Dahlia Flowers

Dahlia flowers are relatively easy to grow - particularly considering the stunning display they will deliver once flowering gets under way.

They are widely available from many outlets online in the form of tubers, which are also the easiest to grow, but some specialist nurseries will provide plants grown from rooted cuttings.

When planting a Dahlia tuber, it's important to ensure that the joint where the roots meet the stem is facing upwards. Start the tuber off in a 5inch pot of compost - initially in your greenhouse.

Rooted cuttings should be planted in a 3inch pot to start off. Using a pair of secateurs, cut off any buds that form, to encourage bushy growth. When the plant is big enough transfer to a 5inch pot. These steps need to take place in your greenhouse as well.

Once the warm days of May and June appears, it's time to start hardening the plants off for outdoor planting. You do this by placing the pots outside during daytime, and putting them back inside the greenhouse during night. Make sure to protect your young Dahlia plants against slugs at this stage.

Once the night frosts are over, the Dahlia plants are ready to transfer to outside borders and beds, or indeed in large-sized pots and patio containers.

A popular choice for gardeners who want to create maximum impact at the back of a flower border - or along a garden fence - is the Dahlia Dinnerplate varieties.

These flowers will grow to a height of 4ft-5ft and dish up flowers the size of a dinner plate. Imagine what impact that would have on the back of your flower border - whether you've got other Dahlia flowers growing in front of it - or you use it as a backdrop for low growing shrubs.

Like all other Dahlia flowers, the Dahlia dinnerplate varieties offer a splash of colour from all spectres of the rainbow, whether you go for a few single plants or a Dahlia Dinnerplate Collection.

One word of warning for you if you plan to grow these magnificent flowers - you're going to need some plant stakes or bamboo sticks for them to grow against - since they're not strong enough to carry the flower heads on their own.

The variety of Dahlia Flowers are truly mind boggling. The colour of the flowers ranges from Blue Dahlias to Brilliant Scarlets, through deep reds, cimsons, purple, pink, oranges, yellow and bronze. With new varieties being added all the time, you can now even get black dahlia Flowers.

The shape of the flowers varies as much as the colours, with the more popular shapes being the Pompon Dahlias and the Cactus Dahlia, but the decorative and water-lily types are stunning all the same.

If you have a love for flowers, colours, and want a stunningly beautiful garden this coming summer and autumn, you simply can't get round Dahlia flowers. They're easy to grow for the seasoned gardener and the gardening novice alike - so get your order in for some dahlia tubers today.

Dahlias are excellent for providing cut flowers for bouquets and flower arranging. They will bloom vigorously throughout the season, right to the first frosts, and if you look after them well and provide them with optimal growing conditions, each plant could produce up to 100 blooms in its lifetime.

There's a good reason why the Aztecs in ancient Mexico used the Dahlia flowers as much as they did - also as a decorative flower for ceremonial purposes. Little wonder why the Mexicans voted the Dahlia their National flower as well.

If you're passionate about flower arrangements - and blessed with some space to grow cut flowers in your garden - whether in flower beds or containers, you should definitely have a few dahlia tubers on your shopping list.

Dahlias are perfect for adding extra colour to various kinds of borders - particularly herbaceous borders - but also they will do very well indeed in borders with mainly structural plants in them.

This is due to their versatility and long flowering season, but also due to the fact that they come in many different heights, and so you'll be able to find Dahlia Flowers that will fit in the front, middle or back of a border.

In herbaceous borders the Cactus and Semi-Cactus Dahlia will go particularly well with single daisy flowers, such as rudbechias and echinaceas, especially if you go for golden yellow, burnt orange or deep red Dahlias. Also, for a bit of contrast, you can try interplanting them with red hot pokers or delphiniums, which will launch their tall spikes of flowers high above the Dahlia blooms.

Also, if you have borders with a lot structural plants in them, such as medium-tall grasses like Stipa and Miscanthus, the bold flowers and luxuriant foilage of the Dahlias will lend a touch of class to your planting.

Last, but not least, Dahlias are perfect planting partners for exotic and jungle-style plants, giving an intense splash of colour to the mainly architectural plants in these kinds of gardens. Try out Dahlias among hardy bananas, Chusan palms and hardy Castor Oil plants, again choosing some deep red, orange or bright yellow Cactus Dahlias - or even a chocking pink one. They are all sure to add a sense of tropical drama to your mini jungle.