Corralitos
Gardens
 Dahlia Plant Specialists

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Corralitos is the town in which we live on the Central Coast of California, 90 miles south of San Francisco and five miles inland from the Monterey Bay. We have a very long dahlia season, planting outside in March and blooming until Thanksgiving.

We've grown and studied dahlias since 1986. We started selling "show quality" cut dahlias in 1995 for local events and to wholesale florists. In 1999 we experimented with the U.K. system of propagating rooted cuttings and found that our dahlias were far more uniform and vigorous, and much more productive.

We became strong advocates of propagating dahlias as rooted cuttings and thought that home gardeners could benefit from the advantages offered by this improved method of growing dahlias. In 2002 we printed our first catalog of plants for sale. Development of a shipping container that insures secure travel and intact arrival of our plants to our customers has been critical to our success.

We are very active in local and national American Dahlia Society activities. Karen is Classification Chair of the Pacific Southwest Dahlia Conference and Kevin is Past President of the American Dahlia Society. We love dahlias and work hard at producing them and sharing them with our friends and customers.
Our field operation covers about one acre and includes display plantings, cut flower plantings, new seedlings, and potroot production.





When the blooming season begins in June we start filling orders for special events of all kinds.





Our dahlias are used in lots of weddings each summer.
Shows are a big part of why we grow dahlias. The Monterey Bay Dahlia Society 2005 show. They are not all ours, but a good percentage are!




We do have to "dead-head" occasionally...............

 
The greenhouse and shade house are busy from December until June The greenhouse and shade house are busy from December until June producing cuttings and continuing until August with finished container plants.




We also sell bouquets at our "self-serve" flower stand on the ranch. It has become a tradition that draws customers from a 50 mile radius.


In March we take our plants to the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show to sell to the public. Tinnee Lee (who provided most of our great dahlia photos) and Dr. Keith Hammett helped us out last year.
American Dahlia Society National Shows are always fun. This is in 2003 in Ohio. Karen & I (on the right) are with Graham Carey and Anne Breckenfelder.







.......but even the spent blooms are appreciated by our angus herd!