Dahlias

Dahlia season is in full.swing: a trickle of blooms became a river, swelled to a flood… the drying room fills up with their bold colors. Like firing a glazed pot in a kiln, the color of the flowers ioften changes during the drying process. Reds turn to dark purples, some oranges become.warm browns and coppers. It is a magical transfomration, a bit like alchemy. This is our 8th season growing dahlias and we've experimented with many varieties to figure out which ones dry successfully, as well as how to dry them to preserve their fullness as far as possible.

Drying takes quite a long time - up to two weeks including the stem - but the sooner those large petals can dry the better. This year we've been experimenting with the level of air flow. More is better, but too much blows the delicate petals over. It's a fine balance and really there is no substitute for frequent attention and adjustment. I spend quite a bit of time tinkering with fan placemen and flower placement, especially for the large dinnerplate varieties with long petals (actually florets - each individual “petal” is in fact a complete flower).

Once the blooms are fully dry they are carefully curated into bouquets for our Etsy shop and available here: https://deogloriafarm.etsy.com/listing/1404708993