And then I might have found an Old House website and bought a few more because they had a few that the Island site was sold out of.

And now... well, now I have 28 different varieties of Dahlia Tubers (including 2 that I purchase at a big-box store...)

I'm also a nerd so I drew up the heights of each plant and the diameter of each plant to see what I'm dealing with (I was able to pull the numbers up easily thanks to the spreadsheet I made.)

I obviously cannot plant these all in the front-lawn area I was originally intending to be my Dahlia garden. Thankfully I have a large area in the back yard that once was all garden when my Dad owned this house, and I only plan to use a small square for a veggie garden.

How would YOU (the experts, IMO) handle this if you suddenly were faced with a BUNCH of dahlia tubers in your hands?? I'm wondering how much space I should put between each - I thought I read on here that someone had recommended 2 plants per stake... but surely putting 2 plants that will reach 5' each wouldn't do well directly next to one another, right?

In case you can't read my list on the image, here's the damage of what I've got:

Awe Shucks
Brookside Snowball
Cherish
Cornell
Crossfield Ebony
Dad's Favorite
Fatima
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Gay Princess
Gitts Crazy
Gonzo Grape
Gramma's Lemon Pie
Hollyhill Black Widow
Lady Darlene
Lambada
L'Ancresse
Maki
Midnight Moon
Mingus Toni
Outta Da Blue
Patches
Pipsqueak
Sassafrass
Swan's Glory
Wannabee
Yellow Bird
Zingaro
Zippity Do Da

I have actually heard of people planting 4 to a stake! but I can't quite understand how that works. I single stake each one, but mine grow extra tall due to only 6 hours of sun.

Just hope that your growing season is long enough for all the great Dahlias.
I only have Zingaro from your list, but new for me too.

what is your main aim with those Dahlias: cut flowers, great display in the garden...

(I assume that someone producing a detailed graph as you is not content with just: plant and see what happens)

-spacing: depends, taller cultivars about 3 feet apart, dinner plate varieties can get very big, so those even wider. Sounds like you have plenty of space. They grow healthier if they get more space and good air circulation.

-arranging:
personally I try to combine cultivars that go well together, like warm yellow and oranges, pale pink with purple, white and pastels.

definitely a matter of personal taste, but a point worth considering.

height: tall in the back row (northern side...) so they don`t cover/shade shorter varieties.

lay out of beds:
for low maintenance straight rows for easy hoe access, path ways to move between them.

for a fancy display the lines could be wavy or something.

Staking/ support
how many do you have altogether? professional growers often use some kind of net to support whole areas. Looks very technical.
Otherwise sturdy stakes/poles, IME one or two per plant. I had some plants break because I used too flimsy bamboo canes, which snapped or bent at some point.

With dinner plates it is advisable to stake each single flower head, they can snap in a rain or gust of wind.

plants get bushier if you cut off the tip when they are about knee high, over the third or fourth set of leaves, get more and smaller flowers. (so, perhaps just try it on some plants)

guess what, I ordered from a certain island as well, after discovering that they ship to overseas as well. and their shipping fee is just twice of that from a local nursery (very attractiv milage-cost-ratio IMO...)

and if you can spare the time do make notes. so later you can fine-tune or edit your collection, cull the dull or whatever-ones.

Have a great Dahlia season, bye, Lin

I hope to update this post with photos once they go in the ground and start blooming! :)

this may sound cheesy, but go to marthastewart.com and check out some of her staking videos. she makes a nice looking staking frame with string that doesn't look like it would stick out like a sore thumb in your beautiful cutting garden. I never thought I would ever recommend that, but YOLO...

BTW I "may have gone overboard" this spring, too - I think I'm up to four orders from AmericanMeadows and a couple of other sources. It's too late now, just time to plant and pray!

All of the tubers (ahem... a total of 56 of them) ended up in the ground a few weeks back. We are FINALLY starting to get some warmer weather here in Central Mass, so I'm sure that's helping things along. I swear when I looked in on the "babies" this morning they weren't as tall as they were tonight!

Let's see if I can do this multiple photo thing:

This is my garden in the front yard. Originally planned on 24 tubers out here... I think a few extra went in that were on the short side.

Next are the ones that have a decent amount of growth. First up is Zippity Do Da:

Gonzo Grape:

Brookside Snowball and Gitts Crazy (sorry for the blur):

Dad's Favorite:

Joy's Joy:

Awe Shucks:

and Pipsqueak:

Green is a pretty color but I can't wait til I see some real color!!! :)