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William Wolkoff Dahlia Garden
Welcome to the William Wolkoff Dahlia Garden. Located within the Bayard Cutting Arboretum in the town of Great River, along Long Island's south shore, the Long Island Dahlia Society describes it as one of the largest public dahlia display gardens on the East Coast! With more than 1,300 dahlia plants and roughly 300 different varieties, it is definitely worth the visit. The garden was originally planted in 2012 and has been maintained since by volunteers from the Long Island Dahlia Society. |
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Autumn Clematis
The estate of William Bayard Cutting, originally known as Westbrook, began development in the 1880s, with guidance from the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted Cutting. William Bayard Cutting developed an important collection of conifers with the assistance of Charles Sprague Sargent, director of the Arnold Arboretum, and the Cutting family donated the property to New York State in 1936. The purpose was not simply to create another public park, but to preserve a place where people could appreciate landscape design and plants. |
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Semi-Cactus Dahlia 'Alfred Grille'
In 1944, The Long Island Dahlia Society was founded by a group of dahlia enthusiasts, and over the decades Long Island Dahlia Society has developed into an important regional dahlia organization, in which its volunteers now maintain the Wolkoff Garden at the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. Members are involved in the entire annual cycle of selecting and preparing tubers, staking, training, disbudding, pest control, identifying varieties, digging tubers, dividing tuber clumps, and winter storage and preparation for the following season. |
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Collarette Dahlia 'Pooh'
The Dahlia Garden fits in particularly well here at Bayard as the property has always had an emphasis on horticulture, plant collections and informal landscape design.  | Semi-cactus Dahlia
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Dahlia Garden
Judging the Dahlias: When judging each Dahlia, The American Dahlia Society has a detailed judging criteria and classifies each according not only to color, but by several other characteristics, including size, form, symmetry, stem thickness and proportion. The annual show is usually held the first week in September and features blooms ranging from tiny flowers to enormous dinner-plate varieties. The blooms can be visited throughout the month of September, and the park is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday throughout the year and closed on some holidays. |
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Dahlia 'Belle of Barmera'
The Secret to Getting Large Flowers: To achieve a giant exhibition flower, it is customary for growers to remove the two side buds and allow the central bud to develop, allowing the plant's energy to concentrate into one bloom. The American Dahlia Society describes this technique as removing the outer two buds from the three developing at the end of a branch. The result is a larger, stronger bloom. |
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Dahlia Garden
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Dahlia 'Kelvin Floodlight'
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Dahlia Midnight Dancer
Storing Dahlia Tubers for Winter: Dahlias are tender perennial plants, whose underground tubers survive winter only where the ground doesn't freeze deeply. After digging, remove excess soil, trim feeder roots, and allow the clump to cure/dry. Divide if desired, and store in a cool environment such as a garage. It is recommended to layer
the tubers with a dry packing medium such as vermiculite or
peat moss, although many growers successfully store them in plain paper bags with
no medium at all. Label each variety and inspect periodically through winter. Long Island Dahlia Society recommends a storage environment around 40–50°F, with enough humidity to prevent the tubers from shriveling but without creating wet conditions that encourage rot. |
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Dahlia Garden Birdhouses
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Dahlia Garden
Stroll around to see some other sights, then after you visit the Dahlia Garden, maybe you can find a peaceful place to rest, walk through the forest or perhaps...hug a tree! |
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A Peaceful Place to Rest...
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Or A Walk Through the Forest...
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Or Perhaps Hug a Giant Redwood Tree!
I hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of the Bayard Cutting Arboretum Dahlia display. Today the Arboretum encompasses roughly 690 acres along the Connetquot River and contains extensive collections of trees and seasonal plants. The yearly Dahlia display is certainly a delight to the eyes and definitely worth the visit! I have tried my best to identify the Dahlias pictured here, but do chime in if you know the variety for sure! As mentioned previously, the Arboretum is opened year round Tuesday- Sunday, except for some holidays. |
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Author: Lee Miller @A Guide to Northeastern Gardening, © Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.
What a wonderful display of dahlias! I grow dahlias in my own garden, so I know how much work can be hidden behind all those magnificent flowers. But 1,300 plants and around 300 varieties is on a completely different scale!
ReplyDeleteI was especially impressed to read that volunteers from the Long Island Dahlia Society care for the garden throughout the entire year. Visitors see the glorious result in September, but behind it are months of planting, staking, tending, digging up, dividing and storing all those tubers. That makes the display even more remarkable.
I also enjoyed seeing the enormous variety of shapes and colours. ‘Pooh’ made me smile, while ‘Kelvin Floodlight’ certainly lives up to its name! It must be difficult to choose a favourite when walking through a garden like this.
And after so much colour, a quiet walk through the woods sounds like the perfect ending. I am not quite sure whether I would hug the giant redwood, but I would certainly stop and admire it!
Thank you for taking us along on this beautiful autumn visit.
Warm greetings from Germany,
Anette
Thank you for visiting Anette and I am so happy that you enjoyed the Dahlia display. I am fortunate to have the arboretum just a few miles down the street from where I live and I visit it often, as the views are beautiful year round.
DeleteAbsolutely gorgeous!!! Everything looks beautiful and vibrant!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you enjoyed the tour, and I love reading your inspiring quotes!
DeleteThe dahlias are beautiful! I can't believe those are all dug up and stores for winter, what a job. 690 acres, wow that's a substantial park.
ReplyDeleteThe park is beautiful and am so thankful for those volunteers who put in such an amazing effort to keep this going every year. I am glad you enjoyed the visit!
DeleteSuch a lovely garden to wander round and it's great to see so many seats so you can sit down. Also it's great to see the birdhouses.
ReplyDelete