My colourful dahlias, beautiful summers to come

Some dark and dreary days need a sprinkle of colour I thought. So, here are some of my colourful dahlias to brighten up the winter, once the Christmas tinsel has been stored away.

Also, to help us look forward to a beautiful summer full of colour.

I always find that looking at photos of my flowers boosts my wellbeing over the winter. Especially the bright and zingy blooms.

Better still, those colourful dahlias that also help the pollinators.

Of course, we can give ourselves even more of a boost by choosing one or two new dahlias for next year. Well, make that about forty for me!

Hopefully Father Christmas will have ordered me a few more!

Naturally, the forty is a ball park figure which may well expand as I see more fabulous varieties.

Without further ado, let’s get started on a few of my colourful dahlias for some winter cheer for the new year.

Colourful dahlias here we come

My first of the fabulously colourful dahlias is Pooh.

One of my new colourful dahlias for my garden this year and a real eye catcher too is Madam Pooh.

Primarily planted in my garden for the pollinators. The photo above shows how popular she was with the bees.

Just like Winnie the Pooh’s honey pot, this fabulous variety is an absolute bee-magnet! Perhaps that is where the Pooh name came from.

In addition, this one flowered right up till the first hard frosts. Until late November, she still had around four flowers blooming all the time.

Whenever I looked at this beauty, the bees were latched on, so a welcome feed for the pollinators in late autumn.

A collarette dahlia which has been awarded the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.

Colourful dahlias number two

My second dahlia is the fabulously flamboyant Purple Explosion.

Another new variety for me this year.

When the eagerly awaited first bloom appeared it was an absolutely enormous whopper of a flower. Actually, measuring 26cm across which is over 10 inches, this one packed a real punch in the border.

Talk about flamboyant! These flowers can be a mix of purple and white and each flower is slightly different.

Besides the whopper in the photo, others have been almost white, or mostly purple, a lovely mix of colour on the one plant.

I love this one so much I have ordered two more to add to the two I already have in my flower borders.

Clearly, I am aiming for a riot of flamboyant purple colour next year.

Actually, thinking about the flamboyant colour has given me an idea. If you saw my earlier post featuring my lovely rescue chickens, you might know where this is heading.

Involving the deadheading of dahlias and some helpful chickens tossing the flowers around the lawn.

Occasionally, a dahlia would zing through the air and land on another chicken. A fabulously flamboyant fascinator, worn on a rakish angle. Such elegance!

Well, just imagine a fabulously flamboyant fascinator made with a Purple Explosion bloom. Link below if you missed this post.

Gardening with chickens, more fantastic fun

Dahlia Explosion

My third dahlia is the tremendously colourful Explosion. This is the one that outmatched the sunsets at the bottom of my garden this year.

Another decorative dinner plate variety, the same as Purple Explosion.

Also, sporting some whopper blooms in some jolly bright and zingy colours.

Clearly not a shy and retiring dahlia but one that prefers to be centre of attention.

Well, her wish was granted in my garden, especially as the sun set. Truly, the glow from the blooms was astonishing. A real firecracker of a dahlia.

At present, I shockingly only have one of these colourful dahlias. Time to remedy that.

After all, why have one firecracker of a dahlia when you could squeeze in at least four.

More colourful dahlias

Onto the fourth of my colourful dahlias. I could not resist adding one of the Honka varieties and this one is the fabulous Honka Pink.

As you can see from the photo, the bees love this one as much as I do.

As a result of this, I have ten of these now in borders and in pots.

Furthermore, these colourful dahlias have had the largest flowers of the Honka varieties.

Also, they are jolly prolific bloomers, flowering for months and months, right up to the frosts.

I have added links to some of my earlier dahlias for pollinator posts below if you have not seen them. Plenty of Honka’s make an appearance.

10 beautiful dahlia flowers for pollinators

12 of the best dahlias for pollinators

An orange Bishop dahlia

Next, I have chosen a brilliant orange variety called Bishop of Oxford.

Bishop of Oxford is one of the dark leaf Bishop series, along with Bishop of Llandaff, Dover, York, Canterbury and Leicester.

Another favourite for the pollinators and my photo shows two bees having a feed on the one bloom.

Clearly, a magnet for the bees as well as giving a bright display of blooms in the garden.

In addition, a fabulous dahlia that always has at least twenty blooms at a time in my garden.

Equally fabulous, the foliage is a deep purple which contrasts wonderfully with the orange flowers.

Another colourful dahlia

My final dahlia for this post is the fabulous Fashion Monger.

I currently have two of these dahlias, and jolly colourful dahlias they are too.

Also, a collarette variety of dahlia, like Pooh, so another firm favourite with pollinators.

As you can see above, the bees love these blooms.

I may have one photo of this fabulous dahlia without a bee in attendance, but it has been rare to see them without pollinators.

How fabulous to have some beautiful colour and provide nectar and pollen for wildlife.

Clearly, my existing two Fashion Mongers needs to expand to at least four for next year.

Colourful dahlias

I have purposefully mixed up the colours on this post. Starting with the bright and zingy, orange and yellow of Pooh, next to the flamboyant purple and white of Purple Explosion.

Next, the sparkling orange and yellow Explosion, next to the bright Honka Pink.

Followed by, some more orange in the Bishop of Oxford, next to the deep rose pink and ivory of Fashion Monger.

As an extra colourful dahlia, I have added the fabulous Marble Ball. A striking mix of red and white. Also, a favourite resting place for the butterflies this year.

I am not sure that I would plant them all together in my garden, but it does show off a variety of bright colours, I think.

Actually, thinking about it, I might move them to one flower border. Just think of the fireworks of colour if they were all in one place. I shall consider this jolly zingy option and let you know if I do decide to mix them all together.

A new year’s resolution perhaps, to let the colours run wild in my borders.

Naturally, there must also be more purple dahlias in any flower border of mine. I think a few of the fabulous Thomas A Edison will be good.

Purple dahlias

And here is the fantastic Thomas A Edison. Photo taken late in the season, after some rain. So fabulously purple, he must be in every border I have.

Clearly, my new dahlia wish list is growing at a rapid pace!

Thinking about the forty (make that eighty or one hundred) more colourful dahlias that I need, here is a link for where I buy most of mine.

Click here for Sarah Raven dahlias

I hope you have enjoyed this dahlia post and will fill your gardens and pots with beautiful colourful dahlias for the summer and beyond.

And I wish you all a jolly Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

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