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When I planted my first dahlia tubers last spring, I wasn’t trying to become an expert gardener.
I simply wanted a beautiful cut flower garden.
For several years, I’d grown zinnias and loved walking into the backyard with a pair of clippers and coming back inside with a bouquet for the kitchen table. Growing flowers had become one of my favorite hobbies, and I wanted to take it a step further.
Dahlias seemed just exotic enough to be interesting without feeling out of reach for a hobby gardener. I pictured lush plants covered in blooms and beautiful bouquets filling every vase in the house.
It didn’t exactly happen that way.
My First Year Growing Dahlias
Like most people trying a new hobby, I made a few beginner mistakes during my first gardening ‘learning sprint’.
I ordered my tubers too late, after many of the varieties I wanted had already sold out. I also planted later than I should have.
The plants grew.
The flowers bloomed.
But the display wasn’t nearly as full as I had imagined.
Looking back, I also realized I wasn’t thrilled with the varieties I had chosen. They were pretty, but they weren’t flowers I found myself excited to cut and arrange.
It wasn’t a disappointing season.
It was simply my first season.
Hobby Gardening Gets Better the Second Time Around
Instead of deciding dahlias weren’t for me, I started planning for the next growing season.
This year I ordered my tubers early so I could choose the varieties I really wanted.
I also decided to experiment by starting the tubers indoors under grow lights before planting them outside in May.
That one change made a huge difference.
Instead of waiting until late summer, I had blooms much earlier in the season.
I also decided not to save last year’s tubers. Since I hadn’t loved those particular flowers, I started over with completely different varieties.
The first year was mostly trial and error.
This year I got to build on what I learned.
The garden isn’t perfect, but it’s definitely better than last year.
The Best Part Isn’t Just the Flowers
Of course, I love the flowers.
That’s why I planted them.
But I’ve realized the flowers aren’t the only reward.
One thing I didn’t expect was how much I’d enjoy having fresh flowers in the house. Instead of buying bouquets at the grocery store, I can walk outside, spend a few minutes cutting blooms, and come back inside with flowers I grew myself.
I’ve also enjoyed giving bouquets away. There’s something satisfying about handing someone flowers from your own garden.
And then there are the quiet moments.
Some evenings I’ll be sitting on the patio and notice another flower has opened. Other mornings I’ll wander out with my coffee just to see what’s changed overnight.
Those little moments have quietly become part of my summer.
Why Dahlias?
So why dahlias instead of just growing more zinnias?
I love the way dahlias look in a bouquet. They’re a little different from the flowers you usually see in neighborhood gardens, and every variety has its own personality.
I’m still learning which ones I like best, and that’s part of the fun.
Hobby Gardening and Reinvention After 50
As I’ve thought about why this little dahlia garden has become so meaningful to me, I realized it isn’t only about growing flowers.
I think it’s also about becoming the kind of person I wanted to be.
I’ve always admired women who grow unusual flowers, fill their homes with fresh bouquets, and send guests home with flowers from their own garden.
So I decided to become one of those women.
It turns out there wasn’t much mystery to it.
I ordered tubers.
I planted them.
I made mistakes.
I tried again.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d done the same thing with writing.
For years I said I wanted to be a writer.
Eventually I stopped waiting to feel like one.
I started writing.
Then I started calling myself a writer.
Maybe that’s how many of the changes we make after 50 happen.
Not all at once.
One small decision at a time.
Looking Ahead
This fall I’m planning to dig up the tubers and see if I can store them over the winter.
Maybe it’ll work.
Maybe it won’t.
I may decide to add a few new varieties next spring, too.
I haven’t decided yet.
What I do know is that I’m already looking forward to next gardening season.
A couple of years ago, I admired people who grew beautiful flowers.
Now I walk into my backyard and cut my own.
When I planted my first dahlia tubers, I thought I was growing flowers.
What I was really growing was a new hobby—and maybe a new version of myself.
