A bed of dwarf bedding dahlias I grew from seed three years ago has grown back and bloomed again better than ever this summer.
A bed of dwarf bedding dahlias I grew from seed three years ago has grown back and bloomed again better than ever this summer. Talk about great value! The more dahlias I grow from seed the more I appreciate them. The original seed variety was Mignon Rose Shades (from Mr Fothergill's seeds), producing a simple, single rosette in shades of rose pink. They only grow to about 45cm, so I've planted them closely to form a carpet between some standard Bonica roses in a complimentary shade.
The marvellous thing is just how you can ignore them and they'll still flourish. Despite my heavy clay soil I've just left them in the ground, and they've grown up again every summer. If I was more conscientious I would have spread a mulch of compost over the area to provide a warm duvet to protect them from frost, but I didn't. Milder winters have been on my side, heavy penetrating frosts haven't struck, and my tubers have survived!
Dahlias are so easy to raise from seed, producing plants for just a few pence instead of paying pounds for tubers. Of course they take time to grow and mature, just like any bedding plant, but seed-raised dahlias form tubers too. That means they can get through winter and grow up again the following year.
The main gripe I've got with the seed companies is that most of the varieties come as mixtures. That means a packet contains a kaleidoscope of colours, and you can't tell what colour a plant will be until it actually flowers - fine if you want a flower bed reminiscent of Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, but not if you are trying to coordinate colours more tastefully.
'Mignon Rose Shades' is the only variety I've found that I can plant with confidence, where red, yellow, orange won't pop up among the pink. With a regular dead heading now I'll hopefully keep these blooming into autumn, then cross my fingers again and hope they'll survive winter to return again next summer. On second thoughts, maybe a mulch of home-made compost would be kinder, and offer more of a guarantee of success.
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