Dahlias

The dahlia - at home on the high plains of Mexico and Guatemala - belongs to the composite plant family (Asteraceae) and, with its estimated 20,000 to 30,000 varieties worldwide, is one of the most diverse flower species today. They come in an unimaginable number of colors and shapes: unicolored or multicolored, double or double, low or high growing. The dahlia is often referred to as the "Queen of Autumn", as it remains a flaming eye-catcher until late autumn, when other flowers have long since faded.

In our assortment you will find a colorful variety of special dahlias - from ball dahlias like the "Kaiser Wilhelm", the oldest German cultivar from 1881, to ruff dahlias like the "Night Butterfly" to peony-flowered dahlias like the "Bishop of Llandaff", an English cultivar from 1928. Some low-growing varieties like the Mignon dahlias are also suitable for planting in containers.

Already in the 18th century, the dahlia, named after the Swedish botanist Dr. Andreas Dahl, came to Europe. The first bloomed in 1790 in the Botanical Garden of Madrid. The director of the Botanical Garden of Mexico, Vincentes Cervantes, had sent the dahlia seeds or tubers (it is no longer possible to trace this exactly) to his Madrid colleague Antonio José Cavanilles a year earlier. In 1804, Alexander von Humboldt brought more dahlias back to Paris and Berlin from his trip to South America, thus making a decisive contribution to their spread in Europe. Soon the dahlia became the favorite of many gardeners, including "prominent" ones. Goethe was a great lover of the "Georgines", as they were often called in the past. Impressionist Max Liebermann liked the red, double dahlias best; and Vicar Theodor Entrup (1879-1937), one of Germany's best-known dahlia growers, once said, "A garden without dahlias is like a castle without a princess."

Unflowered dahlias are not only a feast for the eyes in the late summer and autumn garden, but also an excellent pollen- and nectar-rich food source for honeybees, wild bees, butterflies and other insects. Dahlias also mix well in the flower bed with other insect-friendly, summer-blooming, sun-loving plants - such as coneflowers, wild gladiolus, asters, and various sage and mint species. Delphinium is also a good addition, because the color palette of dahlias is huge, but the garden beauty does not bloom in blue.

Dahlias offer an immensely wide range of colors, from white, yellow and orange to pink and a deep dark red - some bloom in a single color, while others are multicolored, marbled or mottled. They are also extremely prolific bloomers, provided they grow in a sunny location with a well-drained, humus-rich soil. Therefore, dahlias make excellent cut flowers. To make them last a long time in the vase, we give you some useful tips

• Select flowers whose buds have fully opened, but just opened. A flower harvested too early will not open in the vase, because unlike roses, the dahlia flower does not unfold after cutting. If the flower has been open too long when cut, it will wilt quite quickly in the vase
• Cut dahlias early in the morning, when the plant is still in full bloom. Be sure to use a clean and sharp knife for this, so as not to bruise the soft flower stems
• To prevent the cut surface from drying out, put the dahlias after cutting directly into a bucket of fresh water and place it in the shade.
• Before placing the dahlias in the vase, cut the stems again, preferably at an angle, as this will increase the "water holding area", and remove the lower leaves from the flower stems so that their decomposition will not contaminate the water
• The best place for the bouquet is a bright location out of direct sunlight. Do not place the vase near a fruit bowl, as the ripening gas ethylene - secreted especially by apples - greatly shortens the shelf life of the flowers
• Change the water daily if possible.
• To keep the dahlias fresh longer, two home remedies help: A pinch of sugar in the water serves as a nutrient; a copper coin has an antibacterial effect and delays decomposition and rotting processes..