Deep red flowers, beautiful long lasting blooms. Mine generally reach about 7" - 9" across. I find mine do best when planted in contain...Read Moreers (instead of directly in garden) in full sun with rich, loose, well drained soil. Give a spritz of liquid fertilizer once ever couple of weeks. Plant the bulbs at about 6" depth.
Absolutely beautiful, dependable dahlia that I've grown for the last 3 years. Since I'm in zone 5, I set the bulbs out in May (usually mid month). If frost is possible, cover tender vegetation on those nights with a cardboard box or remay cloth. Blooms generally appear by the end of June/ early July and continue until frost. When frost arrives, lift bulbs, cut off plant close to top of bulb, clean off with water and put in airy place to dry. I store mine in my basement over winter in net bags hanging up. Or put in box with a little peat moss or wood chips and store in cool dark place (45 - 55 degrees).
Because this is a dinnerplate dahlia, if the blooms reach 8+ inches across, you can dry these for use in dried arrangements and they will form a nice fist sized dried flower when fully dried. (smaller blooms dry much smaller). Color will hold for about 1 year.
To dry: cut (just) fully opened flower and leave a short (4" stem). Poke a 22 ga or 18 ga wire through the flower close to but not in the center of the flower. Loop the top wire into a U and pull down through the opposite side of the flower. Hang upside down in a warm dark place to dry (about 3 weeks). When dry, spray well with a flower preservative or hair spray to seal. I have read that you can preserve the blossoms using silica gel as well, but if you intend to do more than 1 or 2 flowers, air drying is best. Flowers dried in silica gel will absorb moisture from the air and fall apart much quicker.
The most gorgeous Dahlia in my garden! Huge rich red blooms . Will plant more next year - absolutely love it!
A very red fully opening FD - ball shaped with big petals.
Deep red flowers, beautiful long lasting blooms. Mine generally reach about 7" - 9" across. I find mine do best when planted in contain...Read More