San Francisco’s official flower turns 100 this weekend, and it’s not the only West Coast dahlia field peaking right now
Most cities don’t bother naming an official flower. San Francisco did, back in 1926, and this weekend it’s throwing that flower a hundredth birthday party.
The dahlia’s biggest weekend of the year lands August 15 and 16 in Golden Gate Park — free to attend, packed with competition blooms, and genuinely worth building a Saturday around. It’s also just one stop on a three-state dahlia run peaking at the same time, including an Oregon field spanning nearly 50 acres and a Washington garden holding more than 500 varieties. Show up right now and you’ll catch it three different ways: a hundred-year-old city tradition, a farm the size of a small town, and a family garden with more color combinations than you’d think one flower could hold.
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San Francisco: the flower’s 100th birthday
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared the dahlia the city’s official flower on October 4, 1926 — though dahlias had already been growing in Golden Gate Park since the 1880s, decades before anyone made it official.
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The Dahlia Society of California marks the milestone with its 100th Annual Dahlia Show on August 15 and 16, at the Hall of Flowers inside the County Fair Building. Hours run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, admission is free, and growers from across the state compete for Best in Show.
Miss the show and the flowers are still there. Dahlia Dell, the free public garden a short walk from the Conservatory of Flowers, hits peak color the last week of August into the first week of September. Petals stack ten deep in some varieties, in colors that don’t look real until you’re standing in front of them.
Staying in the city for the weekend? Book a room before the show crowd does.
Canby, Oregon: the country’s largest dahlia grower
Swan Island Dahlias grows more than 375 varieties across nearly 50 acres in Canby, about a half hour south of Portland — roughly the size of 38 football fields, and the largest dahlia grower in the U.S. Rows run in every direction as far as you can see, color-blocked like someone organized a rainbow by variety.
Its Annual Dahlia Festival runs August 1 through September 30, Wednesday through Sunday plus Labor Day, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission and parking are both free, and peak bloom typically lands mid-August into mid-September.
Go later in the festival if you can swing it — the color only gets denser as the weeks go on.
Turning it into a weekend? Book a room in the Portland area and make a real day of it.
Oakville, Washington: 500 varieties and counting
Dan’s Dahlias has been growing in the Chehalis River Valley since 1983, and its display garden now holds more than 500 varieties, open to the public from August 1 until the first frost. Expect dinner-plate blooms the size of your hand growing right next to dainty pompon varieties barely bigger than a coin.
It’s a smaller, quieter stop than Swan Island — tucked between Olympia and Aberdeen — and exactly the kind of place that turns a drive down Highway 12 into the actual destination instead of the thing you do on the way to one.
Routing through on a coast trip? Book a room in Olympia or along the coast and stretch it into a weekend.
Three states, three completely different dahlia operations, and all three are hitting their best color over the next few weeks. Which one’s worth the drive?
Trip tips: grab a rental car to string all three together, or just pick whichever leg is closest to home.
Hours, dates, and festival details change — always confirm before you go.
