Four practical tips for creating a dahlia cutting garden
"Having your own cut flowers in the garden saves many trips to the florist"
Dahlia’s belong in every bouquet and pair beautifully with other plants, even with wildflowers or branches. So how do you create your own cutting garden? It’s possible on a balcony, in just one square metre, or across a whole field. Here are a few tips, along with a list of perfect varieties for a dahlia cutting garden.
To create a cutting garden that will fill your vases all summer long, it’s best to dedicate a small area of your garden just for this purpose. A single square metre is already enough. You can plant 9 to 12 dahlias in that space. You can even create a cutting garden in a container on your balcony or courtyard, as long as there’s enough sun during the day. The great thing about your own dahlia cutting garden is that dahlias are perennial plants, which means they come back every year. So you don’t have to buy new tubers each time.
1. The right varieties
Good cut flowers have long, straight, sturdy stems without too much foliage or side shoots. The bloom stands proudly on the stem and doesn’t droop. In addition, cut flower varieties last at least 5 and sometimes even 8 days in a vase. Of course, you can cut any dahlia and put it in a vase, but not all varieties are equally suitable. We’ve selected certain dahlias as ideal cut flowers based on these three traits:
- The plant produces long stems
- The plant produces multiple stems per plant
- The flowers last at least 5 days in a vase
See all our ideal cutting dahlias here
2. The right combination
Will you go for yellow cut flowers, pink, white, purple, or orange? The most fun is to choose a varied mix. When choosing your dahlias, pay attention to a variety of flower sizes, shapes and colours.
You can also make your cutting garden more interesting by adding some other cheerful flowers, such as annual cut flowers that you can grow from seeds like Cosmos, pincushion flower (Scabiosa), Zinnia, or lush umbellifers such as bishop’s weed (Ammi majus) or the purplish wild carrot (Daucus carota ‘Dara’).
3. How to pick the flowers
Use a clean, sharp knife or pruning shears to cut flowers from your cutting garden. The best time to cut dahlias is in the morning or late evening, when it's cooler. Take a bucket of fresh water with you and place the flowers in it immediately after cutting.
Look for dahlias that are almost fully open. Use your knife or shears to remove the leaves from the lower part of the stem (the part that goes in the water). Scatter the leaves between your plants — they’ll decompose and enrich the soil.
4. The right care
Fill a clean vase with clean lukewarm water. In warm weather, you can add a splash of natural vinegar. Refresh the water regularly, especially in a clear vase. While doing so, check whether the stems need trimming again.
5. And finally, 5 bouquet tips:
- Divide your flowers across several vases
- Combine dahlias with branches from shrubs with beautiful foliage
- Mix dahlias with wildflowers or other garden blooms
- Don’t place your bouquet in full sun, near a heater or radiator, or close to ripening fruit
- At night, place the bouquet somewhere cool temporarily
Good gardening tools make all the difference:
Our 10 favourite cut dahlias:
Our dahlias are available to order from December 1st until the end of May. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date!
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