Meet My Flower Friend, Jane

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How did dahlias find their way into your garden and heart?

As a new gardener, I jumped in full tilt! I spent 3 yrs of my tax return and any extra money into building a garden. This was during covid. Initially I just wanted to grow sunflowers and 4 pot plants. I worked to support my boss at the time on the Cannabis Act because after an accident that left me with multiple concussions, I was so grateful for the medical benefits of this plant. My partner said we should try to grow some veggies too, so I joined the local Master Gardener group – eek, big mistake because someone posted pics of their dahlias and some incredible bouquets. After seeing that, my garden has been growing, it’s slowly shifting from growing the veggies we eat (I used to give a lot away) to a cut flower and native plant garden, because we know how dahlias can take over!

What are some of your future garden goals?

Within the next two years I hope to turn our front garden into a formal topiary garden.

What has been the hardest challenge growing dahlias?

Ugh, that would be better understanding how to fertilize and when to stop, setting up an irrigation system, proper supports, pruning the bottom leaves and of course getting organized for the labeling/dividing and storing process.

What has been the most rewarding part of growing dahlias?

The flowers and receiving feedback about the yard. Our space is unique because we live in an old Chuch but we’re not religious. So the yard reflects our quirkiness, we have a huge art piece which is moose antler light, our 12 foot skelly, a figure with 40km sign that we change up, currently it’s Jason. I shared a pic of Jason with the dahlias on our local community Facebook page, a school bus driver said that the kids love to drive by and see the flowers and what’s new! That was the ultimate reward – that others love the flowers as much as me!

Do you have any tips to share that you’ve learned along the way?

Learn from others! There’s a wealth of experience out there and gardeners and farmers have been generous sharing their knowledge. Gardening is like an experiment, what works this year might not be the same next year for many reasons. So don’t take things too personally if it doesn’t work out. Just keep doing what you love.


Jane

To learn more about Jane and her flower journey, you can visit : Website| Facebook | Instagram