Dahlia: varieties, growing and uses

Six choices with their own character

Cafe au Lait produces large, softly coloured double flowers. Arabian Night brings deep wine red. Bishop of Llandaff combines red flowers with dark foliage, and David Howard orange double flowers with bronze foliage. Honka is an open yellow star; Twyning's After Eight sets white above almost black foliage. You are comparing form and the overall plant, not just six shades of pink.

Support without a tight straitjacket

Put stakes in before the plant is large so you do not later push blindly into the tubers. Tie a stem loosely with soft material. Leave room for thickening and movement in the wind. A large, rain-soaked flower needs more support than a small, open flower head. Check the ties each time you cut flowers.

Bouquet or flowering border

For a border, you need not remove all the small buds. If you want one large cut flower per stem, you can remove small side buds beside the central bud. This is a deliberate choice. A row for bouquets is easier to access; in a border, you can let dahlias stand out among quieter plants.

Your collection through winter

When lifting, keep each plant separately with its own label. Months later, the lovely flower will no longer be visible on the tuber. Take a labelled photo in summer and note which plants you want to keep. Discard rotten material from storage and check regularly. This turns a first trial into a collection suited to your garden.

Scent, flavour and use

The names Cafe au Lait and After Eight are cultivar names, not flavours. This guide covers dahlias as ornamental and cut flowers, without recommending eating the flowers or tubers.

Care, cutting and harvesting

Position dahlias in a sunny, sheltered spot in fertile, well-drained soil. Harden off plants started under cover and plant out only after frosts. Put in sturdy stakes at planting. During dry weather, water at the roots and keep the tuber zone moist without waterlogging.

Pinch out the young main stem at around 40 cm above a pair of leaves for more branching. Cut spent stems back to a lower leaf node. After frost damage, you can lift healthy tubers, let them dry and store them cool and frost-free. Check for rot during storage; divide when new growth appears in spring.

Cut dahlias for a vase only when the flower is well open: closed buds do not open sufficiently after cutting. Also check the back for old, brown petals. Store the tubers of your favourite plants with a clear cultivar label.