Site Navigation

November Dahlia Update

Thursday, November 27, 2025

Hello friends,

Yes, I did buy more dahlias after I said my garden was completely full and I couldn't fit any more in, but I promise this time I had good reasons to do so...

First of all, I lost a number of dahlias this spring due to tubers rotting/eyes not forming, including:

Arthur Hambley (DP)
Cafe Au Lait (DP)
Islander (DP)
Muchacha (Dec)
Salmon Runner (Dec)
Tranquility (Col)
Impression Fomoso (Col)
The Phantom (Ane)

From my observations over the past couple of years, dinner plate dahlias seem more prone to rotting, and for this reason I am not planning on buying anymore dinner plate dahlias in the future, they're just not worth spending all that money on, just to end up rotting in spring.

Secondly, when my NZ Bulbs dahlia order arrived in early October, one of my collarette dahlias, Dark Tiger, was not in the package due to them being out of stock, and they replaced it with the waterlily dahlia, Twiggy. The dahlias in this order weren't in the best condition, and two of them (Tranquility and Impression Fomoso) are actually in the lost dahlias list. They didn't form any eyes at all, and then they rotted. I don't think I'll buy from NZ Bulbs ever again when it comes to dahlias.

Twiggy is a waterlily dahlia with warm pink suffused petals and a light yellow center.

And thirdly, I got rid of our small plastic pond in the back garden. When hubby installed it three years ago, he promised he would take care of it, and keep it clean, and that just didn't happen. So after I cleaned it out this spring (again), I talked with hubby, and he agreed with me that it was time for the pond to go. This freed up a large space in the right part of the back garden, and after some rearranging of dahlias in that area, it gave me more space for dahlias to go into the ground.

And fourthly, during the big North West storm in October my Avalanche camellia snapped off at ground level, and it left an open space in the garden which I could fill with another dahlia.

Luckily this all happened around the time that Bulbs Direct and Mount Mera Botanical restocked their dahlia varieties on their websites, so I bought some dahlias I missed out on earlier in the year, and with discounts too.

From Bulbs Direct I picked up Purple Haze, an anemone dahlia with deep plum-coloured blooms, darker in the centre, and rich dark green foliage.

From Mount Mera Botanical I picked up the following dahlia varieties:

Muchacha a small decorative dahlia with shades of rose pink, violet, and white, to replace the one I lost this spring.

Bacardi, a decorative dahlia with muddy-rose colouring and dark raspberry tips and centers. I lost this dahlia last spring due to it rotting, and I really wanted to replace it.

Platinum Blonde, an anemone dahlia with a fuzzy butter cream center and white petals.

Rockstar, an anemone dahlia with beautiful deep cranberry petals and fuzzy cushion centers.

Take Off, another anemone dahlia with soft, orchid-toned petals which encircle a lighter, fluffy center.

Princess Nadine, a collarette dahlia with double ruff of pink and plum petals and an apricot center.

And lastly, Skyfall, a collarette dahlia with luscious crimson petals and a gold heart.

As soon as these dahlias arrived by courier they all went straight into the ground, and they have already sprouted and begun to grow.

And finally just when I thought all my dahlia buying was done for the year, an opportunity came up that I just couldn't turn down. Emerden Flower Farm had Floret Petite dahlia seedlings for sale, and I couldn't miss out on buying some after I missed out on buying their Floret Petite Dahlia seeds last year. I bought 8 Floret Petite dahlia seedlings, and when they arrived by courier a couple of days later I planted them into a small section of our vegetable garden (bad of me I know, but I was desperate), and gave them a good watering. I'm excited to see what flower types and colours I'll get from them.