9 things you probably don't know about dahlias

• By
• Charlotte Ellan

Image by Netherlands Flower Bulbs

Brush up on your dahlia know-how with these fast facts

DID YOU KNOW?

• There are more than 30 species and over 20,000 cultivars of dahlias.
• The original French diva, Marie Antoinette, fell head over heels for dahlias when they were a new arrival in Europe, and now there’s a variety named after her.
• Pompon-shaped varieties are the toughest types: they’re extremely resistant to cold and rainy weather.
• There’s no such thing as a black dahlia. They come in just about every shade under the sun, except true blue and black. “Black” dahlias are actually burgundy.

More on dahlias!

For more on these gorgeous late-summer bloomers, check out the our Delightful Guide to the Ever-Stunning Dahlia.

• It’s easy to find professionally pre-grown dahlias in nursery pots at garden centres. Transfer them to a decorative pot or into your garden in the late summer.
• The tallest-growing shapes are spiky cacti, decorative double flowers with flat-tipped petals, and globe-shaped 
pompons.
• Dahlias originated as a wildflower in the high mountain regions of Mexico and Guatemala. That’s why they naturally work well and bloom happily in cool fall breezes.
• It’s ideal to plant tubers sometime around the May long weekend.
• Tubers can’t be separated because their roots are so thick. Once a tuber is separated from its growing point, it won’t send out shoots.