My new post showcases some beautiful new dahlias that I have growing in my English garden this year. This post also includes some new dahlias that my fabulous friend, the Cosmos Queen, is growing this year too.
If you want a reminder of the Cosmos Queen’s passion for dahlias, or have not seen this earlier post, I have added a link below.
The Cosmos Queen’s beautiful dahlias
For this year we agreed to get dahlias in every colour we could, to add heaps of colour to our gardens. We chose plenty for pollinators as well as some blousy dinner plate varieties, some cactus, and a ball or two as well.
Interestingly, when we compared out lists, we had chosen a few new dahlias that were the same variety.
Great minds think alike, or that is what we are saying anyway!
Well, here are the first few I have chosen to share with you. There will be more posts as we have a good number of new dahlias between us this year.
First new dahlias
The first of the new dahlias for this post is the exquisite Linda’s Baby. A fabulous apricot, peachy pink beauty of a ball dahlia.
I have two of these this year and the Cosmos Queen has one too. Neither of us were fans of ball dahlias until recently, but now we both love them.
Each bloom is a perfect symmetrical ball shape with fabulous curved petals.
I have used one of my photos for this post, although between us we have about a hundred to choose from. Many a swoon we have had over our shared snaps of Linda’s Baby.
Naturally, we are both intending to get a few more of them for next year.
Growing to a height of 80cm, this one is perfect for pots and flower borders.
I also have a new dahlia called Cornel Brons this year. Another ball dahlia which is slightly darker than Linda’s baby. One for a future post as it has not thrown up any blooms as yet.
Another new dahlia
The next of the new dahlias is one that the Cosmos Queen has in her garden. She wanted a bright red cactus dahlia called Jaxon, but this dahlia is clearly not red and cannot be Jaxon.
However, she has now fallen in love with the beautiful purple and white of this cactus dahlia and will add Jaxon to her list for next year.
After some detailed research, which she thoroughly enjoyed, she thinks this one may be Mingus Randy.
Described as an Ivory white tipped lilac-pink dahlia, she is a beauty.
I have read that Mingus Randy is a spectacular semi cactus dinner plate type dahlia that is sure to be a talking point in the garden. Well, we can both agree that she has been a talking point so far in our chats discussing who she might be.
If she is Mignus Randy, and we believe she is, she will reach 90cm in height.
One for the pollinators
My next dahlia is the fantastic Lou Farman.
This beauty is a large flowered single dahlia and is fabulous for pollinators.
A Sarah Raven exclusive dahlia, named after her long-standing business partner and dear friend.
Lou Farman, the dahlia, not the person, opens with a super rich pink which then fades to a lighter colour. I suspect that I will have to get a few more of this beauty too next year.
Each flower is so large that it can be seen from quite a distance away. Clearly, not the size of a dinner plate dahlia but a jolly good size for a single variety.
Another dahlia that grows to a height of about 80cm.
Another dahlia for pollinators
My next dahlia is a beauty called Bright Eyes. Another single dahlia that is fantastic for pollinators.
As you can see in my photo, a bumble bee is latched on for a feed.
A lovely, purple-pink dahlia with a cream-yellow heart. Dahlia Bright Eyes is a vibrant, colourful dahlia that produces absolutely masses of flowers.
As I mentioned earlier, this beauty is great for attracting pollinators to the garden. A real bee and butterfly magnet so far this year. However, the butterflies have not stayed still long enough for a snap so yet.
Hopefully, I can get a few photos with the butterflies soon. More on the subject of the beautiful butterfly later in this post.
Bright Eyes is another dahlia that is suitable for pots and only reaches about 60cm in height.
More new dahlias
My next dahlia is called Cornwall Island. Now, who can resist a beautiful purple dahlia? Clearly, I cannot as I have six of them this year!
Cornwall Island is a distinctive fimbriata, meaning fringed or frilly, decorative dahlia with recurved petals.
Besides my multiple purchase of Cornwall Island, I have four Le Baron. These look similar, but are slightly darker in colour. More swooning for me!
Because the Cosmos Queen loves visiting Cornwall, she has her eye on some Cornwall Island dahlias for next year. Naturally, neither of us need an excuse to get a few more anyway.
Whilst this dahlia can reach 100cm mine are slightly shorter. Judging by the amount of blooms per plant, they are putting all their energy into flowers instead of height. And that is absolutely fine with me.
In fact, they have so many flowers, the blooms have been clumped together. Therefore, I have cut a few to have in vases whilst still getting a fantastic display in my borders. The photo at the top of this post shows a few of these beautiful dahlias in one of my flower borders.
Last new dahlias for this post
My final new dahlia for this post is a lovely orange variety. Although this should be a dahlia called Firepot, it is clearly not.
However, I do love an orange dahlia and am happy to have four new orange beauties that should have been a quartet of the Firepot.
Moreover, a fabulous excuse to add Firepot to my list for next year of course.
This lovely orange dahlia is only about 40cm tall and thankfully I planted them all at the front of my flower borders.
After plenty of exciting dahlia research, I have decided that this one is likely to be Orange Nugget.
A fabulous decorative dahlia which is also ideal for pots as it is a compact variety.
One for my new orange border next year, I think. More on that new border in a future post.
Dahlias and butterflies
I am finishing this post with a snap of the dahlia Hartenaas with a beautiful comma butterfly.
Although this variety is not a new one for me, and I have eight of them, the snap shows how dahlias can attract butterflies.
Which brings me on to mentioning the Big Butterfly Count which starts this week.
I hope that you will join in and spend fifteen minutes a day counting butterflies from 12th July to 4th August.
As well as being lots of fun, the information we provide helps experts understand how some of our butterflies and day-flying moths are doing, and how we can help protect them for the future.
I have given a link below if you would like more details or to sign up to take part.
I hope that you have enjoyed this post and will join me next time.
To see new posts as I publish them, please enter your email address below and press the subscribe button.
2 responses to “Beautiful new dahlias in our English gardens”
Glorious photos of all the lovely dahlias. Cornwall Island is definitely coming to my garden next year. I shall be attempting the butterfly count but I don’t usually see that many in my garden. Maybe I will be surprised if I actually do a count this year🤔
Cornwall Island is such a beauty. Not surprised you will have some next year too. Good luck with the butterfly count. Numbers are increasing in my garden so hopefully this will be the same for you. 🤞🤞