Late Arriving Cafe Au Lait Dahlia - Still No Blooms - Early October 2026

Two days ago, I described the Saint Martin Waterlily Dahlia plants as my most productive dahlias of the season.  Today, I'm showing an update on my LEAST productive dahlia:  Cafe au Lait.  

I didn't intend to grow Cafe au Lait this year.  Some of the tubers that I ordered from Longfield Gardens weren't viable, so they send a pair of Cafe au Lait tubers as a replacement.  

They arrived three weeks after every other dahlia tuber was started (and had produced new growth), so these started behind from the beginning.

I planted two.  One in the Pizza Oven West bed.  And one in the sideyard.  The Pizza Oven West dahlia died.  Suddenly.  One of those things.

The one in the sideyard started slow.  And, kept growing slowly.  All Summer.  

I was knee-high in August.  

Now, a the beginning of October, it still hasn't bloomed.  But, it has put on a bunch of foliage in the past few weeks.   Cafe au Lait has unique leaves - see below for a photo of it growing in the sideyard bed:

Maybe this thing has been busy all Summer focusing on tuber growth.  And, when I dig it up, I'll be surprised by a massive, new clump of tubers.  Or, it was just slow-to-warm-up.  

Will I get a bloom this year?  I think so.  But, just one or two before the frost arrives, I suspect. 

Either way, despite the reputation, this isn't one that I'm fired up about growing next year.