10 beautiful dahlia flowers for pollinators

I absolutely adore dahlias for their beauty and the colour they bring to my garden. They flower their socks off from June or July right up till the first frosts in November or December. Who can resist a beautiful dahlia.

Although I do grow some decorative and dinner plate varieties, my main passion is for the dahlias that attract the pollinators.

My earlier post 12 of the best dahlias for pollinators has some of the varieties I grew last year. Most of the beautiful Honka varieties are in this first post. Here are the first ten I have chosen this year, for their beauty and for the pollinators.

My first two dahlia beauties

I have chosen dahlia Black Beauty as the first of the ten, mainly because of the beautiful colour which reminds me of a favourite, Verrone’s Obsidian.

Dahlia Black Beauty was grown from seed in Favolosa, my greenhouse this year. I sowed the seeds in March and grew them on, planting out in late May.

These dark, almost black blooms have a deep maroon colouring when the sun shines on them, plus a vibrant yellow centre. I grow them at the front of borders and also in pots as they are not a very tall variety. They are a half-hardy annual beautiful dahlia and will reach a height and spread of around 35cm.

Bred by Thompson and Morgan plant breeders. Link below for details if you wish to purchase some seeds.

Click here for Thompson and Morgan dahlia Black Beauty seeds

My next beautiful dahlia is Totally Tangerine. I love the colour of this dahlia, so soft and gentle in the flower borders. Totally Tangerine is an anemone dahlia, loved by the pollinators.

The outer petals are a single ring with a centre looking like a pincushion, and each one in the middle is a tubular floret, filled with nectar.

Clearly, the word tangerine does not do the colour justice. I would say that the flower has soft pinkish orange outer petals and a double dark orange centre. Mmm, perhaps we will stick with tangerine as the description then!

Do let me know if you have a more elegant description.

After two years in the ground, my dahlias have grown to a height of 80cm, and they have up to six flowers blooming at any one time.

The green divided foliage sets off the flowers well too and the pollinators visit in their droves so I would thoroughly recommend this beautiful dahlia.

The next beautiful dahlia or two

Dahlia Happy Single Kiss is another absolutely beautiful dahlia. I think this one has such a stunning, shimmering coloured flower.

Each flower is slightly different, but they all have the soft peachy apricot shade with a crimson base. I love the foliage too, dark purple, almost black, which shows off the flowers beautifully.

The Happy Single dahlias are quite a new addition and can be grown in pots or at the front of the border. Being quite compact, height 60cm, I grow some in pots and some in the front of my borders.

Additional varieties are available, and of course I have most of them! The Happy Singles below are flowering away merrily in my garden.

Happy Single Romeo is bright red, Juliet is a lovely lilac pink and Princess is white with a hint of lilac.

The bees, hoverflies and butterflies love these flowers and so do I.

Dahlia Topmix Pink is a fabulous little dahlia, ideal for the front of the border or in pots. Growing to around 30cm tall, they do not need staking.

The flowers are a lovely delicate pink with a bright yellow centre. In contrast, the foliage is dark green and the stems are dark in colour. A dwarf bedding dahlia that has been flowering its socks off since late April.

A dahlia providing plenty of colourful flowers and visited by bees and hoverflies in their droves.

Two more beautiful dahlia blooms

Next, we have dahlia Fashion Monger. Can’t you just see her strutting up and down the catwalk! I currently have two of these dahlias, and jolly colourful they are too. These are collarette dahlias, a firm favourite with pollinators.

Each flower is a pinkish red with some creamy white in a simple pattern, and it certainly gets some wows from visitors to my garden. I love the golden yellow centres with the nectar rich florets.

I had not heard of this dahlia until recently so I presumed it was a new variety but it was actually introduced in 1955.

A reasonably tall dahlia, height from 70cm up to 1m so I grow them in the border rather than a pot.

Dracula, a stunning dahlia with the most gorgeous foliage to set her off. The foliage is a fabulous dark purple, almost black whilst the flower is a dark magenta red.

Altogether, an absolute beauty, with the dramatic foliage showing off the flowers, and one I would not be without.

