Dahlias are loved for their beauty, variety of shapes and colors, and long-lasting flowering. At proper cultivation from year to year dahlias will delight you again and again.
Dahlias. Who doesn't know these luxurious flowers? A huge number of varieties of these tuberous plants have been bred, which differ in height, as well as in size, color and shape of flowers. The height of these plants can vary from 30 cm to 2.5 meters. The coloring of dahlias is simply infinitely varied, whichever you can find, and the shape of the flower is far from the same. Eat simple flowers with petals in one row, and there are terry forms in the shape of a ball, some are similar to chrysanthemums, while others are intricate sea stars. According to the international classification, dahlias, depending on the shape of the flower, are divided into single, collared, anemone-shaped, peony-shaped, spherical, decorative, pompom-shaped, chrysanthemum-shaped, cactus, semi-cactus, nymphal, orchid-shaped and mixed. They also love dahlias for their long flowering for 2-3 months.
These bright flowers will decorate any garden. Low varieties are suitable for decoration and, as well as for planting in. Tall - used in single and group plantings. Small groups of dahlias against the background of the lawn are very beautiful. You can allocate a separate place in the garden for dahlias, where you can create your own collection of diverse different varieties, tall ones are usually framed by lower ones, or you can use them together with other perennials; in such plantings, dahlias will no doubt be a soloist. In addition, dahlias are good in bouquets and can retain their appearance for up to two weeks.
Buying dahlia tubersWhen buying dahlia root tubers, you should first of all pay attention to the neck; it should be dense, not rotten or dry, because it is on it that sprouts will subsequently form.
Caring for dahliasDahlias are not too picky when it comes to care. Prefer sunny places fertile soil and moderate watering. There is such a trick in growing dahlias - in order for the plant to look more decorative, the flowers to be larger, and the tubers to be formed of better quality, you need to leave no more than three stems in the bush. It is also advisable to remove stepsons ( side shoots, formed in the leaf axils) and lower leaves. tall bushes It is advisable to tie it to a support. It is necessary to remove weeds and loosen the soil from time to time. Hilling will promote tuber formation; it must be carried out in August.
Digging up dahliasIn the autumn, when the foliage begins to turn black from the first frosts, or better yet, before the onset of frosts, the dahlia tubers are carefully dug up, cleared of soil, the strongest ones that are not damaged by sores are selected, and then placed in a solution of potassium permanganate of medium consistency. After 30 minutes, the tubers are taken out and dried outside or in a ventilated area for about a day, after which they are stored until spring.
Winter storageFor storage, use a dark room with a temperature of about 3-6 degrees, for example, it could be an underground or basement. If you live in a city, you can store dahlias on glassed balcony, Not yet severe frosts, and when such occur, bring them into the room, for example, to balcony door. To store dahlias, place them in a box in one layer and cover pine sawdust, sand, ash or perlite. You can lay it in several layers, each layer sprinkled with the same materials, but in this case you need to make several holes in the side walls for ventilation.
Sprouting dahliasYou can start germinating tubers in April. To do this, they are taken out of the shelter, inspected, and the damaged areas are cut off (you can lubricate them with brilliant green or sprinkle them with wood ash). Then they are planted in low boxes so that top part The rhizomes were approximately 2 cm above ground level.
Planting in open groundPlanted in open ground dahlias when the threat of return frosts has passed - at the end of May-June, while the root collar is buried 3-5 cm. When planting dahlias, maintain a distance between plants of about 50 cm for dwarf varieties, about 60 for medium and about 80 for giant plants.
Dahlia propagationDahlias can be propagated by dividing root tubers and cuttings. Root tubers are divided in the spring before germination or when planting in open ground using a knife so that the division necessarily has a part of the neck with two or three buds and one root tuber. The cut area is treated with wood ash or brilliant green. The cutting method involves cutting off the sprouts as soon as they reach a size of 6-8 cm, along with the so-called “heel” (part of the ring formation at the base of the sprout) and rooting them. Such cuttings grow no worse than from tubers, bloom well and abundantly, and new shoots form on the tubers when the cuttings are cut.
