’ of grass between the plots at Birch Bay Dahlias to mix the pollen from different forms when they have a buffet of all they need close at hand. The Boleys are the creators of Irish dahlias, Sandia dahlias, SB’s dahlias, Ms. Dahlias, and more, and their beautiful creations speak for themselves and show that this method of hybridization is a fantastic option. We are honored to offer a growing number of their hybrids as dahlia tubers as part of our Legacy Program!

Erin Benzakein

Another amazing hybridizer is eternally curious and endlessly creative Erin Benzakein, at Floret in Mount Vernon, WA. She has explored the results of many methods of dahlia hybridization, and her wonderful book Discovering Dahlias: A Guide to Growing and Arranging Magnificent Blooms includes a wealth of information about how to hybridize dahlias. Among other things, over the years we’ve seen Erin explore sequestering dahlias in small hoop houses, allowing bees to cross-pollinate in her selective variety fields, and more recently, flysolation tents to keep highly active pollinators limited to specific varieties. Her amazing Floret series of dahlia seeds is a glorious sight, and proof that hybridization can take many forms and still yield phenomenal results. Erin and her team released so many Floret Original seeds in 2024 – not just her amazing dahlias but also zinnias and celosia. These seeds grow stunning, truly breathtaking blooms in thousands of gardens, and we are SO excited to grow some ourselves while we watch the beauty spread from the magic Floret across the world! Have a few minutes and want to deep dive into the adventure of seed hybridization with Erin? Enjoy Floret’s latest film, all about their Original Seed Collection!

Paul Bloomquist

Paul Bloomquist, of Lynden, Washington, relies on his decades of seed-saving experience to know which dahlias produce the best seed. He creates a small garden each year of these favorite varieties and lets the bees cross-pollinate them to get seed that reliably produces amazing blooms. In our fields over 300 of the 800 named varieties are Bloomquists because Paul is such an organized and prolific creator. We are honored to offer several of his hybrids as dahlia tubers and tissue cultured, virus-tested rooted cuttings (still available today in our online store!) as part of our Legacy Program. He holds the information about his magic variety combination garden closely, but you can begin to build your own by recording which seed from which blooms produce the best germination, and which “mother” varieties are producing the forms and colors you like best. The more seasons of records you keep, the better your results will be!

Kristine Albrecht

If you’ve explored hybridizing at all, you likely are familiar with the amazing Kristine Albrecht and her Santa Cruz Dahlias. She is an experienced ADS dahlia judge and backyard hybridizer who has created some of the most in-demand varieties currently available, and she has carefully documented her methods in two wonderful books. Her Dahlia Breeding for the Farmer-Florist and the Home Gardener: A Step by Step Guide to Hybridizing New Dahlia Varieties From Seed, and DAHLIAS: Seed to Bloom: The Dahlia Grower’s Companion, both of which are invaluable for learning her method of hand-pollinating dahlias. We are honored to offer several of her hybrids as dahlia tubers and tissue cultured, virus-tested rooted cuttings (still available today in our online store!) as part of our Legacy Program!

Triple Wren Seeds

At Triple Wren, our dahlia seeds are pollinated by the bees and other pollinators who enjoy the blooms and benefit from their pollen and nectar, and we have a grand time saving them and growing thousands of them out. We’re always on the lookout for special “keeper” varieties, but we also simply enjoy the beauty of rows of random, unexpected beauty, and the thrill of knowing we are growing varieties that don’t exist anywhere else in the whole, wide world.  In past years, we’ve planted out dahlias by color, by hybridizer, and in 2025, we’re experimenting with planting them by form, and we can’t wait to see what happens when we save seed at look at the results in summer 2026.

If you’d like to grow your own dahlia seeds, we’ll be having our annual seed sale later this month. This year we collected, organized, and cleaned enough dahlia seed from specific seed-parent varieties at the farm to share! This means we are now offering seeds from about 40 unique dahlia varieties in our Winter Seed Sale alongside our Bloomquist Mix Dahlia Seed and Triple Wren Farm Crossing Dahlia Seeds. so watch your email for that sale announcement, and watch our social media and blog as we grow these seed parent-specific varieties out at the farm this summer and show you what kind of blooms we get!