Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: The Year of the Dahlia
The National Garden Bureau chooses an annual, a tuber, a perennial and a vegetable each year to highlight. For tubers, 2019 is the year of the Dahlia.
These are beautiful plants and we can appreciate their beauty as an annual in our northern gardens. The National Flower of Mexico, the Dahlia, is the genetic source for the modern hybrid dahlias grown today. And there are some beauties.
Dahlias are related to the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia. You can really see it in some varieties. The size and shapes of the blooms of dahlias vary a LOT! There are dinner plate size to petite singles.
‘Happy Single Flame’ is a single-flowered type; nice dark, almost black leaves that create a terrific backdrop for this salmon coral flower with a yellow flame around its heart; it’s a great ‘cut and come again’ dahlia. It’s blooms are 2′-3′ across.
From petite to pretty dang huge, ‘ My Hero’ has 11 inch Rosy purple with a silver reverse blooms on a 5’ plant. These rich blooms ruffle and twist showing off the beautiful silver reverse of each petal. It’s like crazy gorgeous! And it’s new for 2019.
This next dahlia is also a 2019 introduction from Swan Island Dahlias out of Oregon, called ‘Firefighter’. Their description is Stop, Drop, and Roll! These 5” bright yellow and red blossoms will be a show stopper in your garden. The yellow petals are edged in flame red. This variety will start out with red and yellow blooms, as the season progresses, it will turn to mostly yellow with a little bit of red. It’s one of the best late into fall!
Dahlias vary in color, height, bloom pattern, size and so much more. They all need sun. Longfield Gardens has a great list of tips for planting and caring for dahlias. And more info from the Farmer’s Almanac.