Growing Dahlias from Seed
The Surprises that Come from Growing Dahlias from Seed
Starting dahlias from seed yields numerous surprises—you never know what you’ll get, and that’s the joy of the experience.
Unlike tubers, which produce exact copies of the previous year's blooms, seed-grown dahlias are truly unique. Each dahlia plant grown from seed produces a one-of-a-kind flower—something entirely new and exclusive to the grower. Their genetics hold endless possibilities, and while they may carry traits from their parent plants, there are always surprises.
If you are interested in hybridizing, go into it knowing there will be a few treasures that you'll love and many that you won't keep, but indeed, they will make you laugh!
BLOOMS ARE OFTEN LESS THAN IDEAL
Last summer, I posted the less-than-ideal blooms on our Instagram feed and named them for fun. "Lamppost" and "Keep Your Chin Up!" were blooms that had serious wobble issues. After this entertainment, they made great compost.
A FEW EXAMPLES OF TREASURES THAT HAVE BLOOMED FOR US
When a bloom catches our eye, it becomes all the more special and exciting. We take careful notes of its qualities and document everything about it. At the end of the season, we save its tubers so we can grow that exact plant again. Over the next few years, we will closely monitor its progress to see if it remains true—same bloom, same color, same strong performance.
Sometimes it changes from year to year, and sometimes it doesn’t. When a bloom stays consistent (or even improves), it feels like discovering something truly special—our own unique variety, grown from seed.
GETTING OFFICIAL
When a bloom remains consistent for three years and is true to form according to the American Dahlia Society standards, it may be submitted to one or more of their trial gardens for further evaluation and recognition.
This year, for the first time, we are sending two named blooms to the Trial Garden at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, WA. These blooms must remain anonymous, so we’ll be sharing photos after the results are announced later this fall. We will also be so excited to release these tubers for others to grow them in their gardens.
NO GUARANTEES
There are no guarantees in dahlia hybridizing; blooms change when they want. Even the same plant, during the same growing season, can throw blooms that change.
The top picture, left, was the first bloom of a dahlia plant, grown from a seed from Brookside Snowball, in 2024. We kept it, curious what the next blooms would look like. A few months later, the same plant threw several pastel blooms (see middle), which I absolutely adored.
I saved the tubers of this variety, recorded as 24-90 in my notes. Would it throw another curveball and revert to its original bloom?
Above right was the 2025 bloom. It altered itself slightly, and I'm hopeful that in 2026 it will show an improved middle petal structure while retaining its intriguing color blend. Here's hoping!
THE GIFT THAT BROUGHT ME SO MUCH JOY, FROM OUR LOCAL DAHLIA CLUB
The inspiration for us to start dahlias from seed—also known as hybridizing—came from a little packet of seeds given to me by a member of our local dahlia club, the Whatcom County Dahlia Society, five years ago. The members are so kind and always have giveaway plant treasures at the monthly meetings. Little did I know then that a little envelope of plant seeds I was given would result in bringing me so much delight.
Every year since then, I let some of our own blooms go to seed, collect the dried, spent flowers in September, and plan to see what surprises they bring the following year. We love walking the rows and discovering and documenting new blooms in July - September.
WHICH ONES TO KEEP?
DECIDING WHICH ONES TO KEEP
If a bloom piques our interest, we keep it -- but only within reason. A flower that is attractive yet consistently has a weak or wobbly stem is not worth saving. If a bloom has a low petal count, it will lose its center too early and is not worth keeping. Similarly, if the petals fail to fully recurve according to the desired form, it is also not worth keeping.
Here are a few of the seedlings we've been keeping from previous years. The first number refers to the year it first bloomed, and the second number refers to the number we gave it, which was simply the order we documented the bloom.
COMPARISONS TO THE PARENT PLANT
As much as possible, I like to keep track of which seeds came from what parent plant. Below on the left is the parent plant, and on the right is a hybrid of that original bloom.
A few examples
✨The bloom above left is Kelsey Llama, the bloom on the right is a seedling that bloomed in 2025; its seed parent is Kelsey Llama.
✨The bloom above left is Bloomquist Barbara, the bloom on the right is a seedling that bloomed for us from seed in 2023. Since then, the blooms have been true year after year.
✨The bloom above left is Ferncliff Copper; the bloom on the top right is a bloom that grew from a seed of Ferncliff Copper. In 2025, the results were all like the bottom right photo (from the tubers we kept in 2024). We are keeping the tubers from 2025 and will document what the bloom looks like in 2026.
