WB Open-Pollinated Dahlias
Wilde Bee has been propagating open-pollinated dahlias (seedlings and tubers) since 2021, tracking new varieties through the momma plant from which seed has been collected. This project started by accident: growing dahlias from seed for a children's garden, and then seeing native insects flock to them. Dahlias are not supposed to be pollinator plants. And most that are available commercially aren't because they have been bred to inhibit pollination for longer lasting cut flowers (pollinated flowers want to set seed, so the flower thinks its job is done).
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Following the lead of the bumblebees, Wilde Bee has created and saved a wide variety of open-pollinated dahlias for use in habitat projects and donation.
The Open-Pollinated Difference
Often dahlias grown from seed are thought to be plain, quite different from the lush, fluffy commercial ones. Not so. Dahlias originally grown from open-pollinated seed come in all forms and colors. The main difference is that the open-pollinated varieties are open in the center, while most commercial varieties grow in a way where the petals cover the centers. Open-pollinated dahlias also often grow with a taller, looser, more wild shape.
Non-Native Supplementation
The above picture was taken of a foraging bumblebee on an open-pollinated dahlia on November 5, 2024 in Westport, New York (in a barely zone 5 area). A killing frost occurred within a week. A month earlier, still late in the season, monarch butterflies were on the dahlias. All the native flowers were dead by November, and many people would have long since cut back their gardens. It would be easy to think the pollinators were gone too. What I have discovered--by supplementing native plants with late-blooming, pollinator-friendly non-natives, is that the pollinators are there until late in the season. Thus, as temperatures warm, a gap can be created between when native perennials set seed and when the pollinators complete their cycle. Even during the height of summer blooming, though, native pollinators choose non-native flowers. What is it the native insect/dahlia interactions mean? Rather than attempting to formulate an answer, the Wilde Bee dahlia project seeks to use native insect behavior to challenge what we think we know and push for greater understanding.
2024 Project
The Wilde Bee 2024 Citizen Scientist project involved participants fostering dahlia seedlings in their growing spaces and tracking the new varieties through the momma plant seed lines. It was a genetics-lite project that brought these flowers into new growing spaces to observe the incredible variation possible (and the pollinator attractiveness). The family tree results coming soon!