Flower Profile: Café au Lait Dahlias

Supertribe: Helianthodae
Tribe: Coreopsideae
Genus: Dahlia

Café au Lait dahlias are magnificently large dahlias known for their creamy colour with touches of peach or blush; making it a favourite for late summer weddings. In the Language of Flowers, the dahlia is a symbol of a commitment and bond that lasts forever, making them pretty perfect for weddings. Its vase life is approximately 3-4 days, so best to cut and design within a day or two for weddings and events. When we were growing dahlias, we noticed hot house dahlias preformed just as well, if not better being held at room temperature outside a flower cooler.

Dinner Plate dahlias grow up to four feet in height, but get their name from their impressive fully double flowers grow up to 10 inches wide. They offer massive blooms from midsummer until frost.

Cultivation Tips

• Dahlias are perennial plants with tuberous roots. They have not been adapted to withstand sub-zero temperatures. However, their tuberous nature enables them to survive periods of dormancy, and this characteristic means that gardeners in temperate climates with frosts can grow dahlias successfully, provided the tubers are lifted from the ground and stored in cool yet frost-free conditions during the winter.

• Planting the tubers quite deep (10 – 15 cm) also provides some protection. When in active growth, modern dahlia hybrids perform most successfully in well-watered yet free-draining soils, in situations receiving plenty of sunlight. Taller cultivars, including Dinner Plate dahlias usually require some form of staking as they grow, as well as hilling similarly to potato plants, once the plants become more mature at approximately 3 feet in height.

• All garden dahlias need deadheading regularly, once flowering commences.

Would you like to learn about another flower varietal? Read about Iceland Poppies.