Amazing annuals: Dahlias
Surprisingly easy to grow from seed, these perennials can be treated as annuals.
Dahlias are Mexican in origin and truly perennial. They are closely related to cosmos and I am not sure of what separates them. We tend to regard cosmos as annuals but then there is the chocolate cosmos which is a tuberous perennial. Bigeneric hybrids are reputed to exist but, trying to extract the truth from nursery exaggeration can be difficult. What is certain is that dahlias are perennials with tuberous roots that can be saved from one season to the next. It sometimes comes as a surprise to gardeners to discover that dahlias can effectively be raised from seed and will flower the first season.
I grew up among dahlia fanciers and grew dahlias from tubers. Though there were seeds of tall dahlias available with Decorative and Cactus blooms, these were never seriously considered because the flowers were never fully double and didn’t meet the strict criteria of serious dahlia growers. At this time dahlias were considered to be show flowers and had no place in the ‘ornamental garden’. But then ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ was hauled out from the back of the horticultural cupboard, largely because of appearing on TV with Geoffrey Smith, and things changed. The ‘Bishop’ became the plant to have because of its semi-double shockingly red flowers set against rich dark foliage. It was soon realised that it had its place in the bright, tropical flower schemes that were becoming all the rage after a decade of pastels. Dahlias were changing.
Dahlias in general are now truly accepted in the garden and there is a curious trend for single flowers. A whole series of ‘Bishops’ were created and international breeders concentrated on dark foliage. The ‘Happy’ series was introduced. I was keen to try ‘Honka’ with eight twisted, yellow petals and the allure of being the first fragrant dahlia. It seemed a retrograde step as far as dahlia flower development was concerned but it is a great garden plant and though the scent is not astonishing, it does smell pleasant. And the timing of single dahlias was perfect as it coincided with widespread concern for garden wildlife and dahlias attract bees and butterflies as effectively as buddleias. Growing dahlias from seeds gives mixed results which is either exciting or a pain. I grew seeds of ‘Twynings After Eight’ which is a gorgeous bushy plant with dark leaves and white single flowers, and the seedlings had flowers of every colour except white – though all were good plants and the butterflies didn’t give a hoot. I think there is a danger that we are getting a bit sloppy in our standards in dahlia flowers as we concentrate on what the bees like best. But it has to be said that they offer so much more for wildlife than big doubles.
So I would not bother to grow tall doubles from seed. For me, the scruffy flowers that try to be large and double but always fail, are the worst of all worlds. In contrast, seeds of single tall dahlias such as the oddly named ‘Bishop’s Children’ always give a satisfying display of attractive plants.
Which brings us to raising dahlias from seeds. Dwarf dahlias, with single or semi-double flowers have long been raised from seed for bedding purposes and they are very satisfactory. ‘Fireworks’ (pic top) was bred by Thompson & Morgan and was a breakthrough at the time with striped petals. The dwarf seed-raised dahlias must not be confused with vegetatively propagated types such as the micro ‘Dahliettas’ (TM) which I personally hate because they are so close-jointed and have no guts. Seed-raised types are far better although they do need deadheading to keep them blooming.
Dahlias are among the easiest of all plants to grow from seed and they flower surprisingly quickly. I would delay sowing till April because of their fast growth and their need for good light. The fleshy seedlings pop up quickly when sown at 20c but the cotyledons are brittle so handle with care. They are also very tasty to slugs and woodlice so be warned. But they grow very rapidly and are often starting to bloom by the time you are ready to plant them out, after the last frost of spring.
Of course I am treating them as annuals here but, if there are plants you especially like you can save the tubers and keep them for another year.
The Biking Gardener 
Strangely, they are late summer flowers here. Our climate should be ideal for them. Nonetheless, they bloom later here than they bloom i the Pacific Northwest! Bloom continues until frost. No one complains about the late start. It is normal for us.
How strange that they bloom so late there – I would have thought the opposite. And I would have thought that the tree dahlias, which need a longer growing season than we can usually manage, would do well.
I can not explain it. Tree dahlia does well on the coast. Again, I can not explain why it is not more popular farther inland. It was a fad for a while, but is now rare. They are perennial, so there is no reason for them to be gone now.
I haven’t bothered to grow dahlias from seed but must give it a go. It has almost become a fashion thing to do in recent years and I wouldn’t like to be left out!!!
Happy Christmas.
Thank you
And Happy Christmas to you Two! Looks like we will have to batten down the hatches for St Stephens Day.
I have already battened down and opened the bottles! Cheers!
Seasons greetings!
I have tried to grow Dahlias from.seeds and like you I ended up with dahlia which flowered that summer but not looking like the picture on the pack of seeds! I was doing a bed of white and yellow and the dahlias were not white and yellow but bright purple!
Anyway, I have kept them in the end and lift their tubers and all the other dahlias tuber at the first frost which I thought was quite late this year. (Last week only???) I have now tubers covered of very wet sticky clay n the shed that I have to figure out how to clean and dry before long term storage. I might wash them altogether to get rid of all that heavy clay on them?!
Washing is not generally recommended and it would be better to allow them to dry off and then knock off the lumps of clay. It is not that long to wait till it is time to start them again really. So get them dried off, keep them dry and free of frost and then in early March you can start them into growth again.
Thanks for that advice. I see the lovely sunshine today so let’s get them drying!
What an interesting article! Lots to think about. I’ve grown the “Bishop’s” from seed, but haven’t tried others. Thanks for sharing your expertise!
Thank you – I am glad you found it interesting.