Flowers 4 Revelry

Flowers 4 Revelry We are a tiny urban farm & living laboratory nestled in the heart of Sacramento, California. And we love to dive into the science of growing!

We sell gorgeous cut flowers, great seeds, rose plants, & dahlias that thrive in our warm Mediterranean climate.

10/02/2026

🇫🇷 Back from nearly two weeks in Paris, where I was lucky enough to be invited to speak and help launch Hack the Fork, a global food and science innovation nonprofit.

We stayed in the Montorgueil neighborhood, surrounded by cheese shops, pâtisseries, chocolate, macarons, charcuterie, w**e, bars, and restaurants. Dinner at 9 or 10 p.m. was prime time —even on a Monday.

Add Paris Fashion Week, Pope Leo’s visit, and a million other people, and it was more than a little chaotic and overwhelming. But amazing.

I couldn't resist photographing the flower shops full of the dahlias. 🌸 I saw many gorgeous varieties in Parisian flower shops that I didn’t recognize.

Now we’re heading home just in time for another Sacramento heat wave pushing toward the high upper 90s.

So naturally, my first question is: How are my dahlias doing?! 😂🌸🔥

10/01/2026

Dahlia breeders say, on average, you need to grow about 1000 seedlings to find one worth keeping. I only grew out about 150 this year so my odds aren't great. As you can tell, I have a lot of duds.

But you never know! Even in this ragtag bunch, I am curious to see how a couple may do in their second year under better conditions.

To grow a lot of seedlings, I pack them tight. Spaced 4 to 6 inches apart on center and I don't pinch. I'm trying to get them to bloom as soon as possible so I can then get rid of the duds fast.

I'm intrigued by this last one. One of the strongest, tallest seedlings this year. (Growing much the same way as Florelie Antique, btw) Long strong stems with big 6 plus inch blooms. Pale lavender with a very distinctive vibrant purple picotee petal edge.

The first bloom looked like a big purple sunflower but the weather was incredibly hot. Low starting petal count but I'm glad I didn't hack out the plant! As the weather cooled, the petal count dramatically increased to this beauty (I should have picked a day earlier for the best bloom center and photos, sigh). As temps decrease (not this week!), I'm wondering how much the bloom will continue to change.

Most of my seedlings this year came from Fleurel, a large late blooming dinner plate white dahlia but this looks nothing like her. Or pretty much anything I've grown before. That's plant genetics for you!

A quick share. A few blooms I sold and shared with old and new dahlia friends this week!After August cut backs, my fall ...
09/22/2026

A quick share. A few blooms I sold and shared with old and new dahlia friends this week!

After August cut backs, my fall dahlia crop is trickling in. Along with a run away zinnia I'll be collecting a lot of seed from to continue breeding and possibly sell extras from! Looks like a French macaron!

My day job has been in high gear for the last two months and I've been taking a bit of a social media floral break. That...
09/05/2026

My day job has been in high gear for the last two months and I've been taking a bit of a social media floral break. That doesn't mean I'm not still exploring the science and growing of beautiful flowers...

I found this fascinating and confirms what I've seriously been considering. Growing my foundation dahlia stock through cuttings instead of tubers.

As many of you know ( , ) or are still struggling with, dahlia tubers can take forever to wake up and get moving. A fully dormant tuber with clear eyes may still not wake up and sprout. Or may rot. Or the shoots might get mowed down, broken off, or burnt by hot soil and sun. Why many dahlia enthusiasts prefer sprouted, or "woken", tubers. That physiological change for a tuber to be vegetative growth mode takes time.

Cuttings, or rather plants started by vegetative cuttings, have their own risks. Creating your own requires certain conditions and indoor set ups. Then they need to adjust to the great outdoors. Dahlia cuttings can be easily broken, mowed down by pests or disease, or destroyed by sun/rain/wind.

Simply, not always a plant for the faint of heart.