“Jolly guys” – annual dahlias
Not far from the house where I live, there is a small square planted with poplars and linden trees. In its center there is a large flower bed with a concrete vase in the middle in the fashion of the fifties. In this flowerbed, the local landscaping company Flora annually plants seedlings of various flowers. Last year they created a composition of cineraria, begonia and ageratum. A year ago, the composition was from other flower crops, marigolds dominated it.
This season, the flowerbed stood empty for a long time, I already thought that they had forgotten about it. And suddenly in the morning I’m walking through the park to the train, and near the flowerbed there is a tractor with a trailer, in which there are many plants in pots. In the evening, the entire area of the flowerbed was already occupied by succulent, low seedlings with leaves like dahlias. They were planted in neat rows around the circumference, the grooves were made like a compass. The flower bed looked quite impressive even without flowers.
And at the beginning of July, the plants began to bloom and delight the eyes with flowers of yellow, cherry, red and white colors. This flowerbed has become amazingly elegant. I decided it was time to visit her with a camera.
Readers will ask: what kind of flowers were planted in the flowerbed? I will answer: dahlias. And people who know little about floriculture will be very surprised: how can you grow hundreds of dahlias in a flower bed? They require an individual approach; they require garters to the supports, because they can be up to two meters high. All this is true. Perhaps you won’t find a single country house or garden plot, wherever in the second half of summer there would be succulent stems of dahlias, decorated at the top with very beautiful, bright, sometimes huge, hat-sized flowers. They are simple and terry, plain and variegated - all colors and shades.
Flower growers love these beautiful plants, belonging to the Asteraceae family.
Now known a bunch of various types and varieties of dahlias. But in the climate of our country there is one difficulty: they reproduce by root tubers, and from the moment they are dug up in the fall until planted in the spring, they need to be stored somewhere, since in our winters with frosts the tubers cannot overwinter in the soil - they freeze out. Not every gardener has his own cellar or basement, and there is no room in the refrigerator for a good collection. Therefore, many find a way out in growing dahlias with seeds.
This is exactly the type of dahlia that was planted in this flowerbed - annual dwarf dahlias, which, due to their short height (up to 70 cm) and bright colors of the petals, received the name from amateur flower growers "Funny boys". In fact, in warm regions they can be perennial, but here, like their tall relatives, they cannot overwinter.
Grow dahlias "Funny boys" sowing seeds, which are now sold in flower shops. Usually these are mixtures in which multi-colored varieties are collected. Flowers in different varieties can be simple, semi-double or double, their diameter can be from 5 to 10 cm.
To "Funny boys" bloomed by mid-summer, they grown through seedlings, like many other flower crops. These dahlias love fertile neutral soil, which gardeners usually prepare themselves from a mixture of equal amounts of garden soil, sand and humus.
Dahlias are sown first into a common container - boxes, bowls. Because "Funny boys" They do not tolerate frosts at all; they need to be sown in such a way that you can plant ready-made seedlings when frost strikes. warm weather. Taking into account the climate characteristics of different regions, sowing is carried out from the end of March to the end of April. For example, store-bought bags of seeds indicate the time for sowing in pots - April, planting in a flowerbed - June, planting distance between plants - 25-30 cm, flowering - when the height reaches 50 cm.
Seeds laid out (they are quite large for flower seeds) with a distance of 2-3 cm from one another, carefully pressing them to a depth of 2 cm, sprinkled with a thin layer on top fertile land or sand and water warm water. At favorable conditions Shoots will appear in a week. After a couple of weeks, the seedlings usually rise to a height of up to ten centimeters and form two pairs of leaves. Now you definitely need to pick and move each young dahlia into a separate container. Experts advise not to delay the transfer of seedlings, otherwise their development will slow down. In separate containers they become stronger and more resilient, and bloom earlier.
