Gardeners who are looking for a beautiful, versatile and long-blooming flower for their beds should take a close look at the dahlia. They look beautiful in arrangements, but also are ideal for show and competition.
Dahlia growing clubs and other societies are a testament to their popularity.
Dig the roots every fall and store them over the winter, prune them to the correct size, spray for bugs, and stake the plants so the stems grow straight.Dahlias are a hybrid plant, therefore, when they are grown from seed, you won’t get the same flower twice. When someone grows a dahlia they think is exceptional, they can send three seeds to a trial garden.
Once the dahlias are in full bloom, they are judged in the US by persons accredited by the American Dahlia Society and all those scored are tallied at the end of September and sent to the trial garden chairman. The highest scoring dahlias will be made available to commercial suppliers the next year.
The trial garden is a way to introduce new varieties of dahlias. There are only eight dahlia trial gardens in the US.
The optimal time to plant Dahlias depends on where you live. The plants are sensitive to frost so it is important to wait until all danger of frost has passed. Dahlias may begin blooming as early as late June and will continue to bloom until the first hard frost. They give your garden constant color into October.
Dahlias also offer more varied colors, sizes and forms then most other flowers. Dahlias can be red, yellow, orange, white, lavender, pink, purple or multi-colored. They can have a single row of petals or multiple petals.
When judging dahlias at shows, there are 15 different color classifications and 17 different form classifications. The blooms also come in a variety of sizes -- from as small as two or three inches to larger than ten inches. The plants themselves can be up to six feet tall.
Read more about growing Dahlias.
