Dahlias are Looking Good this month. I have resisted them for a while because there are so many other lovely plants to enjoy during the summer months. Besides I like to think of Dahlias as some of the star plants for September. You may have noticed a few Dahlias in the photos on my last post too.
I admit that Dahlias took a while to grow on me. They were not on my radar because I thought that they were time consuming and difficult to grow. As you know I like things to be quick and easy and to my mind Dahlias did not fit the bill. How wrong can you be? A gift of Dahlia tubers from a friend when we moved house got me started and I soon realised that they are really easy to grow. Nowadays I tend to grow huge ornamental Dahlias for our borders from tubers mostly in shades of red (bottom row) I photographed the gorgeous peach and pink Dahlias on the top row and in the header in the beautiful and productive Kitchen Garden at Forde Abbey in Devon.
Over the past few years I’ve been experimenting with growing dahlias from seed too. You can save your own seed and that’s quite exciting because the seedlings produced are not always like the parent plants. I quite like the anticipation of wondering what the new flowers will be like. But I also like to know that I will get a particular size and shape of flower for cutting too and that’s where commercially produced seed comes in. I love the Pom Pom Dahlias in particular. They are pretty and showy without being overpoweringly large… just right for a vase I think.
Pom Pom Dahlias are fascinating to watch unfurl they are very affordable. It’s true that they are not quite as dramatic as the huge Dahlia flowers produced by expensive tubers but for posies and bouquets they are perfect. They are also extremely easy and fast to grow from seed.
If you are growing flowers for cutting from seed I can heartily recommend Dahlias. For detailed growing information have a look at the individual varieties in the Half Hardy Annual section of the SHOP. Stem length is important when you’re choosing any flowers for cutting. Some Dahlias have very short stems and are produced specifically for bedding schemes and to look neat in pots at garden centres. All our recommended varieties have nice long stems.
Have a lovely day and Happy Gardening!