Ree Drummond is no stranger to the inherent frustrations that come with growing dahlias. They're gorgeous, yes, but they can also be a little on the moody side. Some days they'll reward you with a full vase of blooms, other days they seem to be stingily holding back. So when Ree came home from a weekend wedding and found her dahlias looking better than ever, she knew she had to share her "secret" with folks who have followed her gardening journey.
"I went to a wedding and my dahlias popped off while I was away," she wrote on Instagram, showing off a vase filled with candy-colored blooms. The moral of the story, according to Ree? "Go out of town if you want your dahlias to grow."
It's not exactly the kind of advice you'll find in a gardening manual, but it makes perfect sense to anyone who's grown these finicky flowers. Sometimes the best thing you can do is stop hovering and let them do their thing.
"I pay daily attention to my dahlias," Ree says. "From watering to fertilizing to snipping to spraying for insects, I'm up in their business every day...and when days pass where the blooms don't seem to want to bloom, I tend to take it personally." Ree goes on to explain that she often returns from being gone for a day or two to find that her dahlias have produced gorgeous new blooms. "I think it's just a lesson to me that it doesn't need to be that hard! I just need to give them space and they'll show me what they can do."
Of course, Ree's dahlia obsession isn't new. Last summer, she wrote about falling "deep, deep love" with the flowers again after nearly a decade away from gardening. She first grew them back in 2004, when she was pregnant with Todd and tending a freshly tilled garden on the ranch with the help of her mother-in-law, Nan. "By July, I not only had a fourth child, I also had big, beautiful dahlia flowers without a whole lot of effort," she recalled.
These days, she's been posting what she jokingly calls her "dahlia of the day," delighting fans with new varieties and color combinations as they open. But she also assured followers this week that the daily posts won't last forever. (Though we certainly wouldn't mind!) "Dahlias don't happen all year, all this posting will be over soon," she said, adding a thank-you "for bearing with me."
Until then, Ree's vases will keep filling and her Instagram will keep blooming. And if her latest tip is to be believed, she might want to start planning another weekend getaway!
