What a damp squib: Dahlia ‘Fireworks’
I remember seeing dahlia ‘Fireworks’ at a trial ground a few years ago and being totally underwhelmed by it. Touted as the first dwarf dahlia from seed with striped flowers, it had a lot of single colours in the mix and I thought it was a bit of a washout, even if I had liked the striped blooms (which I wasn’t keen on). I thought it had probably been introduced too soon, before the stripiness had been stabilised.
So I thought I would give it a chance this year and see how it did. Dahlias are easy to grow from seed and the large seedlings are not only easy to handle but they bloom surprisingly quickly.
Well I wish these hadn’t bothered.
Not only are very few of the flowers striped but the habit of the plants is too irregular with different heights, and the plants seem as ashamed of the blooms as I am and they are hidden among the leaves. They are a total washout and annoy me every time I look at them.
Geoff’s rating 2/10
Garden rating 4/10
The Biking Gardener 
they are miserable oh well out they come
Not keen! And as if that’s not bad enough, to have taken the time and trouble to raise from seed, extremely disappointing!
I don’t think I would have liked it much even if it had done its stuff but the whole thing is a mess. I won’t be keeping the tubers for next year!