What are the Easiest Dahlias to Grow?
Handful of Salmon Runner and Wyoming Wedding dahlias as the field just began to bloom in August 2025.
February 2, 2026
Are some dahlias easier to grow than others?
In my years of growing thousands upon thousands of dahlias on our regenerative flower farm in Western New York, I can say in my experience that, yes! Some dahlias actually are easier to grow than others. In this article, I’ll explain why some dahlias are easier to grow and which varieties we sell in our Dahlia Tuber Shop that are most likely to make your dahlia-growing adventures successful and rewarding.
What makes a dahlia easy or hard to grow?
In general, dahlias are not hard flowers to grow if you have optimal gardening conditions.
To grow dahlias successfully, here is the main criteria you need — and note that each step is super important:
Full Sun Exposure (8+ hours of sun exposure per day preferred)
Good Drainage (no standing water after rains and watering)
Balanced, Fertile Soil
Consistent Watering
For help with growing the best garden for dahlias, I wrote a book! In Growing Gorgeous Dahlias: The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Abundant Dahlias from Garden to Flower Farm, I describe in thorough detail how to improve soil and grow the most fabulous dahlia garden of your dreams. If you grow dahlias (or flowers of any kind) you will benefit so much from the information I share!
Assuming you have all of the above gardening criteria in check, your dahlia-growing pursuits should be floriferous. If you want to ensure success, you could select varieties that are guaranteed to be easier to grow than others.
Criteria for a dahlia being “Easier” to grow than others
There are a handful of dahlia varieties we grow on our flower farm that we will always grow simply because they are so reliable.
“Easy” dahlias sprout sooner than others, and generally always have a large sprout started at planting
They pop through the soil surface earlier and generally bloom earlier
They are very resistant to powdery mildew (I have never had mildew on any of the varieties listed below)
They are floriferous and will keep shooting up blooms after cutting
They produce lots of tubers, and the tubers from these varieties generally store well (they are not prone to rot)
easiest dahlia varieties to grow
The varieties in our field that are the easiest to grow (based on the criteria above) are: Blizzard, Cornel, Cornel Bronze, Chimacum Katie, Jowey Winnie, Hemisphere, Kelvin Floodlight, Maarn, Natalie G, Linda’s Baby and Salmon Runner.
Feel free to browse our Shop and look forward to our Dahlia Tuber Sale starting March 1, 2026!
Blizzard is one of our favorite pure white dahlias. Blizzard is highly productive and a floral designer favorite!
Oh Hemisphere — we had no idea what we were missing until we had you! Incredible magenta coloring on waterlily-like blooms. Early bloomer!
Salmon Runner produces endless coral blooms on gorgeous DARK stems! She’s a gorgeous garden specimen and highly productive plant for cut flowers.
Cornel Bronze dahlias deliver a gorgeous, deep, moody terracotta color and are one of the most reliable blooms in the field (which is why everyone grows them!)
Cornel is a vibrant cherry red ball dahlia with the same impressive growth habit as her sister, Cornel Bronze. Why it took us so long to grow Cornel, I’ll never know!
Huge cheery faces of sunshine yellow! Kelvin Floodlights have some of the largest blooms in the field and will brighten up the back of a garden.
Chimacum Katie is our favorite hot pink ball dahlia in the field, pumping out colorful bursts of blooms all season!
Maarn is the orange ball that keeps going and going. True orange fades to soft orange in fall. Some flowers have curled single petals.
Linda’s Baby is a gorgeous pinky-coral ball dahlia and designer’s favorite. A middle-stature plant, this one blends wonderfully in the garden.
Jowey Winnie is an extra-large ball with raspberry peachy petals and purple undertones toward the center of the bloom. One of our favorites for wedding work!
Natalie G is a beautiful deep apricot bouquet-sized ball dahlia. We love her for her ability to marry pink and peach together in a color palette.