When stable warmth comes without returning frosts, seedlings are planted in flower beds, borders, front gardens, and city squares. The main requirements are fertile neutral soil, good sunlight, and regular watering. If you plant “Jolly Guys” in the shade, flowering will be delayed, it will be weakened, and the plants will stretch out.
As already noted, dwarf dahlias bloom usually in early July and then delight with their bright, variegated blooms until the end of summer, and then again in the fall - until frost, which they, like other dahlias, whose common homeland South America, they can’t stand it at all. If you want to extend the flowering holiday in the fall, cover the plants with film at night. This is not very difficult to do, because they are low-growing, unlike other types of dahlias.
To improve the decorativeness of the flower bed It is advisable to cut off faded flower baskets. If allowed weather, then you can stock up on your own seeds. To do this, leave a few flowers (the very first ones so that they have time to ripen in our climate), wait for them to ripen and collect the seeds. But when sowing with such seeds, there is no guarantee that the characteristics of the parent plants will be preserved (color, flower size, doubleness, etc.).
And finally the last secret of dwarf dahlias. Sown with seeds in the spring, by autumn they form tubers, which, like the root tubers of tall dahlias, can be stored at a temperature of +6...+8°C until spring. In this case, the planted tubers will completely replicate their parents. But here the same problem arises: where to store it? It may be easier to buy the seeds from the store again.
E. Valentinov
The foothills of Peru, Chile, Mexico are the homeland of dahlias (in Latin Dáhlia). The ancient Quechua tribes of the Aztecs used the tubers of the plant for food and decorated temples with flowers. They called them “kokotsoch”, which means hollow flower stems, or “akokotli” - water pipe(stems were used as water pipes). Having discovered the amazing “Indian vegetable” in 1526, Europeans did not appreciate it and forgot about it. After a long time Madrid Botanical Garden engaged in cultural research. Gradually, dahlias spread throughout the European continent, delighting those around them with an amazing extravaganza of colors.
The genus Dahlia (Dahlia) belongs to the Asteraceae family, or, as they are also called, Compositae. The bushes grow in height from 30 cm in dwarf varieties to specimens exceeding human height (2.5 m). The inflorescences are baskets, the size of which varies from the size of a button to a plate. These are perennial plants with fleshy, thickened, tuberous roots. Aboveground shoots die off completely in the fall.
The stems are branched, straight, smooth, sometimes rough, hollow. The leaves are pinnate, less often whole, 11-26 cm long, green or purple in color, placed oppositely. The marginal flowers are ligulate, of various shapes and colors; the inner ones are tubular red-brown and yellowish-golden. The flowering period begins in July and lasts until the first frost. Fruits are seeds.
1 – Small tubular flower; 2 – Massive tubular flower; 3 – Reed flower; 4 – Marginal reed flower wrapped inward; 5 – Marginal reed flower wrapped outwards; 6 – Flat reed flower
The genus dahlia includes more than 40 species. Breeders have developed many varieties from them. Botanical species are not used in culture today; they have been replaced by hybrid ones, with the common name Dahlia x cultonim. More than fifteen thousand varieties are known. The uniqueness of each variety led to the need for classification. There are twelve varieties:
Popular varieties are: Portland, Fabel, Graceland, Christian Lagadec, Seattle, Bombino, Volunteer Dahlia Garden, Nantenan, Willo’s Violet, Doris Day, Crichton Honey, Terpo, Chimborazo,
The agricultural technology for growing dahlias is simple. Even novice flower growers can do the breeding. To obtain bushes with attractive flowers, you must follow the rules for caring for dahlias.
When choosing a site you should consider:
Remember! Dahlias should not be planted in wetlands with high humidity levels.
Blooming dahlias in a sunny place
Dahlias grow well in any well-drained soil; the optimal soil is rich in humus loam, pH 6.3-6.6. Before winter, organic matter is added and dug up. After digging they bring in square meter 109-113 g of bone meal, and level with a rake.
