Before Ordering Your New Dahlia 

Please take a few minutes to read this page before placing your order. By completing your purchase, you agree to the information and policies outlined below. 

Welcome to Umberwood.

Buying dahlia tubers is exciting (and sometimes just a little addictive).

Every tuber leaving Umberwood has been grown, lifted, divided and carefully inspected here in Christchurch, New Zealand. We know every variety because we've grown it ourselves, and we only sell tubers we'd be happy planting back into our own patch.

By placing an order with Umberwood, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the information and policies outlined on this page. Dahlias are living plants, and there are a few things worth understanding before they arrive on your doorstep. We've done our best to explain everything clearly, so you know exactly what to expect.

 

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Our Promise

We care deeply about producing healthy, quality tubers.

Throughout the growing season, every plant is regularly inspected for health and vigour. At lifting and dividing, each clump is checked again before being stored over winter, and every tuber receives one final inspection before it leaves Umberwood.

We sanitise our tools between plants during harvesting and dividing to help minimise the spread of disease, and we follow one simple rule:

If in doubt, pull it out.

If a plant shows symptoms that concern us, it is immediately removed from the field and destroyed. It is never composted or returned to the garden. While no grower can guarantee completely virus-free dahlias, we believe acting quickly is one of the best ways to protect both our collection and yours.

Research from the American Dahlia Society has shown that many healthy-looking dahlias may carry dormant viruses without ever displaying symptoms. It highlights just how complex virus management can be. What we can promise is that we remain vigilant, make conservative decisions, and only sell tubers we'd confidently plant ourselves.

 

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Every Tuber is Different (and That's Completely Normal)

One of the biggest misconceptions about dahlias is that bigger tubers grow bigger plants.

They don't.

Some varieties naturally produce long, chunky tubers, while others grow little skinny ones that look like they shouldn't work at all. Both can produce incredible plants.

Every tuber sold by Umberwood is at least the size of a AA battery, which is widely accepted throughout the dahlia community as more than large enough to produce a vigorous, healthy flowering plant. Some varieties naturally produce much larger tubers, while others stay quite petite—that's simply genetics.

Every tuber has been checked for a viable eye before dispatch.

Please don't be disappointed if yours isn't Instagram-perfect. Some of the funniest-looking tubers grow into the most spectacular plants.

 

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Storage Before Planting

If your tubers arrive before you're ready to plant, they'll need somewhere cool, dry and frost-free to wait.

A little shrivelling during storage is completely normal and usually nothing to worry about. Once planted, tubers naturally plump back up as they begin growing.

We'll include our planting guide with every order, and if you'd like a more in-depth look at storage, head over to our Instagram and visit our "From the Patch – Storing Tubers" highlights. We've also shared plenty of educational posts to help take the mystery out of storing dahlias over winter.

 

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Planting Time in New Zealand

Dahlias and frost are not friends.

As a general guide, plant once the danger of frost has passed and your soil has begun to warm.

If you're ever unsure, waiting an extra week is almost always better than planting too early.

 

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Shipping

We proudly ship New Zealand-wide using NZ Post.

Every order is carefully packed with generous padding and placed inside a protective courier satchel to help prevent excess moisture, rain and rough handling during transit.

Shipping costs are calculated at checkout based on your location and parcel size.

Please double-check your shipping address before completing your order, as additional courier costs for parcels needing to be resent are the purchaser's responsibility.

 

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When Will My Order Be Sent?

We dispatch tubers between September and October.

Some varieties wake from winter much earlier than others, while some take their time. Rather than rushing them out the door, we wait until each variety has developed a visible eye before dispatch.

To us, it's far more important that you receive a healthy, viable tuber ready to grow than simply receiving it a week earlier.

Should a variety fail during winter storage despite our best efforts, we'll contact you as soon as possible to offer either a replacement variety or a full refund.

 

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Mislabelled Varieties

Although every tuber is labelled multiple times throughout the season, mistakes can occasionally happen.

If you believe you've received the wrong variety, we'd love to hear from you. Please send us photographs once the plant flowers, along with your order details, before 1 March if possible.

If we've made an error, we'll happily replace the variety the following season.

 

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Refunds

If you believe there's an issue with the quality of your tuber—for example:

• rot

• no visible eye

• an incorrect variety

• an incorrect order

please contact us within 48 hours of receiving your parcel, including your order number and clear photographs. We'll always assess each situation and work with you to find the best outcome.

After this 48-hour period, we can no longer offer refunds or replacements. Once tubers have been planted, there are simply too many factors outside of our control, including storage conditions, soil health, weather, pests and general growing conditions.

That said, we genuinely love hearing how our dahlias perform once they've left Umberwood. Whether they're absolutely thriving or you've encountered an issue later in the season, we really appreciate you letting us know. It helps us better understand how our varieties perform in different climates and growing conditions across New Zealand, allowing us to continually improve what we grow and what we offer.

While we can't always replace or refund after the initial 48-hour period, your feedback is incredibly valuable to us.

 

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Welcome to the Umberwood Patch

Whether your new dahlias are destined for a sprawling flower patch, tucked into a cottage garden border, or planted in a pot on the deck, we hope they bring you seasons of colour and joy.

We hope they become the flowers you cut for the kitchen table, the blooms you love sharing with neighbours and friends, and the reason bees, butterflies and fuzzy-bottomed bumblebees keep visiting your garden.

Most of all, we hope you absolutely adore them.

There's something incredibly special about watching a single tuber transform into armfuls of flowers, and we feel incredibly lucky to share a small part of that journey with you.

Please send us photos throughout the season—we genuinely love seeing where our dahlias end up and how they're growing in gardens all over New Zealand.

Happy growing,

Jess, Ryan & Co (Umberdog)
Umberwood