Hey friends! It’s the beginning of “seed saving season” here at our farm, and one of the top questions we get this time of year centers on how to save seed from dahlias that don’t have open centers.
It’s easy to see how saving seed from open-center varieties like collarettes, orchid-form dahlias, or even anemone-form dahlias is doable, but fully double dahlias are a totally different story. Check out our video below to see our best tips for success with saving seeds from your favorite decorative-form dahlias.
Top 3 takeaways:
- Remember that given time, fully double dahlias will mature and the petals will recede to expose their reproductive parts to pollinators.
- If you feel the petals aren’t falling away quickly enough as the bloom fades, you can help them out by gently tugging them away from the center. (Some growers take preemptive strikes by cuttings the bulk of the petals away from the blooms they set aside for saving seeds, but this is not essential for success.)
- Remove closed seed pods from rainy weather if you feel they won’t have time to dry in the garden. (We dry about half of our harvested seeds on the plants and end up pulling in the other half after our PNW fall rains begin.)
