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 typessmall and miniature cactus dahlias. But why these?