HAWLEY, PA  — Eva Schwartz, executive director of Outdoor Nurture, gave a presentation to The Country Gardeners on June 5 about dahlia cultivation. Outdoor Nurture is an educational nonprofit in Greeley, that supports the operation of small organic community farms and gardens. Staff currently operate Hickory Heart Meadow Farm, an educational farm, and teach others how to grow food, flowers and medicinal herbs. According to Schwartz, Outdoor Nurture’s goal is to nurture people, plants and the planet by providing space for people to find joy in nature without pressure to achieve or compete.

Jessie Caccavale, a member of Schwartz’s team, shared some background on dahlias with the group. She said dahlias are a flower native to Mexico and are the national flower. They were originally used as a source of food, then as a garden flower. Introduced to Europe by Spanish colonists, they were acclaimed for their beauty, especially in England among the aristocracy. 

There are 57,000 known varieties of dahlias and 130 distinct dahlias at Hickory Heart Meadow Farm. According to Caccavale, they come in different shapes, such as the waterlily and the peony. They come in every color and color combination imaginable, except for blue. Dahlias range in size from tiny ones that can be planted in window boxes to large ones the size of dinner plates.

The group was asked to come up to two tables, which had tuber clusters of the “Sonic Boom” dahlia laid out. A dahlia tuber has three main parts to create a viable plant: the tuber or body, the neck and the crown. Eva and Jessie instructed everyone how to cut the tubers away from the clusters, so that they could have a viable tuber to take home and plant in their garden or container. The group learned that when cutting tubers, they needed to ensure they had a tuber body, neck, crown and an eye, which are small buds that emerge from the crown and will grow into new shoots.

Tubers cannot be left in the ground over the winter, since they are not frost tolerant in this area. They should be dug up in the fall, ideally in November, separated and stored over the winter. The best location to store tubers is in a dark garage or basement, no colder than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. They can be replanted in the spring after the first frost. 

For further information, visit www.outdoornurture.org or check out www.youtube.com/@DahliaLoveClub. Currently, dahlia tubers are not being sold, since it is late in the season; however, they will be available next year.

The Country Gardeners will next meet on Thursday, July 10 at 1 p.m. at the Wallenpaupack Environmental Learning Center, 126 Lamberton Lane in Hawley. They will have a presentation on beekeeping by Virginia Jurkowski, beekeeper and member of the Wayne County (PA) Beekeeping Association.

Contributed by The Country Gardeners.