Dahlias reproduce in different ways:
Planting tubers
Exist different ways planting dahlias depending on the planting material.
Please note! Root tubers are not deeply buried. The root collar should be at ground level. Excessive deepening is fraught with rotting and damage to the tubers. Buds develop near the root collar, from which sprouts grow.
Video of planting tubers:
Remember! The use of stimulants, such as potassium salt of heteroauxin, diluted in water, will improve root formation of cuttings. Before planting in the ground, seedlings are hardened off.
Watch the video of correct cuttings:
When to plant dahlias in the ground? The timing of planting in open ground depends on the climatic conditions of the region. IN middle lane Dahlias are planted at the end of May. In the southern regions - in April, in the northern - early-mid June.
Proper care - beautiful view
Dahlias are dug up in September, in the southern regions in October. If cold weather comes gradually and alternates with thaws, you can wait a bit with digging, the tubers should ripen. But if the temperature drops sharply, the tubers are removed immediately.
Important! The dug up tubers are dried by turning them upside down in a ventilated room, removing foliage and dead areas, and then stored in a room with a temperature of up to 8°C.
The stems are cut off before digging, leaving a 9 cm offset.
The dried and separated tubers are momentarily placed in melted paraffin, then they are dried and placed in boxes. Store in a dark and relatively cool place, can be stored in an apartment.
Unique colors
Low growing varieties used to create ridges, arrays, borders, planted in rock gardens, rockeries in small quantities. Tall varieties are planted in group plantings and free compositions. Single compositions are created from abundantly flowering or large-flowered varieties. Specimens with strong and long peduncles are suitable for cutting.
Dahlias are luxurious, bright flowers of the Asteraceae family, blooming from mid-summer until frost. This flower comes from Mexico. It was brought to Europe in the 18th century and became widespread. Now dahlias or Dahlia are used by many gardeners for beautiful decoration flower beds and flower beds. And in order for these flowers to please the eye, you need to know some of the features of planting and caring for them.
Dahlias (Dahlia) are a perennial plant. Flowers can reach 2-2.5 meters in height. They have hollow stems and paired simple leaves. The inflorescences look like baskets, the diameter of which can be from 3 to 30 cm. In the center of the inflorescence there are tubular petals, which are surrounded by reed petals of various colors. Root system The plant is very powerful and consists of tuberous, fleshy, thickened roots.
Every year, in the fall, the above-ground part of the plant dies. Only powerful roots remain, which accumulate nutrients for the growth of new buds.
In our conditions, Dahlia tubers cannot be left to overwinter. They freeze and die. Therefore, in the fall they should be dug up and stored until the new season.
The buds from which new stems and leaves emerge are located on the root collar of the plant. Therefore, it is necessary to preserve not only the root tubers, but also the part of the stem above them.
Breeders bred a large number of varieties of dahlias. Today, there are about 15,000 varieties. Flowers have all sorts of shapes and colors: from white to black.
Main types of dahlias:
There are also:
Thanks to the variety of varieties of dahlias, they are used very beautifully to arrange flower beds on the site, form borders, and are also used as individual potted plants.
Dahlias reproduce by seeds and tubers.
Many gardeners when growing Dahlia are stopped by the fact that the tubers of this flower cannot overwinter in the ground, and in order to preserve them in winter period certain conditions must be met. In this case, you can use seeds to plant dahlias. These will be annual plants. Non-double (simple) or collared dahlias are mainly propagated by seeds.
Planting seeds can be done in the spring directly into the ground. But then beautiful flowering Dahlia will please you only by the end of summer. In order for it to bloom from the beginning of summer, it is necessary to grow flowers through seedlings.
