When Pam and Les Albut moved back to Pearcedale after many years living in Port Macquarie, they decided on a whim to try growing some dahlias.
The idea was sparked by Pam’s daughter who was working as a market stall florist working mainly with succulents at the time.
“I said you need some flowers at your stall to draw people’s attention,” Pam said.
“That was early September, I racked my brain and I thought, it’s dahlia time.
“It was a whim.”
Pam had worked as a horticulturalist by profession and had sold up the plant nursery she and her husband operated in Port Macquarie to retire home in Pearcedale.
“We bought 125 tubers and now, seven years later we have 5000.”
The dahlia was discovered in Mexico in the 1700s and taken back to Europe and hybridised, Pam explained.
“From an innocuous little flower, all this evolved,” she said.
“20,000 would be a conservative guess of the number of dahlia varieties that exist.
“It has the genetics to have it be very varied and colourful. Dahlias have more chromosomes than other plants.”
Pam and Les’ daughters Sarah and Rebecca take the lead in the business- Floral and Stem.
They have about 200 varieties in Pam and Les’ 10 acre market garden and intend to double that next year.
Dahlias grow from tubers in the ground. Each season, each plant populates about 10 new tubers underground.
They can then be dug up, separated and sold.
“You dig dahlias up each year because if you left it in the ground – two years in the ground you would have 20 tubers – you have a massive tangle of tubers which is hard to divide,” Pam said.
“The plant performs better on a single tuber than a massive clump. They are more invigorated because they are wanting to create more tubers.”
“They are such a rewarding plant, from a very ugly ordinary piece of vegetable matter you can get something so beautiful.”
Dahlias flower from about Christmastime through to April.
“In a garden they are so wonderful because they flower all through summer,” Pam said.
“Often we don’t have them for Mother’s Day which is a shame.”
On a good morning, the farm will pick around 500 dahlias which is then supplied to customers on the Mornington Peninsula.
In Pearcedale, the dahlias grow in sandy lime soil, the easiest to cultivate on because the earth is easy to dig, Pam said. But dahlias will perform as equally well on clay as well.
“Drainage is their biggest factor,” she said.
“They like water but too much rots the tuber.”
When Pam and Les first became involved with dahlias, they joined the Dahlia Society of Victoria to learn tricks from other passionate growers.
Pam now is president of the society and they hold various teaching events at their property for members.
“I think the best way to learn is to be amongst people who know all about it,” Pam said.
“The man who we bought [the original tubers from] was the president of the Australian Dahlia Society. He invited us to a conference and we met lots of lovely people and we were sort of hooked.”
The annual State Dahlia Show, run by the Dahlia Society of Victoria is being held on Saturday 25 February at Mount Waverley Community Centre from 1pm.
For more information head to dahliasocietyofvictoria.org.au
