First beautiful dahlias, flowering in May

I thought I would share some photos of beautiful dahlias that have started flowering in May in my garden.

Interestingly, almost all of them are single, anemone or collarette varieties.

Therefore, they are all great for pollinators, as well as providing some beautiful colour in the garden in late Spring.

I imagine that the big blousy dinner plate varieties need a little longer to start blooming. Naturally, it takes energy and time to pump up a bloom that could be thirty centimetres or up to one foot across. Clearly, whoppers will be making an appearance later in my garden and in several more dahlia posts!

Onto the first dahlia blooming in May.

First beautiful dahlias

My first dahlia is a variety that is fabulous for pollinators. As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, the bees soon latched on.

Unfortunately, the label has vanished, as they do, so I do not know the name of this beauty.

However, I shall continue to scan my dahlia books to try to find out. If you recognise this one, do let me know the name.

This dahlia is a shorter variety, so it is ideal for pots or the front of flower borders.

Perhaps my dear friend, the Cosmos Queen, can find the name for me when she visits the National Dahlia collection in Cornwall later this year. A highlight of her holiday, naturally!

Link below, if you are interested to learn more about this fabulous collection of dahlias.

https://kehellandtrust.org.uk/national-dahlia-collection-comes-to-kehelland-trust/

Another dahlia for pollinators

My next dahlia is the wonderful Totally Tangerine. A fabulous 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.

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

Naturally, I have added a couple more Totally Tangerine to my garden this year.

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

More beautiful dahlias

My next dahlia is Dracula. A truly stunning dahlia with the most gorgeous foliage. The foliage is a fabulous dark purple, almost black whilst the flower is a luscious dark magenta red.

Altogether, an absolute beauty, with the dramatic foliage showing off the flowers, and one I would not be without. Clearly, flowering from mid May this year is another fantastic reason to grow this beauty.

Due to the height of this dahlia, which is around 35cm, Dracula is a 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, so what’s not to love about Dracula.

Another dahlia in May

My next dahlia is one I grew from seed this year. A beautiful low growing pink dahlia coping valiantly with some torrential rain.

I was amazed to see this one flowering so soon as I only sowed the seeds in March. A turbo charged dahlia clearly, and a very welcome one at that!

Other dahlias from this batch of seeds look like they will be white, yellow and orange.

Hopefully, several will be orange, as I have a new border for orange and dark dahlias this year which has a few spaces to fill.

I shall share photos in a blog post once they start to bloom. Honestly, I cannot wait to see how this border will look. Fabulous I hope!

Beautiful dahlias coming soon

For my last photo I thought I would share some of the dinner plate and decorative dahlias that will be budding up soon.

I took this photo last year of one of my flower borders, busting with dahlias.

Furthermore, some beautiful cosmos shared the border and flowered its socks off.

The dahlias in the front of the photo are Thomas A Edison, the deep purple beauties.

Also blooming away merrily, there is the pink Onesta, Cafe Au lait Royale and Park princess.

Although none of these have easy access to pollen and nectar, the cosmos in the border certainly does.

On the subject of the cosmos, this one is called Double Dutch White and has a fabulously frilly double flower.

Thankfully cosmos provide easy access for pollinators to reach pollen and nectar, even the varieties sporting double frills.

If you want to see some more dahlias from last year, I have added links for a couple of posts below and a photo of the beautiful Labyrinth too.

The best dahlias, my dark sultry beauties

10 zingy dahlias for a truly beautiful garden

I hope that you have enjoyed my beautiful dahlias in May post and will join me next time.

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