Cultivars to Select
There are 42 species and over 57,000 dahlia cultivars, with D. coccinea the parent of all hybridized plants.
Here are a few favorites from the many available cultivars:
Blue Bell
‘Blue Bell’ is a decorative type with soft pink to dark purple blooms that shimmer in the late season garden.
Growing up to 36 inches tall, the four-inch flowers are ideal as cut flowers and for creating colorful borders either alone or paired with yellows and pinks.
You can find packets of two, four, or eight tubers available from Eden Brothers.
Brown Sugar
With coppery-rust colored blooms, ‘Brown Sugar’ is a decorative type with four-inch blooms atop 26- to 38-inch plants.
The orangey-reddish-brown petals are lighter on the outside becoming darker towards the center for a gorgeous, two-toned, earthy feel.
You can pick up tubers at Eden Brothers in packets of two, four, or eight.
Cafe au Lait
‘Cafe au Lait’ is a standout dinnerplate type with creamy-pinkish-beige flowers held atop sturdy, 48-inch stems.
The huge blooms can reach up to 10 inches across for a stunning addition to beds and borders, as well as for cut flower arrangements.
You can find ‘Cafe au Lait’ available at Eden Brothers in packets of two, four, or eight tubers.
Summer Tango Collection
A mixture of ball flowers, the Summer Tango collection adds fiery heat to the garden with four-inch globes in glorious shades of burgundy, peachy orange, and purple while the mid-green foliage adds a cooler base.
Plants grow up to 40 inches and are superb as cut flowers or in mixed perennial beds, foundations, and butterfly or cottage gardens.
Tubers are available at Burpee.
Totally Tangerine
A prolific bloomer, ‘Totally Tangerine’ is an anemone-flowered type with bright pink petals surrounding a dark orange pincushion center.
Plants grow up to 36 inches tall and the blooms are four inches wide.
This one is an excellent addition to beds, borders, or patio pots, providing texture as well as color.
You can find packets of two, four, or eight tubers available at Eden Brothers.
Propagation
Dahlias can be propagated by cuttings, tuber division, or seed. However, growing plants from seed is an unreliable method.
Most of the stock available for home gardens comes from hybrid cultivars, which may produce offspring untrue to the parents.
Cuttings
Cuttings are clones of the mother plant, so they always produce the same qualities.
Sprout cuttings can produce up to six new plants from a single tuber, but they require a controlled environment of consistent humidity, warm temperatures, and day length.
Dahlias are photosensitive, and to develop healthy feeder roots as well as tubers, they require a day length of 12 hours or greater. If needed, add a grow light to your setup to meet this rooting requirement.
In late winter or early spring, choose a selection of healthy, firm tubers from your storage bin.
Add four to six inches of moist potting soil to a tray – or create your own soil blend of one half aged compost and one half landscape sand.
Nestle tubers into the soil, covering the bottom two-thirds, but keeping the neck and crown above the soil.
Place the tray in a 65 to 75°F location where it can receive bright indirect light.
Keep the soil moist but not wet, and within three to four weeks, sprouts will emerge from the tubers.
Once the sprouts are three inches or taller, use a clean, sharp knife to carefully cut each sprout away, taking a small notch of tuber with it.
Remove the bottom set of leaves and dip the lower one to two inches of stem into a rooting compound, then gently shake off the excess.
Fill small, four- to six-inch pots with moist potting soil.
Make holes and insert three stems into each pot, one to two inches deep, and gently firm the soil around each stem.
Maintain even moisture in the potting medium, but do not allow it to become waterlogged.
Place in a 65 to 75°F location that receives bright, indirect light for at least 12 hours each day. Roots form in two to three weeks.
Eight to 10 weeks later, sprout cuttings can be transplanted to larger pots, or planted into the garden when soil temperatures warm to 55 to 60°F.
Lorna Kring
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