The Good Table At Home: Overwintering Dahlias

by Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager for The Good Table

 
 

I’m a big fan of dahlias. I’ve even gone so far as to have them tattooed on my back. They’re my favorite flower, hands down. This past year, I cultivated a dahlia garden with ~16 varietals of dahlias, but now that winter is coming, it’s time to overwinter them!

The Bay Area is in the USDA Hardiness Zone 9A & 9B, so we don’t really have to dig up the dahlias — they’ll survive in the ground with mulch on top of their soil. But I do find that by digging them up and dividing them, I get more blooms the next year.

The process is pretty simple:

  1. Cut them down to the dirt, and wait 2 weeks to let the tubers harden off

  2. Dig up the tubers, brush off the loose dirt, and let them dry out for 2-3 days

  3. Separate them with a sharp tool, making sure you keep the eye and neck of the tuber intact

  4. Label them (either as a layer or clump, or individually)

  5. Store in a plastic bin with vermiculite or peat moss, in a dark place consistently around 50 degrees Fahrenheit — the coldest part of your basement, if you have one, or an uninsulated garage

If you’d like to see how to do this, here’s an informative YouTube video on how to set all this up:

Happy dahlia-ing! May your tubers be easily divided and your flowers be plentiful!

The Good Table At HomeMelinda McLainGarden, Seasons