Swan Island Dahlias; The Bloom Room!

Gorgeous Dahlia Display at Swan Island Dahlias

I’m VERY lucky to now have so many amazing growers and nurseries as neighbors, including Swan Island Dahlia in Canby, Oregon! They are family owned century farm, celebrating their 100th this year.

And yes, it’s very dangerous for these folks to be right down the road from me! Because they sell retail to gardeners, and their dahlia catalog is pretty amazing. I got a behind the scenes industry tour about a couple of months ago and then recently hit their dahlia festival and special “Bloom Room”, where flower artists created some AMAZING displays with the farm flowers.

I took about 300 photos while I was there, so there’s no way for me to share them all, but I believe their festival goes through the end of the month, so if you’re in the area don’t miss it! You can walk through their fields and fields of blooming dahlia right now.

It was tough to get a good shot of the entire Bloom Room, but all the vignettes were stunning and very creative. I particularly liked this "waterfall" of huge orange, coral, and purple blooms. Unfortunately we got there early in the morning and all the displays had been totally rebuilt the day before and the signs showing the varieties and which floral designer created the display weren't posted yet, or I'd give them credit!

A Penchant for Peach

If you know me, you know I have a penchant for PEACH, orange, apricot, copper, bronze, and coral colored flowers. Same goes for dahlia! I'm admittedly most in love with dahlia 'Cornel Bronze', which is the top right photo in the collage below. The center image is 'Maarn', which is also stunning. The bottom left corner features 'Tuscany', which has a lovely hombre effect.

I also like the whites and purples and there are plenty of other funky color mixes!

Let's Talk Deer

Now, the reality for me now, and many of you, is DEER. yes, deer will happily munch your dahlia flowers and plants. They don't seem to be much of an issue here in the Swan Island dahlia fields, as they are acres of large open space, and not many places for deer to hide. That's not the case on my property and the deer will mow down anything half palatable if they are hungry. So for me dahlia will now have to either go behind a deer fence, or in the greenhouse. So I'm working on that plan! It may be they go into containers on my several balconies until I have a way to protect them.

Walking the Dahlia Fields

With peak dahlia bloom season underway, we were also able to walk the extensive fields to get a close up view of favorite varieties in bloom. Acres and acres of blooms! It was quite impressive.

The dahlia fields go on and on and the weather is PERFECT right now for a visit. The dahlia festival at Swan Island goes on through the end of September, so you still have time to visit. They have food trucks, music, and great gift shop, and a trolley that can drive you around the fields if walking the distance presents a challenge.

You can shop their website NOW for nation-wide delivery in 2027. I suspect they sell out quickly, so I'd better get on it!

A bonus for me was getting to meet my green industry pal Allison Pennell at the Bloom Room. It's always fun to nerd out with other plant people at events like this. And btw, Alli is the PNW Sales Manager for Coast of Maine Organic soils, so if you're a garden center in the industry hit her up! You can find her on Instagram at @botanical.allison on Instagram.