Dahlia Harvest: Day One
- Debra Flaming
- Oct 13
- 1 min read
The hum of the tractor broke the morning stillness as Dion made the final adjustments to the potato digger—a machine that’s about to earn its keep for the next several weeks. Our friends Steve and Cathy Hill joined us for the very first day of dahlia tuber harvest, and together, we dug into the season’s next chapter—literally.
One row down, eleven to go.
Each clump unearthed felt like a little treasure chest, packed with promise for next spring’s blooms. Thirty varieties now rest safely in our freeze-protected storage, waiting to be washed, separated, labeled with care (each stamped with its dahlia name), and tucked into tubs of soft vermiculite inside the long-term storage building Dion built for just this purpose.
While the tractor worked the soil, I gathered armfuls of the remaining blooms—colorful heaps of farewell beauty—to photograph and preserve the memory a little longer. It’s a bittersweet part of the process: saying goodbye to the dazzling field display while welcoming the quieter, behind-the-scenes work that ensures those same flowers will live again next year in gardens across the country.
Harvest is where hope gets stored for another season. And as the sun set over that freshly dug row, I couldn’t help but smile—this is what we’ve been working toward all year.
Sincerely,
Debra Flaming
