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Dahlia - Perennial Flower For Your Garden © 2007Visit Our Online Store.For Perennials and Perennial Seed |
Family - Compositae - Daisy The Dahlia is hardy only in USDA Zones 8 - 9, however the seed raised ones in my southeastern Indiana perennial garden survive to bloom as short lived perennials. I would not chance this with pricy tubers purchased from flower vendors. These need to be lifted in the fall, and stored in a frost free, dark area on peat moss or sand. Do this after the plant has finished blooming in the fall. Prune the foliage off, allow to dry a few days, clean them and place them on the peat. The tubers may be divided in the spring when you replant them. Leave at least one eye per tuber. I usually try to start a few from seed every year as I am too lazy to dig, clean, and store the tubers. And since a few of the previous years dahlias survive, a fair number of dahlias are found in the garden. I also take cuttings from my most hardy varieties and replant them in the fall in the flower garden. Some survive, some don’t. They do not seem overly problematic with pests. Japanese Beetles go after them somewhat, sometimes light infestations of aphids and whiteflies are troublesome, but the plants seem unfazed and keep on blooming. The Dahlia is named after a Swedish botanist named Dr. Anders Dahl who did a lot of work on the Dahlia. It originated in Mexico and was introduced into Europe in 1789. Since then it has seen extensive hybridization which has resulted in hundreds of cultivars. There are twenty wild species, but most of the ones in cultivation today are of garden origin. The garden varieties are thought to be mostly descendents of D. pinnata, the Aztec dahlia, D. coccinea, the fire dahlia, and D. rosea, the old garden dahlia. Dahlia cultivars range from one foot tall to over eight feet and flowers of some varieties can be up to eighteen inches in diameter. |