Dahlia tuber clumps left in the ground in warm locations like ours (Sacramento zone 9b) or cooler areas with mulch (insulation) and the rain kept off, get up and running much faster than divided tubers. A combination of being in place (the ground) and ready to go, existing roots that aren't dried out, and not traumatized by dividing and storage.

Cuttings are plants. Just like any other plant you will buy from the nursery. Adjust it to the great outdoors, also known as "hardening off", and plant it in the right location, and you are off to the races. Have a number of the exact same plants and plant them together, they will grow consistently as a group together. Great for when you want consistent floral production and don't want plants shading each other unevenly.

This video is from Clara Joyce flowers looking at a Cafe Au Lait trial in Salinas, California. A great visual example of cutting grown, tuber clump, and divided tubers growing and blooming comparison.

This by no means, means I will stop growing, dividing, selling, and buying dahlia tubers. It just means I will most likely be starting earlier and indoors to then start my own cuttings from tubers so I plant plants, not tubers, instead. 🤔🤔🤔



https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcUMhy4goBh/?igsi=MXFwanZpenY5eDZ3OA==

08/20/2026

😆😆😆😉😎 Richard Whitlock

08/05/2026

Yesterday was 101F, today 99F, 101-102F forecasted all weekend. 🥵 🥵 🥵 Ugh...

As promised... here are my favorite light pink pompons and mini balls that work well for me in our hot Sacramento zone 9b hot climate. 🌸

These are some of my most requested dahlia variety colors and form (I sell tubers 😉). Soft blush pinks versatile for bouquets and wedding work.

20th Avenue Memory – Loads of perfectly formed blush-pink ball blooms on long stems. One of the best bloom producers and great tuber production.

Rebecca Lynn – An older variety (1987). A compact plant that's absolutely covered with blooms. The stems are a little thinner, but the production is impressive.

Caitlyn's Joy – Part of the Cornel series. Long, straight stems, excellent disease resistance, beautiful bloom size, and heavy production.

Fifi – If you like Camano Zoe, I actually think I like Fifi a little better. Similar soft neutral coloring, but with longer, more individualized stems, excellent production and gets moving faster.

Maaike – Fifi's perfect partner. The two share that soft neutral pink coloring with a creamy center when the blooms first open, maturing into a beautiful blush pink. Very nice to have matching colors and forms in different sizes in bouquets.

And then there's...

KA Opal Cliff. New 2026 KA introduction.

An upright, vigorous plant with dark tough leaves and stems, thick pointed petals, and an incredibly soft blush color that is holding beautifully through this heat. She has been outstanding.

Only downside, she does not like to make cuttings. 😄 She's one of the toughest varieties I've tried to propagate, so I'm really hoping she's a good tuber producer this fall. If not, she may end up being one of those hard-to-find unicorn varieties.

Continuing to record my thoughts. 🤔😄

Next, I'll share my favorite KA cutting varieties, followed by my favorite waterlilies for hot climates, then the shaggy and laciniated varieties that make me chuckle. After that, I'll start to get into my favorite fall-colored dahlias. I grow +300 varieties so this might take awhile... 😆

, which light pink pompons or mini balls have impressed you this year?

08/03/2026

Sacramento is in a +100F heat streak. 🔥 🥵 Following up from my last hot climate dahlia post where I shared my thoughts on varieties I'm kicking out of my Dahlia Patch.

Now for the fun part. 😄

Here are a few of the varieties that stand up to our Sacramento zone 9b summer heat.

Levi's Revenant - sturdy deep green, narrow foliage with impressive disease and pest resistance. A tidy 4-foot plant with slightly ruffled 2+ inch formal blooms in a soft Café au Lait / Sweet Nathalie–style creamy blush. I think a lovely choice for a vintage look.

KA Mocha Jake – An absolutely relentless bloomer through the heat. Two plants could easily supply a florist with creamy pink bridal bouquets all season long.

