Swan Island has great big rooms dug down into the earth. They have a dirt floor but wooden walls. That's where they store the tubers. There are buildings up top where they process the tubers. During the festival these rooms become their show rooms where they have big arrangements displaying every flower they have. It's nice and cool down there in the summer. I don't know how they plant but it's probably with some type of machinery. The soil is really loamy. And they mound the soil up around the plants with some type of cultivator. Don't know how many acres they have but must be at least 40-50 acres. They also sell cut flowers all summer long and you can place orders for weddings and big events. Their festival is a pretty cool event to go to. They have a display garden you stroll through and make your choices. Then they have a test garden where you can look at their new dahlias they are breeding(?). And you can also walk the fields. Well worth attending if you ever get the chance. Warning: attending the festival will make you a fanatic about growing dahlias.
