10 beautiful dahlias chosen for you

I mainly grow beautiful dahlias for the pollinators and my first top twelve can be found in my post 12 of the best dahlias for pollinators.

And here is my second post on ten more beautiful dahlias for pollinators 10 beautiful dahlia flowers for pollinators

Equally important to me though is growing some of the sumptuous beauties such as the decorative and dinner plate varieties.

These look fabulous in my borders and pots and some are cut for vases indoors.

The sheer beauty of these flowers is a joyful sight in the garden or your home. Additionally, I believe, breathtaking beauty is always a boon to wellbeing and these lovely dahlias supply that in droves.

So, I have chosen ten of my beauties to share with you. The first ten of many, so brace yourselves for a few posts during the summer and beyond.

My first two curvy beautiful dahlias

I know that Cafe Au Lait is a huge favourite for many people, and I can see why. What a beauty this one is. I have eight in my garden and they flower prolifically all summer long, right up to the first frosts.

The colours change in a subtle way throughout the growing season. Some blooms are cream, some with a cream blush and some have pink tinges. Each flower is a large 25cm, hence the name dinner plate dahlia.

Subsequently, I only need to pick one at a time and the huge bloom fills a vase.

I leave the other blooms on the plant to give a magnificent display in my garden.

Cafe Au Lait was the dahlia my dear friend, the Cosmos Queen, saw in my garden and became hooked. This post details her discovery and love of the dahlia The amazing benefits of gardening

Decorative (dinner plate) Height 1.2m

I adore the Labyrinth dahlia. Another beautiful, coloured flower, an apricot with rose tones. Labyrinth is an elegant dahlia with beautifully curved petals. This dahlia also has large flowers, about 25cm in diameter.

I have three in the garden and another one arrived this year. Clearly, I cannot resist this one!

Decorative variety. Height 1m

Onto the next two beauties

Molly Raven is another absolutely beautiful dahlia. As a result of looking so stunningly beautiful, I just had to have four of them. Notice the “currently” I just cannot resist these ones either!

The colour is difficult to describe, and no photograph seems to do her justice. With this in mind, I will say she is a pinkish, coffeeish colour with stripes. In addition, the blooms look marbled, and the colour looks delicate and soft.

Evidence of the exact colour would be in the purchase of this one, I think!

These dahlias are exclusive to Sarah Raven and named after her daughter.

Click here for Sarah Raven website https://www.sarahraven.com/bulbs/dahlias

This blog is a affiliate with Sarah Raven. If you click on the link above, and make a purchase I may receive a commission, at no additional cost to you.

There are still some potted dahlias available at the moment.

Decorative variety. Height 1.2m

And onto the next. The Thomas A Edison dahlia has double, deep pinkish purple flowerheads up to 20cm in diameter with paler outer petals. Another beautiful dahlia, flowering its socks off in my garden for months last year.

Naturally, one of these dahlias was not enough so another tuber arrived this year, was potted on and planted out last month.

Decorative dahlia. Height 1 m

Two beautiful dark dahlias

Arabian Night is another dahlia I could not be without. The colour is a blackish red, depending on the light.

Since planting two of these last year, I just had to get two more this year!

Clearly a pattern is emerging here. Why have two when you could have four?

I do not deadhead this one too soon as when the flower starts to fade, the centre becomes accessible and the bees will hop on for a feed. So, a useful dahlia for the pollinators after all.

A semi decorative variety. Height 1m

Rip City is a famous dahlia and what a beauty it is.

Sarah Raven spotted this one in the early 1990s in Monet’s garden at Giverny. As a result, it is said, she kick-started the fashion for deep, dark-red flowers. Jolly good!

I would describe the flowers of Rip City as a black, purple, maroon sort of colour.

Gosh, looks like I only have one of these at the moment. Surely, I will need more next year!

Cactus variety. Height 1m

Another two stunners

Onesta is another of my favourites for my borders.

Because the petals are layered one above the other, this variety is known as a waterlily dahlia.

Normally, a dark pink colour but looks lighter pink in my photo above. A very pretty flower with blooms about 10cm in diameter.

Besides the two original tubers I had, another two miraculously appeared this year. Now, who is surprised to read that? Nobody I imagine.

Waterlily variety. Height 1.1m

Another beautiful dahlia. This one is called Senior’s purple.

I would describe this beauty as soft purple, with dark purple stripes and edges with a deep purple centre. However this one is described, I think you will agree, looking at the photo, she is a beauty. Flowers only about 8cm in diameter.

Naturally, I have four of these in my garden.

Decorative variety. Height 0.6m

My last two beautiful dahlias

Dahlia Eveline is an exquisite looking decorative dahlia. I would describe this flower as a soft white with a lilac pink blush in the centre. Doesn’t lilac pink blush sound wonderful!

Of course, I have four of these in my garden and one is flowering already, in mid June. The flowers are about 10cm in diameter.

Additionally, this beauty has a resident fly. See photo above. I just could not get a photo without the fly being in attendance!

Decorate variety. Height 1m

Lastly, or the last of my ten on this post anyway, here is Edinburgh.

To begin with, I was not sure about this one, but I have grown to love it.

I would describe this one as a burgundy, purple, depending on the light, and white bi-colour flower and quite a busily patterned one at that!

Naturally, I have four of these as well. Two to begin with, a couple more this year.

Similarly to Eveline above, the flowers are about 10cm in size.

Observing this one last year, I rarely saw either plant without six or more flowers blooming at a time. Clearly the garden could spare one or two for my vases!

Decorate variety. Height 1m

Heading for the next ten beautiful dahlias

I found it enormously difficult to choose ten for this post. After staring at all my photos from last year and gazing at the beautiful dahlias starting to flower this year, it was hard to choose just ten.

However, I think ten is a sizeable number for a post so I have stopped myself from adding more. Of course, this post could have had over a hundred so do feel free to thank me for curbing my enthusiasm!

Naturally there will be plenty more posts over the summer with all the other favourites I have grown this year.

And here are a couple of them

Wonderful dahlias, stunning beauty and buzzing bees

10 zingy dahlias for a truly beautiful garden

And more will be published featuring my dear friend, the Cosmos Queen. See the latest Cosmos Queen post here The Cosmos Queen’s beautiful dahlias for details of her passion for dahlias and how she grew them at home for the first time this year.

Once the dahlia passion takes hold, it becomes a lifelong beautiful obsession.

Don’t fight the passion

So, why should you grow them?

Firstly, they are stunningly beautiful and are often called the backbone of a summer and autumn garden for the colour they bring to a display. Whether they are planted in a garden, in pots, in a courtyard, or on a balcony, they bring so much colour to our world.

Secondly, they are a cut and come again flower. In fact, the more you cut for your vases, the more they flower. They are turbo charged flower producers. Flowering from June or early July right up till the first frosts, think how many vases full you could have for months on end.

Lastly, to me, they are always such a boost for wellbeing. The sight of such beautiful, colourful flowers always makes my heart sing. If you have followed my links above featuring the lovely Cosmos Queen, you will have seen how the beautiful dahlia has boosted her wellbeing as well.

I can see some more posts coming on the fabulous dahlias for pollinators as well. My first love, so you might be subjected to ten posts on those alone!

Joking apart, the single and anemone flowered dahlias are so worth growing as well. The bees and butterflies need all the help they can get so growing these for our wildlife plus a few of the decorative varieties makes for a happy combination.

Three cheers for the beautiful dahlias!

Do let me know your favourites and some photos would be fabulous if you would like to share them.

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