A COUPLE OF 2024 SEEDLINGS WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT
✨The above parent bloom Sun Spot with seedling 24-90, which we first grew and admired in 2024. We love how the petals lie like shingles on a roof and gently recurve back toward the stem—it checks all the boxes for a beautiful mini ball dahlia. We saved its tubers and are excited to see if it returns true to form again in 2026.
In 2023, I saved seed from Karras 150, the white cactus bloom, and one of those seeds produced the blooms shown on the top in 2024. What a surprise, right? Must a bee have brought pollen from Jowie Winnie to Karras 150? It sure seems likely. In 2025, the blooms produced are shown in the bottom row. I love the color of the last two, especially. I'm hoping that the petals continue to recurve back towards the stem before the center blows.
HYBRIDIZING GOALS
Much of our seed collecting in previous years has been experimental—we simply tried it out of curiosity. Along the way, we’ve picked up a few helpful tips from the hybridizers at our dahlia club, and now we’re focusing more intentionally on these goals:
- Keep track of which seed came from which bloom. (Hello, envelopes)
- Planting our dahlias with the same form in the same area will give a greater probability of blooms true to form.
- Keeping waterlily dahlias away from informal decorative dahlias should give us a higher percentage of waterlily seedlings in the future. We’re aiming to space different forms about 50 feet apart in 2026.
- We document the ones either of us likes in a notebook while walking in the garden.
- We tag blooms we love at the base with flagging tape and a garden marker.
✨I love keeping all the information about the dahlia seedlings in notebooks. Each seedling gets its own page. I attach a picture and any notes about it. Also, if we take it to a show, I record the results on the page. Here are 2 pictures of notes I took of two different seedings. This helps us later decide which ones we really want to keep.
LOVING A DAILY RITUAL
Exploring the dahlia hybrid rows became one of my favorite daily rituals from July through September. When Dave came home from work, we’d pour a kombucha for me and an iced coffee for him, put on our hats, and head outside to wander through the rows together, pointing out the blooms we loved and laughing at the ones we definitely didn’t. Those summer evenings are among my favorite memories, and I’m already looking forward to them again.
Here we are—Dave and Shari Kruyswijk—in the 2025 seedling patch. This was the year we grew 900 dahlias from seed. It sounds like a lot, but by keeping them in 3.5" pots set directly into the ground, we’re able to fit an incredible number into a relatively small space.
I absolutely love the height of these hybrid blooms. Walking the rows feels like stepping into a flower forest, where I'm mostly hidden from those passing by and often find myself face to face with the blooms.
BREATHING IN THE GIFT OF TODAY
A seemingly perfect bloom pulls me into the present moment—enjoy me now, it seems to say, tomorrow I won’t be the same. And honestly, doesn’t that mirror life too? Short, fragile, beautiful… always changing. I find myself whispering to my soul: look at what the good Lord has given me to enjoy today. It's so pretty, what a gift.
The blooms themselves don’t carry a scent, but the foliage and rich soil do. That deep, earthy fragrance always surprises me when I inhale deeply. I often forget how much I love the rich soil scent until I breathe it in fully again and again, always wanting to linger before stepping back inside. Tomorrow I'll be out here again, wanting to breathe it in again and be renewed with gratitude.
THE SURPRISING WAY WE PLANT OUR SEEDLINGS
We plant the dahlia seedlings in rows. Each year, we enrich the soil with a cover crop followed by compost. Dave always digs 2 furrows for planting the seedling rows and throws compost in each before we place the seedlings in. Once the plants take off, they soak up those nutrients, and most reach 5-6 feet tall. Yes, they grow right up to eye level.
What may be most surprising about our seedling rows is that the plants remain in their 3.5" plastic pots -- yes, placed directly into the ground. This enables us to fit many plants in each row. Just as importantly, any we choose not to keep can be easily lifted out and removed.
Top left: a seedling has little tubers in May, this is before it's planted in a 3.5" pot.
Top right: a seedling selected to be kept looks like this when pulled out in October
Lower photos: planting days in May 2025
SHARING WITH THE COMMUNITY
🌸 This year, we’re so excited to offer something new for our community—small, intimate garden tours through our seedling rows on selected days. We think you’ll love the experience of walking among the dahlias, where last season the plants grew so tall it felt like stepping into a flower-filled forest.
✨ It’s a beautiful, immersive way to see the blooms up close and capture unforgettable photos with the people you love.
This season is all about sharing more beauty, more connection, and more moments rooted in nature. Whether you’re picking up blooms for a celebration, stopping by the stand, or strolling through rows of towering dahlias, we hope Flowerly Farm becomes a place that brings joy and inspiration.
🌿 We can’t wait to welcome you and share the beauty of these blooms with our community—stay tuned for the selected dates we'll be open!