Dahlias in the ground.

When you order a Little Bend share, the dahlias are the September reward at the end of the season. Which means most of the work happens in April — now — while it’s still cold enough that the dog won’t come outside and the tubers are brittle and slightly embarrassing-looking. Planting dahlias looks a little like planting potatoes that have seen some stuff.

We’re running four 60-foot rows, spaced 18 inches apart, with drip irrigation down the middle. That gets us somewhere around 380 plants. We over-ordered by about 40 tubers because we’ve read enough of the flower-farming forums to expect 10% of them won’t come up. If they all come up we’ll give the extras away at the first market.

What we planted.

We picked varieties that do three things: hold up in a bouquet for a week, photograph well (it’s our first season and we need to convince you), and don’t require a PhD in staking. The shortlist:

• Café au Lait — the famous one. Blush-cream, dinnerplate-sized, sells itself. 40 tubers.
• Linda’s Baby — small ball dahlia, clean pink. Holds up forever. 60 tubers.
• Cornel Bronze — tight bronze ball, amazing in late-season arrangements. 50 tubers.
• Jowey Winnie — dusty-rose ball, prolific. 40.
• Hy Patti — hot-pink ball. Also prolific. 40.
• Bracken Rose — informal decorative, big plum heads. Wild-card. 30.
• And a handful of others — Ivanetti, Jowey Mirella, KA’s Mocca Maya, Snoho Doris — in quantities of 20 or less.

The mistake.

Here’s the thing I wish someone had told us louder: label everything. Not the tray. Not the shelf. The actual tuber, with a marker, the moment it comes out of the box.

We labeled the bags. Then we carried four bags out to the field in a wheelbarrow at the same time. Then the wheelbarrow tipped. You can see where this is going. We now have about 30 tubers in a mystery pile, and we will find out in August whether the bronze ball is actually a bronze ball or whether we accidentally planted a row of Café au Lait where the Cornels were supposed to go.

Dahlias don’t come up true from seed, but they do come up true from tuber. That’s what makes them named varieties. That’s also what makes losing the labels so painful.

What’s next.

Zinnia seeds go into trays this week. Snapdragons are already hardening off in the cold frame. Peonies — which we planted two years ago — are poking through and look promising. First deliveries are June 27. We’ve got ten weeks.

If you want to reserve a share and get flowers on your doorstep this summer, here’s the sign-up. Season 01 is small — 30 shares total — and we’re filling them mostly with family and friends. If you got this link from us, you’re invited.