Due to the height of this dahlia, which is around 35cm, this is another good variety to grow in a pot or at the front of a border.

The name, Dracula, is part of a group of dahlias called the Dark Angel series.

Additionally, a favourite for the pollinators and I struggled to get a photo without a bee or hoverfly latched on.

The next two lovely dahlias

My next choice is another Topmix dahlia. A variety named Topmix purple but it appears red to me. I have two of these dahlias that I grew from tubers in my greenhouse this year.

Both of them started flowering in late April so I planted them out. However, I kept a watchful eye on the weather and had the fleece ready for the first signs of a frost forecast.

Since the end of April, these beauties have been flowering their jolly socks off. Both of them have had upwards of twenty blooms at all times. Clearly a fabulous dahlia for colour and for the pollinators.

Another good sized dahlia for pots or the front of the border as the height and spread is only around 30cm.

Liquid Desire, what a fabulous name for a dahlia. An absolute beauty. Another recent introduction and I could not wait to get one of these.

The height is around 80cm, so another one for a large pot or the border.

The flowers are a purple red, fading to pink around the edge of the petals. In addition, they have a second row of petals which look like a frill. And to top it off, they have a beautiful golden yellow centre, rich in nectar for the pollinators.

No wonder I swoon over this one!

My dear friend, the Cosmos Queen, fell for this dahlia too. Click here for the latest post on her new dahlias The Cosmos Queen’s beautiful dahlias

The photo of Liquid Desire comes from the Cosmos Queen as her dahlia was in flower before mine. Some swooning happening in her garden too!

The last two dahlia beauties

Deep rose pink, pink and white inner petalled collar. Dahlia Hartenaas is a lovely dahlia; the flowers are small and open making them attractive to pollinating insects. Perfect for the garden border and containers at a height of around 55cm.

I only have two of these, so far, and both have had four flowers at a time.

As you can see from the main photo for this post, the hoverflies love this flower. The bees are very attracted too, see photo above. Recently a comma butterfly has been seen on a Hartenaas flower, drinking nectar too.

Another collarette dahlia which has lovely soft pink outer petals, with a row of shorter frilly petals and the golden yellow centre.

Although the flowers are quite small, they are clearly a magnet for the pollinators.

And finally, one of my new favourites. Dahlia Rosie Raven, named after one of Sarah Raven’s daughters.

This one is a brand new variety and I just had to have one. Blue Bayou in another anemone dahlia and the pollinators love to visit them. I have six of these so far, so more anemone dahlias were clearly needed!

Rosie Raven is another beautiful dahlia and a magnet for the pollinators.

The flowers are a rich mulberry crimson with ruffles at the centre. These ruffles look like a pincushion to me and each one is a tubular floret, filled with nectar.

The height will be 75cm.

Click here for Sarah Raven dahlias There are a few left when I checked.

This blog is an affiliate for Sarah Raven and Thompson and Morgan. If you click on one of the links in this post, and make a purchase I may receive a commission, at no additional cost to you.

Onto the next beautiful dahlia or ten

I can already see another post coming in the next few weeks. There are so many beautiful dahlias, fantastic for our pollinators.

In addition, they are fabulous flowers for our gardens and pots too.

Flowering from June onwards, and in the case of my Topmix varieties, early April, they give months of colour. These beautiful plants will flower until the first frosts.

All they need is some feed every two or three weeks, and I feed mine with a tomato fertiliser. Any fertiliser that is high in potassium and phosphorus but low in nitrogen, to prevent leafy bushes with few blooms, will be fine.

Also, the dahlia plants need to be kept moist so will need watering in pots, early morning or evening when the sun is less fierce.

In addition, dead heading as the flowers fade or live heading if you want to pick some for vases.

Other than this, they just flower their socks off for us and feed our pollinators.

I would never be without dahlias, having a colourful garden for months looks so beautiful and is also a fantastic boon to wellbeing.

Here is a link to another of my dahlia posts 10 beautiful dahlias chosen for you

Well, the Dahlia Queen, is off outside to gaze at dahlias next and start choosing the next ones for a new post.

A little deadheading as well and plenty of swooning!

See you next time, I hope.

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