For seedlings, seeds are sown in April. Seeds are placed in a prepared container with sand and covered with a sand layer on top. Having moistened well, cover the container with film or a transparent lid and place it in a warm place with a temperature of 25-27 degrees. After the third leaf appears on the seedlings, the seedlings are planted in separate cups, where they grow until planted in the prepared area.
The best results in breeding Dahlia can be achieved if tubers are used for planting. They can be purchased at the market from flower growers or in special flower shops, or you can use old ones that you grew.
If you purchase new tubers, you do not need to do this in the fall or winter. It is better to purchase tubers in late spring, when they need to be planted in the ground. Healthy tubers should be strong and fleshy, preferably with small sprouts.
If you are going to use old tubers for planting next year, then first of all, they need to be properly preserved. To do this, you need to carefully dig up the plant, separate the tubers from the above-ground part of the plant and sprinkle them with sand and ash. The place where the tubers of this flower will be stored should be warm and draft-free. It is necessary to periodically inspect and moisten the tubers.
It is better to plant the tubers of these perennials in open ground from mid-May to early June, when the soil has already warmed up sufficiently.
You need to start preparing the tubers that are left after the winter for planting in April.
First of all, the tubers are cleaned of dried roots and the damaged areas are treated with brilliant green. Then they are planted in containers with prepared nutritious soil, peat or sawdust and leave for two weeks. Tubers should remain 2-3 cm above the ground.
After buds appear on the tubers, they are divided. You need to divide so that each separated tuber has a bud with a root collar. The cuttings are left in the ground for some time, watered periodically, and then planted in open ground.
It is better to choose a place for planting in advance and prepare it in the fall.
Dahlias prefer a well-lit area, without drafts, with well-drained soil so that the roots of the plant do not rot. It is not recommended to plant Dahlia in the same place. And it is also not advisable to plant these flowers where asters previously grew. Dahlias feel great next to other plants, so they can be planted next to lilies and roses.
The soil for planting dahlias should be nutritious and neutral acidity. If the soil is highly acidic, then slaked lime must be added to it. If, on the contrary, it is slightly acidic, then peat is added to the soil.
To add nutritional value to the soil, in the fall, add compost and humus to the selected area and then dig it up. In the spring, before planting, mature non-leaf compost and ash should be scattered over the surface of the site and distributed evenly with a rake.
How to plant dahlias?
Dahlias are quite unpretentious to grow. For abundant flowering it is necessary to choose the right place for planting, follow the rules of watering and feed on time. Care also includes weeding and pinching.
Watering this plant should be plentiful, but with a frequency of 1-2 times a week, depending on the weather. To preserve moisture, you can hill up or mulch dahlias. Before watering, the soil or layer of mulch must be raked away from the stems, and after watering, the flower must be re-educated. Mulching not only helps to retain moisture, but also helps keep away weeds and pests such as slugs.
In addition to regular watering, Dahlia needs feeding. Fertilizing is carried out at least 3-4 times per season, using both mineral and organic fertilizers. The plant responds very well to feeding with slurry. And during the flowering period it is necessary to use phosphorus and potassium fertilizers.
Dahlias with large inflorescences need pruning or pinching. This is done to obtain larger and more lush flowers. To do this, 2-3 of the strongest buds are selected on each shoot, and the rest are removed. And the lower shoots, which take away the strength of the main shoots, also need to be removed. Faded inflorescences consume nutrients that are needed for the formation of new buds. Therefore, as soon as the flower begins to fade, it also needs to be cut off immediately.
Caring for dahlias also involves timely support of the plant so that large flowers cannot break the stem. You can start tying up dahlias when the stem height reaches 50 cm.
Thus, following all these secrets of growing Dahlia will allow you to grow this beautiful, bright, ornamental plant on your site.
Many gardeners grow this amazing flower in their flower beds. If we consider different photos dahlia, then you can notice that the plant has a large color scheme and a variety of forms. These flowers can decorate any personal plot. To get lush bushes, you should know how to grow them.
