A Love for Dahlias Blossomed Into Rusty Bucket Flower Company

by Liz Potasek | Apr 2025

Jody Martin. Photos: Chris Emeott

Jodi Martin’s love for dahlias is the inspiration behind her passion project.

It all started with Jodi Martin’s bridal bouquet. She wanted to add a few dahlia blooms to the stems she carried down the aisle at her fall wedding in 2019, so she decided to grow a few varieties. Her little project in the garden was not only a success, it inspired her to continue growing dahlias, and it bloomed into a hobby business, Rusty Bucket Flower Company.

With more than 1,200 plants representing over 200 dahlia varieties, Jodi supplies local florists with cut dahlia blooms for fall bouquets and sells dahlia tubers to gardeners in the spring—in addition to her full-time job as a nurse practitioner. “They’re divas, but I feel like it’s worth it,” Jodi says of her favorite flower.

Jody Martin’s dahlia garden, which includes more than 1,200 plants, are arranged by variety.

When Jodi and her husband, David Martin, moved into their Prior Lake home in 2016, they had dreams of a hobby farm, and with the help of some generous neighbors who lent equipment to till their first garden plot, they got started with a vegetable garden.

Today, they care for bees, chickens, ducks, geese, goats, three dogs and a cat, along with a vegetable garden, several flower gardens and of course the dahlia gardens, on their 10-acre property. Jodi and David, along with their two kids, Luciana, 7, and Caleb, 6, like to stay busy. “I’m not very good at relaxing,” Jodi says, noting that she’d love to grow more perennial flowers and wants to introduce additional peony varieties to her gardens in the future.

: RaeAnn’s Antares

: Isabel

But dahlias will always be her biggest passion. She loves spending time outside in the garden, whether she’s pulling weeds or cutting flowers. “Gardening is therapy,” she says.

The dahlia season for Jodi starts in mid-May when she begins planting tubers into the ground. Although the clusters of brown, carrot-like roots might not look too promising, given the right growing conditions, dahlias begin blooming 12 to 16 weeks after planting and can continue blooming until the first frost.

: Irish Delight

: Castle Drive

In Minnesota, the plants can be grown as annuals, but Jodi extends the life of her dahlias by pulling the plants in October and November, and cleaning, separating and dividing the tubers to be planted next spring. She overwinters them in cold storage. Given Minnesota’s harsh winters, dahlia tubers wouldn’t survive in the ground—they’re native to Mexico and Central America. “If it’s too much work, you don’t have to save the tubers,” Jodi says to gardeners who are nervous about committing to the plant.

Dahlias can be propagated using plant cuttings or by dividing tubers, but when pollinated, dahlias produce seeds with unique characteristics, so many growers are experimenting with cross-pollination to create new varieties. “My dream would be to hybridize dahlias,” Jodi says.

: Kelgai Ann

: Wowie

Caring for Dahlias

Dahlia care tips from Jodi Martin:

Dahlia tubers should be kept in a cool, dark space until they are ready to be started indoors or planted outdoors. Gardeners should inspect tubers to make sure they are free of mold, rot or soft spots. Dahlias can also be grown from seed (This would be a new variety, different from the parent plant or from rooted cuttings.)

Tubers can be started indoors under grow lights. To start indoors: Place tuber horizontally in a tray with the eye facing up and cover with a soil-less potting blend. Keep the potting blend moist but not too wet. Too much water before roots establish can lead to rot. When roots have developed and the shoot has broken the surface, dahlias can be watered like any other plant.

Once the risk of frost has passed, tubers can be planted directly in the garden or a large pot. If you’re planting a dahlia that has been started indoors, slowly expose it to cooler outdoor temperatures before planting in the ground. The soil temperature should be above 55 degrees. Dahlias like full sun and well-drained soil that is high in organic matter.

Stake dahlias to provide support as they grow. Once the plant is about 6–12 inches, pinch off the top shoot to the first or second set of leaves to promote branching and blooms.

One dahlia tuber will grow into a clump of tubers that can be divided and stored at the end of the season.

Spectrum of Blooms

Dahlias come in a wide spectrum of colors—from bright white to deep burgundy and butter yellow to bronze—as well as dramatically different shapes and sizes. “There’s a variety for everyone,” says dahlia grower Jodi Martin. These are a few of her favorite blooms from last summer’s garden:

Bloomquist Blush: Buttercream yellow bloom with pink-tipped petals.
Bloomquist Jean: Large copper petals form a bloom that’s 6 to 8 inches in diameter.
Bloomquist Jody Lynn: Lilac purple tips with a touch of cream contrasted by a dark center.
Castle Drive: Light pink petals with subtle hits of yellow and cream in the center of a 4- to 5-inch bloom.
Cornel Bronze: Bronze ball blooms about 4 inches wide.
Hollyhill Black Beauty: Deep burgundy—almost black—blooms that are 6 inches wide.
Irish Delight: Bright yellow blooms about 3 inches wide.
Isabel: Ball-shaped blooms range in color from lavender to dusty pinks. Blooms are about 3 inches wide.
Kelgai Ann: Soft blush petals with dark pink streaks on a 5-inch wide saucer-shaped bloom.
RaeAnn’s Antares: Dark pink anemone-like petals with a light center.
Shadow Cat: Dark brown/burgundy ball form, 4-inch blooms that can almost appear black.
Verrone’s Sandra J: Rust, raspberry and gold blooms that are 4 to 6 inches wide.
Wowie: Brilliant orange red petals with a white collar and 3.5-inch blooms.