For Bolder Borders Choose Dahlias

Varied and versatile yet surprisingly easy, colourful dahlias are a must-have flower for the summer garden. Louise Curley unearths the best options for different situations

- Louise Curley

ONCE seen as unfashionable, dahlias have staged a comeback in recent years and their newfound popularity shows no sign of waning. That’s largely because these incredibly varied plants offer something for every taste, whether bold and blowsy or classic and elegant. They’re versatile, too: plant in borders, grow compact cultivars in containers or treat them as a crop a for beautiful cut flowers. Dahlias also tick the value-for-money box. For around the price of a cup of coffee, a single dahlia tuber will produce blooms from the end of June right through to the first frosts.

The choice is huge, but to help narrow it down they are grouped into categories depending on their flower type. There are pom-poms, cactus types with spiky petals, orchid, water lily, peony and anemone-flowered options, collarettes, and those known simply as decoratives. Add to this the astonishing array of colours and you could easily pick a dahlia for every day of the year for the next 150 years – and still have some to spare.

Not all are pollinator-friendly

However, if you want a dahlia that is as irresistible to pollinators as it is to gardeners, you will need to choose your cultivar with care. Many of those amazing flower shapes are not terribly bee- and butterfly-friendly, but there are an increasing number of options that are. Look for the likes of the ‘Honka’ and ‘Bishop’ ranges, which have open centres that allow easy access to their pollen and nectar.