Annuals & Biennials

Dahlia
Dahlia
bedding dahlia

Height 1-4 ft (30-120 cm)
Planting distance 1-2 ft (30-60 cm)
Flowers midsummer to first hard frost
Medium to heavy soil
Open, sunny site
Half-hardy annual

A number of dahlia cultivars can be grown from seed for flowering the same year. Known as bedding dahlias, they are more modest cousins of the large perennial border dahlias growing from tubers. They have similar, though smaller, flowers and vary in height from 1 ft (30 cm) to 4 ft (120 cm). The flowers, in white, yellow, orange, scarlet, crimson, and pink appear in midsummer and continue until the first hard frost. Use these half-hardy annuals in containers and window boxes, beds, and the foreground of a mixed border.

Popular species and cultivars
The range of cultivars available increases and changes every year. The following are some of the most popular. The majority come in mixed colors.
'Bambino Hybrids' are miniature cultivars, growing 1-11/2 ft (30-45 cm) high and carrying a profusion of double flowers. They are good for pots and containers.
'Cactus-Flowered Hybrids' have semidouble and double flowers with quilled petals. They reach 3-4 ft (90-120 cm) high.
'Collarette Dandy' has single flowers, each with a white or yellow collar of inner petals around the central disk. The plants reach 11/2-2 ft (45-60 cm) high.
'Coltness Hybrids,' some of the most popular, are dwarf cutivars reaching just 20 in (50 cm) high. The large single flowers are freely produced.
'Diablo' is similar to 'Redskin,' but the semidouble flowers and bronze-green foliage are borne on more compact plants, 15-18 in (38-45 cm) tall.
'Mignon Silver' has pure white flowers shading to pale yellow-green near the center. The plants grow 15-20 in (38-50 cm) high.
'Pompon Mixed' has small ball flowers and reaches 3 ft (90 cm)
'Redskin' has large semidouble flowers and rich bronze foliage. It reaches up to 20 in (50 cm) high. A dwarf mixture produces similar plants, 15 in (38 cm) tall.
'Rigoletto' is an early-flowering dwarf cultivar, 12-20 in (30-50 cm) high, with both double and semidouble blooms.
'Sunburst' bears single flowers, up to 5 in (12.5 cm) wide, with broad overlapping petals that form circular blooms. The plant is about 2 ft (60 cm) high.
'Unwin Hybrids' produce an abundance of double flowers in a particularly wide range of colors. These blooms are long-lasting and are carried on plants 11/2-2 ft (45-60 cm) high.

Annuals
and
Biennials