Dahlias, edibles grown as ornamentals

My kids and I have been growing dahlias from seed for a few years.  Growing dahlia from seed is easier than I had imagined, plus it gives me a chance to dabble in breeding them.

Each year the existing dahlia plants grow larger, and we grow some new ones from seed.  The bees and other pollinator insects prefer open single flowers, so for now that is what we mostly grow.  Dahlias flower over summer and autumn here, which is when bees tend to struggle finding food in preparation for winter. 

Dahlia flowers

This past summer was very dry.  Our dahlias started to flower, then stopped and struggled through the heat.  In autumn we got some rain and some of the dahlias are flowering again. 

The other day we picked some dahlia flowers to bring inside.  I like them so thought I would share some photos.  

The darker pink, the red, and the more metallic bronze looking ones are not flowering at the moment.  We have various yellows, some pinks, and some white.

I like dahlias.  They are mostly grown as cut flowers, but they were originally grown as perennial vegetables.  The tubers are edible, some taste good but most varieties are pretty bland as so much effort has been put into their flowers and little breeding attention has been paid to their taste.  The leaves and stems are also edible, but I don't like the taste and tend to leave them to provide energy to the plants.  

It is too bad that these perennial edible plants are mostly grown as ornamentals these days.  Even the most uninteresting ones still look nice.  

At this stage I mostly grow dahlias for cut flowers, I also grow them for the pollinators as they bloom profusely when there is little else flowering in my garden.  If I ever get a good tasting one I would love to grow them as vegetables, but for now I am happy to grow them and enjoy the flowers.

We sell dahlia plants in season, and sometimes I sell dahlia seeds.  While I only collect seed from the more interesting colours, they were open pollinated (and highly heterozygous) and when grown from seed there will be mostly yellows, some pinks, some white, and only occasionally do you see some other colours.  

They are seasonal and only available during some months of the year.  If interested, please go through my for sale page and then click through to see what I have for sale that month.