10/08/2026
Hi, friends!
A little Willow Rock Acres update for everyone who has been asking about tuber sales, cuttings, what we’re up to, and all the things!
First, for anyone who is new here, hi! I’m Sarah.
The "team" at Willow Rock is just me and my hubby, Steven. I’m here day to day taking care of the dahlias, dividing, propagating, answering emails and messages, keeping up with the website and social media, and all the things that happen in between.
So, when you reach out to Willow Rock, it’s me you’re talking to! Steven has a full time job outside of Willow Rock as a firefighter/paramedic, but he’s very much the muscle behind the blooms. He jumps in wherever I need him, especially when it comes to packing and shipping, bigger projects, and the craziness of our busiest season. I truly couldn’t do all of this without him. He is my favorite person, and somewhere along the way, we started loving doing this together.
A lot of people think fall means things are starting to slow down, but it is the exact opposite; summer is the slowest season! Once fall hits, it’s pretty much full speed ahead until June between digging, dividing, storing, waking tubers up, taking cuttings, prepping packaging for the next season, shipping tubers, shipping cuttings, and somehow doing everything else in between.
Here are some answers to questions that have been asked recently.
2027 TUBER SALE
Our tuber sale will be online only again this year and will be sometime around mid February. I don't do presales or fall shipping. I store the tubers and ship them to you when they are awake with little eyes peeking out and ready for you to plant.
Tubers will begin shipping in March to areas that are warm enough to safely receive them. If you live somewhere that is still too cold, but want your tubers early, there will be an Early Shipping option that includes insulation and a heat pack.
All tuber and cutting shipping will be done through UPS this year unless unavailable. USPS has become too unpredictable for us, and although UPS can be a little more expensive, they are more dependable and give us confidence when sending your orders across the country.
DIGGING AND DIVIDING HAS STARTED!
Normally I wait until closer to the end of October to start digging, but this year I decided to start early, and I am SO glad I did. So far, tuber production has been incredible.
I’ve started with harvesting plants that were grown from cuttings, and I’ve been really impressed with what they’ve produced! I keep track of tuber production from plants started as cuttings versus plants started from tubers, along with how individual varieties perform, because I think that information is really helpful when deciding what to grow.
And let me tell you, digging and dividing when it’s NOT freezing cold, muddy and icy outside is pretty dang nice.
2027 CUTTING SALES
Cutting sales will begin around the end of March and will continue through the beginning of June.
There is a very intentional reason behind the way I grow and ship our cuttings.
One of the biggest things I have learned from years of growing thousands of cuttings, is how important those early stages of root development are for future tuber production. In my own field, I have consistently seen that restricting the roots while a cutting is young has a huge impact on what that plant produces underground at the end of the season.
Because of that, once a cutting is rooted, I get it out of the Root Riot and into its own pot. I want those roots actively growing and developing, not circling around inside a tiny cube or pot.
You will never receive a huge, root bound cutting from me that has been sitting in a tiny pot long enough to start budding. My cuttings will be between 6 to 10 inches tall. They are well rooted, established plants that are still in that ideal stage of growth and ready to take off once you plant them.
My goal is not to send you the biggest cutting I possibly can. The goal is to send you a healthy cutting with a strong, unrestricted root system that has been set up from the beginning to grow into a great plant and, most importantly, produce great tubers for you at the end of the season. These dahlias are an investment, and I want to give you the best chance of digging them in the fall and actually have something to show for that investment.
Last year we switched from shipping primarily in Root Riots to potted cuttings, and you all absolutely loved them. Because of that, we will once again be offering potted, established cuttings in a three inch clear pot so you can see the root development, planted in Sunshine Mix #4 soilless medium with Mykos added to support root development, with two nodes buried below the soil to help with tuber development. They will be shipped in paper based packaging rather than plastic clamshells, which helps reduce trapped condensation during transit and helps the plants travel better.
Over the seasons, we have dialed in our process for packing and shipping cuttings, so they arrive undamaged, healthy, and ready to thrive for you. This has made it possible for us to offer more cuttings this coming season than we ever have before.
I’m actively working on our 2027 cutting list RIGHT NOW, so I would love your input. If there is a variety you know I grow that is not already listed in the Potted Cuttings section of the website and you would love to see it offered as a cutting, please let me know. If it’s already listed there, it’s already on my list to propagate. I absolutely take those requests into consideration when deciding which varieties to propagate and how many to produce.
WEBSITE UPDATES
The website will be changing almost daily over the next few months as I add varieties that will be available as tubers/and or cuttings.
I also try to include information in the descriptions about how varieties perform, including tuber production, because they definitely aren’t all created equal. Some varieties make absolutely beautiful clumps and others make you wonder what you did to personally offend them.
I’ll also try to be better about posting to Stories as I dig and divide so you can see different varieties, what their clumps look like, how plants grown from cuttings compare to plants grown from tubers, and all the other nerdy dahlia things I love keeping track of.
You probably won’t see a ton of regular posts for a little while because, well, I’ll be buried in tubers. But I’ll do my best to keep you updated along the way.
There really isn’t a quiet season here. It just changes from one kind of crazy to another. And there are a few things coming that I’m ridiculously excited to finally tell you about.
I can’t share quite yet, but soon!
Once I land on exact sale dates, I’ll share them with our email subscribers first, followed by our social media accounts. If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything, make sure you’re signed up for emails through the website!
Last, but most important. Thank you. I realize you have so many different options on sourcing your dahlias, and I am extremely grateful you trust me to provide you with these beautiful plants. I pinch myself daily wondering how I am lucky enough to be able to do something I truly love.
That is because you all show up for my family and our small business. I am forever thankful.
As always, if you have any questions, please shoot them my way!
I'm so happy you're here.
~ Sarah
📷: DL’s Shy Violet
