Everlasting Dahlias

Graham Rice reveals his selection of pompon dahlias, plus small and miniature ball and cactus dahlias, that easily fit in with other flowers and are particularly long flowering

- Graham Rice

ALMOST everyone loves dahlias. Even gardeners who once despised dahlias have come to appreciate that in their vast variety of size, shape, colour and colour combinations they really are exceptional plants.

Of course, not all gardeners like all dahlias. There are almost 7,000 dahlia varieties in Britain, and everyone won’t like all of them. But more and more of us have gardens in which big and bright dahlias that are at their peak for just a few weeks really don’t make a good enough contribution, we need dahlia varieties that fit in with other flowers, and which will flower for months.

Dahlias that bloom for ever… 

So, first, we need varieties that are not overdominant, that blend with other flowers in today’s mixed borders. We also need dahlias that bloom for ever (until bonfire night, anyway) and we need to know how to make that happen.

So the types of dahlias that we must home in on are the pompon dahlias, the small and miniature ball dahlias and the small and miniature cactus dahlias. But why these?

Part of extending the season is encouraging each flower to last as long as possible – and this is all about bees. Single-flowered dahlias, with a few rows of petals around a yellow eye that produces pollen, are easy for the bees – they land, and the pollen is right there. They collect it and also pollinate the flower. At that point the flowers have done their job, and they start to fade.