Tree Dahlia

I love these plants, they tower over the garden majestically. Tree Dahlia is an apt name, they can grow as tall as a small tree.

It’s been a good season for them here in Southwest Victoria, it’s been cold but we’ve had no frosts or major wind events. The last few years I’ve lost most of the flowers due to these things.

I only have two colours, the ubiquitous lilac and a lovely single white which I’m still waiting for. There are a few different pink colours, and a choice of single or double petals. This just describes how many petals the flowers have, single is self explanatory, the ones pictured are singles. Double just means there are more layers of petals around around the centre.

The flowers hang above our heads in clusters making us have to crane our necks back to look up at them adding to their ‘imperiousness’.

They are a magical delight.

Once the flowers have finished over Autumn and early winter the leaves will start to die and the tall stems will start to fade. At this point you can cut them to just above ground level, just above a ‘joint’ and give pieces away to all your friends and family.

Cut the pieces into lengths with three or four joints (you will easily see these as the stems look very much like bamboo. They’re not related at all though)

You can either lay the pieces down flat and cover them lightly with dirt, or stand them up with at least one of the joints underground.

They need to be put in a fairly sheltered position due to their height, mainly to protect from wind, but they are otherwise quite hardy. I rarely fertilise and I haven’t dug up and separated the clump for a few years. I might try that this year, see how I go.

I hope you get to see these beauties at some point.

Til next time!