08/13/2026
Why do we wait to start our dahlia CSA share / subscription until September when we’ve had flowers since June?
One big reason is the first dahlia blooms are impacted greatly by heat and insects. I joked with Julia Appleby that we give the first flowers to the bugs, and I suppose that’s true. We’ve observed the cycles of the Japanese beetles and thrips (among others) that damage the first buds. These pests come out during the heat of early summer when dahlias are not yet hitting their stride and are stressed from the heat. The insects nibble the buds resulting in lopsided, incomplete flowers. Do we give up? No, we wait. Why would you use any poison and pesticides, organic included? That doesn’t make sense. I generalize here, but humans’ first reaction is to squash, kill, annihilate, obliterate. Instead, I choose to cooperate. There is room for all of us.
And so, the first dahlias provide some food for pests until their life cycle is complete - the insects get food, we wait a bit and get the stellar blooms. A win-win.
So, here we are, less than a month away from the start of our dahlia CSA share. The dahlia field, nearly 4000 planted this season, will be crazy abundant with flowers for you come early September!
An incomplete dahlia damaged by pests
Beautiful dahlias harvested this morning!
