Dahlia Seeds that I was going to throw away! "Trash Seedlings".

At the beginning of January of 2025, I was going through my dahlia seeds that I was selling online on my website.  As I was sorting through the dahlia seeds, I had a trash pile of seeds on my table.  These seeds were thin, flat, or I could easily break them.  I was not sure how viable they were, so I did not want to sell them to the public.  My husband asked me about these seeds, and I told him they were trash.  He looked at them and said some of these seeds look like they will germinate.  He suggested that I put them in a damp paper towel and see if they will germinate.  It was too early to start dahlia seeds in January; however, I did not need much encouragement to start some dahlia seeds during these chilly winter days.

I use the paper towel method to start my dahlia seeds, so I moistened a stack of paper towels and folded them over with some dahlia seeds inside.  I placed the folded paper towels on a plate and covered the plate with plastic wrap.  Guess what!  Some seeds started to sprout on day four.  Normally you start dahlia seeds four to six weeks before your last average frost.  I knew it was too early; however, I did not want to throw these dahlia seedlings away.  There could be a beautiful bloom in this trash!  These seeds were seeds that I saved from my dahlia garden the previous year.  I transferred the sprouted seeds to six plug cell trays that had a seed starting mixture.  A lot of seeds sprouted!  Sixty-five of them!  I had two seedling racks with grow lights on a table in my spare room.  I eventually potted the seedlings to a four inch pot in late February and moved them to a table under grow lights in my basement.

I planted the dahlia seedlings in a raised garden bed that is located by my outside walk-in cooler.  This way I could monitor them easily and see what type of blooms I have during the summer.  I nicknamed the seedlings “Trash Seedlings” so I would know exactly who they were during the summer.  I was growing 1450 first year dahlia seedlings in my dahlia field.  That keeps me busy evaluating the seedlings so these “trash seedlings” could easily become overlooked out there. 

I had my first bloom around May 23, 2025.  The first bloom was a lovely dark red bloom.  The bloom size was 4.5 inches across.  This was proof that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!  I posted pictures on my Instagram stories, and I did a couple Instagram posts about the “trash seedlings.”  I did have a few low petal count seedlings where the center showed quickly after the bloom opened.  Open centered dahlias is a dominant trait even though I grow mostly fully double dahlias.  Of course, the bees love open centered dahlias as they can easily access the pollen. 

I did have four dahlias that I saved from this raised bed. (see picture below).  The tubers are in my walk-in cooler.  I will plant them this spring and we will see how they perform this summer.  The pink seedling with a touch of yellow on the tips of the petals was seven inches across.  The dark red seedling bloomed all season.  The cute bronze seedling was 4.5 inches across.  The pink with the soft yellow blush center seedling is around 5 inches across.  All four of these seedlings had a good bloom attachment, strong stems, and a nice upward bloom angle.  These dahlia seedlings did have exceptionally long stems.  I cut eighteen inches to twenty-inch stems which was impressive. 

Overall, these “trash seedlings” had great growth habits with long strong stems.  A lot of the seedlings had dark stems which I love.  The “trash seedlings” was a fun project.  You just never know what is going to come from a dahlia seed.  If I had not germinated those seeds, I would have never enjoyed the beauty of these dahlias.  Growing dahlias from seeds is so interesting and exciting.  You do not know what will be blooming each day in your dahlia garden.  Each dahlia seed is unique.  You are the first to see this bloom in the entire world!  The below picture is some of the "trash seedlings".

I saved seeds from the “trash seedling” raised garden bed.  I picked out some seeds to start this month.  I have the seedlings under lights in my spare room.  I also germinated a few “trash” seeds that I was going to throw away for fun also.  Seventy seeds have sprouted.  I will pot them up to four-inch pots and plant them in that raised bed by my walk-in cooler.  I cannot wait to see what type of blooms I have this coming dahlia season.