How to Label Dahlia Tubers
(So You Don’t Lose Your Varieties)
If you grow dahlias, you know the feeling. You dig up your tubers in the fall, toss them in bins, and by spring you’re staring at a pile of brown clumps with no idea which one is Café au Lait and which one is Thomas Edison. Every dahlia grower we’ve talked to has lost a variety this way. Most have lost several.
The problem isn’t carelessness — it’s that most labeling methods just don’t hold up. Here’s what we’ve learned about what works and what doesn’t from years of making labels for dahlia growers.
Why labeling dahlias is harder than other plants
Most garden plants stay in the ground. You put a marker next to your tomatoes in May and it’s still there in September. Dahlias are different. You dig them up, divide them, store them for months, and replant them somewhere new. Your label has to survive the garden, the digging, the storage bin, and the replanting — often across two seasons.
Sharpie on plastic tags
This is what most people start with. Write the variety name on a plastic plant tag and stick it in the ground. It works for about six weeks. Then the UV light breaks down the ink and you’re left with a blank white tag. By storage time, you can barely read it.
Pencil on wooden stakes
Pencil actually holds up better than Sharpie in UV light — graphite doesn’t fade the same way. But wooden stakes rot. One wet season and the wood softens, splits, or grows mold.
Metal markers
Stamped aluminum or zinc markers last a long time, and they look nice. The downside is they’re expensive, slow to make, and they conduct heat in summer which can stress nearby stems.