Choosing the right dahlias
They want to be seen when you take photos of your garden in bloom.
Remember class photographs at school?
The tallest kids always had to stand at the back, with the shorties in front.
The same principle applies to dahlias if you intend to make all your blooms visible.
Although there are 30 species of dahlia available, many varieties of hybrids and cultivars occur around the world today.
The tallest of these are the Cactus (80cm-1m), Decorative (80cm-1m) and Dinner Plate (1.5m-2m) dahlias. The Dinner Plates are not just tall; their flowers can be as massive as 25cm in diameter!
And the Decoratives offer even more than you bargain for by popping up in double bloom, while the Cactus varieties, on the other hand, are known to have narrow, spiky florets. All just as varied as the kids in your grade five class!
To make the most of these tall varieties, train them to flower as best they can by pinching and disbudding them. When the stems are almost at their tallest, nip off the soft tip of the main shoot to encourage it to bush out and produce additional leaves, which allow for more photosynthesis to occur, resulting in larger flowers.
Another way to encourage bigger blooms (although sacrificing on quantity) is to cut off the two lower side buds while they are still young, leaving the third, main bud to reach its optimal visual identity.
Choosing the right dahlias
For tall red options, look for the following Cactus cultivars: Alva’s Doris – an excellent cut flower; Cheerio – cherry red with white tips; Forrestal – shiny and radiant; Ma Jolie – a fimbriated, long-lasting cut flower; Sure Thing – bright and beautiful.
However, if you prefer yellow and orange blooms, go for: Einzi – orange with a yellow centre; Mev. Cl. Andries – a fimbriated, marigold-yellow flower; Preference – salmon coloured with a reddish centre; Wagschats Goldkrone – bright golden bronze.
For more of a show, look to these Decorative hybrids with their double blooms: Snow Country is as white as the name suggests, with a light-yellow centre; the lilac Nepos has a white base; and Edinburgh’s white tips offset its gorgeous purple petals.
But if it’s size you’re after, go all out with these Dinner Plate options: Lavender Perfection (fuschia), Red Dinner Plate (signal red) and Kelvin’s Floodlight (light yellow).
Planting your dahlias
This is one of the most rewarding summer bulbs to invest in, bursting into bloom from December all the way into May.
Tubers should be planted between mid October and the beginning of December. As summer plants, dahlias love the sun, and want lots of it too.
A spot that receives some shade at midday means the plant won’t be as thirsty, but, no matter where it is planted, it needs a lot of water (and even more as the foliage begins to show) – but be sure that your soil is well-draining. That’s really the only requirement when it comes to soil, as dahlias aren’t very fussy, but feel free to add some sand and compost if you feel you need to improve the clay structure. And a layer of compost mulch after planting will help retain moisture in the soil too.
For these tall cultivars, space your tubers 40cm apart, and 8cm deep in the ground, with the tubers pointing downward and the centre of the clump with the short dry stalk pointing upward. While you still know the position of these tubers, place a stake alongside each one, as these tall varieties will require some support to stand upright as they grow.
And, most importantly, give them their space to shine by not planting anything taller in front of them! They want to be seen when you take photos of your garden in bloom.