Lee's Saltwater Taffy – The perfect neutral pink. Beautiful 3½–4-inch blooms, long dark stems on a super strong plant covered in blooms all season. Cutting perfection!

W**e Eyed Jill – A tall plant with long stems and an old favorite for good reason. Gorgeous 2+ inch ombré blooms with a deep violet-purple center. She takes a bit to get going, but once she does, she performs well in hot weather.

20th Avenue Softer Peach – A monster of a plant with petal-packed, perfectly symmetrical blooms in a soft yellow-apricot blend. A great bouquet blender. Blooms lighten a bit in the heat, but the plant handles the heat well.

Crichton Honey – Warm soft yellow and apricot ruffles on a compact, well-behaved plant. Extremely floriferous and excellent for landscape beds. I always tuck her on the south end of my beds and she keeps on blooming.

Florelie Antique – Becoming one of my new favorites. I honestly think she could give Café au Lait a run for its money in warm climates. She holds her color beautifully without yellowing in the heat and feels like a cross between Café au Lait and Café au Lait Royale. Big plant, strong stems, and excellent performance in full sun.

Idlewild Lilac Moon – A new release that has been consistently pumping out blooms through the heat. Great production on strong, usable stems.

KA Cloud – A big, tall plant with perfect large fluffy blooms on exceptionally long, sturdy stems. Completely unfazed by 100°F+ days.

Sandia Ruthie – An absolute beast. Long, wiry stems and nonstop blooms in gorgeous Mai Tai sunrise tones. If you want production abs don't mind a bit of a wild look, she’s your girl.

Just recording my thoughts. 😄

Good blush pink pompon and mini ball varieties are my most requested tubers, so that’s coming next. After that, I’ll share my favorite KA cutting varieties, then my favorite waterlilies for hot climates, and finally some of my favorite shaggy and laciniated varieties that make me chuckle.
Lots more hot weather favorites to come!

What varieties are surviving and thriving in your heat?

Growing dahlias in Sacramento, California zone 9b. It's hot here. Hot! With hot weather, we get varieties that lag, shut...
07/17/2026

Growing dahlias in Sacramento, California zone 9b. It's hot here. Hot! With hot weather, we get varieties that lag, shut down, bloom poorly (low bloom count, low petal count, open centers, burnt petal tips, poor form), produce horrible tubers, or I just plain don't like them.

Early toss outs for me this year:

Arabian Nights - for me poor form and low petal count. Shadow Cat is much better.
Creamy - nothing wrong, I just find boring
Appleblossom - I'm done fighting to get it to bloom let alone well
Intrigue - low petal count and very powdery mildew susceptible
Bloomquist Tory P - clock faced and low production. There are so many white varieties with a touch of lavender in the center that perform better.
Lee's Hannah Joe - once again, there are so many whites with a touch of lavender that are better
Lee's Chloe - pretty apricot but the blooms burn easy and have thin weak stems
Bloomquist York - love the color and it's a strong plant but the petal count is very low and they blow open easily
Daydreamer - for me a boring weak pale yellow waterlily. My Forever is hands down better.
Bride to Be - trimming down on white varieties. They do nothing for me.
Hakuyou - creamy white. Nothing wrong with it just boring.
Sweet Suzanne - not the strongest. Why plant it when you have KA Honeycomb?
Kelgai Ann - all I get is a wimpy white waterlily with yellow at the base of the petals. Maybe some streaky pink in cooler weather. Really struggles here.
Jolene - extremely strong and heat resistant but the yellow cream beige does nothing for me.
Salish Twilight Girl - unusual color, early bloomer but open centers, low petal count and very susceptible to powdery mildew
Night Silence - I love her color, her form but good grief she is a drama queen. Very disease prone and horrible storage capability.
KA Mocha Katie - just not a big burgundy and yellow fan

Just recording my thoughts.

Do you () have varieties you're breaking up with this season? 🤔🤔🤔

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