The dahlia, which was brought to European countries from Mexico back in the 17th century, looks bright in flower beds. The name of the plant was given in honor of the famous ethnographer Johann Georgi. The German scientist worked and lived in St. Petersburg.
The huge variety of forms of this flower is amazing. It is used for borders and used as single plants. Elegant flowers in flower beds look amazing.
These flowers delight us with their dazzling beauty. They do not require special care; even novice gardeners can grow them. There are several ways to propagate this amazing flower. It can be planted by seeds, cuttings, or by dividing tubers.
Any soil is suitable for these plants; they are watered infrequently, but abundantly. Dahlia loves sunny, spacious areas; it also grows well in partial shade. The plant should not be planted in places where there is a draft and there is an excess of moisture. The flower is afraid of cold weather, so planting is carried out when the threat of frost has already passed.
The soil is dug up in the fall, the soil is well fertilized to provide the future plant with everything necessary. nutrients. With the arrival of spring days, the selected area is dug up, and gardeners add bone meal to the soil.
This flower is not grown in areas where asters previously grew. It is also better not to plant them where there are plants that are infected with fungus. Dahlias can also suffer from this disease.
If the time has come for planting, the tubers are divided. To separate, use a knife to separate the tuber. This is a simple and commonly used method of propagation. This operation can be repeated if the size of the planting material allows this. The cut areas are treated with potassium permanganate, brilliant green or crushed coal.
After this, they must be dried. Dry roots are removed using pruning shears; damaged parts should be treated with brilliant green. Then the dahlias are planted in pots or open ground. The distance between holes must be at least 0.5 m.
Planting dahlia directly into the soil is possible if it has completely warmed up. Then the plant will not suffer from the cold. If purchased tall variety, then you should take care of the support in advance.
The flower must be watered systematically. The soil should be moistened to a depth of 30 cm. High humidity may lead to the death of the plant. Feeding is carried out every two weeks so that the plant develops well.
After the sprouts appear, you need to water them with manure, which is diluted with water 1:10. If the long-awaited buds appear on the plant, you should apply fertilizers that include potassium and superphosphate. If the soil was well fertilized before planting, then fertilizing may not be necessary.
The flowers have a fragile stem that can break in windy weather. To avoid this trouble, it is better to tie up the plant. The support can be wooden or metal pegs. This is taken care of even when planting the plant.
Pruning is necessary to obtain large buds. No more than 2 buds are left on one peduncle. Fading heads should be removed immediately so as not to inhibit the development of new flowers.
The flower is susceptible to many diseases; various pests can also harm it. You can protect shoots using special means, which are easy to purchase in specialized stores.
Dahlia does not tolerate low temperatures, so its tubers are dug up for the winter. In spring, the plant is planted again in the ground. You need to dig up tubers in the fall carefully so as not to damage them. After completing this procedure, the tubers are cleared of soil, and small roots are removed.
You can rinse the dug-out planting material. Afterwards it is dipped into a weak solution of potassium permanganate. This is done to clean the tubers from harmful microorganisms.
They are then dried in the sun or brought into warm room, sprinkled with sawdust and placed in boxes. The best temperature for storing dahlias is 3-5 °C.
Flowers are distinguished depending on their shape and the structure of the inflorescences. Most popular varieties dahlia:
Simple flowers with one row of petals Yellow Hammer, Princess Marie Jose, Orangeade.
Anemone-like plants will become bright accent in the garden. Plain types are common, as well as varieties with a core painted in a contrasting color.
Collared dahlias are especially popular in France. Their inflorescences consist of large reed flowers, the outer petals of which are painted a different color.
The peony type is distinguished by semi-double inflorescences with two or more rows of petals located around a yellow core.
Decorative dahlias have wide wavy petals; they will give the flowerbed an extravagant look.
Today there are many varieties of these flowers. Among the huge assortment you can find the right type which will take special place in the flowerbed, will complement the composition, making it more expressive and attractive.
