Dahlia review 2023

Whilst I have a limited number of Dahias this year, I have only six varieties, I chose them to decorate specific areas and I chose them to be good as cut flowers for the restaurants and for bouquets for our guests.

They also have to look really nice in the garden. Some of them were chosen for pollinators but most of them were just purely for ornamental purposes.

Read more: Dahlia review 2023

I’m going to list them in order of when they flowered and mark them based on reliability, ability to stand up unaided and floriferous… ness …. is that a real word?

Inca

The first one to come out was Inca. I’m totally in love with Inca its absolutely gorgeous, a beautiful intense red. Very, VERY short in stature. I would say probably would be better as a Dahlia in a pot because unfortunately, although it performed well early on in the season, It quickly got overwhelmed by its neighbours as I hadn’t realised quite how short it was going to be.

I had it flanking the entrance to the path and but it was quickly out competed by the little Salvias that I planted next to it, it has in fact died back completely now. I may well have lost it but the initial Performance from it was amazing.

downsides, it dies a bit ugly , and isn’t the most vigorous, bit needy

with a different position I feel it would do better but I can only give it 4 out of 10

Karma Serena

The second to flower was Karma Serena. It’s almost a pure pure white but has just the faintest hint of yellow to it, a very, very Pale creamy yellow. Like all of the Serena series its very vigorous, very early to flower and reliably continuously flowering and it doesn’t die messy.

This may sound like a strange thing to say but it’s important, a dahlia needs to die beautifully. Some look awful as they die and detract from the overall appearance of the plant. Some will hold the brown mushy petals, taking out nearby flowers, causing them to rot off quickly or worse, falling onto the leaves and rotting the whole stem off!

With Karma Serena the more you deadhead, the more it will continue to flower and as It opens out fully it reveals a bright yellow button in the centre. So is beloved of pollinators. For a fully double dahlia it does work very well for them as well. It’s just a really healthy. vigorous plant and I’m really pleased with that.

overall I would mark it 8 out of 10

Hollyhill Lemon Ice’

This dahlia caused quite a stir at the start of the season, it seems it’s a popular choice.

its proven to be a bit of an odd one for me, producing a couple of rogue stems, which whilst not unpleasant are definitely not what I ordered.

on the plus side it produces good long stems for cut flowers, holds its head up, doesn’t require staking and when it’s behaving produces beautiful lemon yellow blooms tinted white that vary from flower to flower

downside, for me , is there appears to be an inherent colour break in at least 2 of the 5 tubers I bought, causing random red/pink streaks in one and another complete stem to be pink consistently. It dies quite messy, the petals turning brown and mushy or crispy depending on the weather and taking nearby flowers with it so requires a higher degree of maintenance.

for this I will only give it 6 out of 10

Blue Boy

I ordered five tubers of blue boy and disappointingly one came in with Dahlia gall, this can’t be helped. Another tuber, which initially looked like it was going to be good, didn’t have any eyes on it. It was a big tuber but it was unable to produce any shoots so it did nothing, just sat there all season. So two out of the five were Useless.

I have to admit, I’m not that keen on the Dahlia itself so I’m not too worried about having lost those and next year it can go into the border rather than take centre stage.

That said it is a lovely colour and very large, too large to stand up without a bit of help, it grew really rapidly early in the season then, In the first rain storm, it got flattened. I ended up having to stake it which is something that I’m not really keen on doing, if a Dahlia can’t stand up under its own weight then It doesn’t really deserve a place in the garden as far as I’m concerned.

Plus side, it’s really photogenic and the colour matches perfectly with Gladioli Mahler that I grew alongside it. I’m not sure this is enough to save it though.

Downsides, it’s overly top heavy and It dies. really ugly. It messes up all the leaves below it and it sticks to everything nearby, it’s not a pretty Dahlia as it dies, you really really have to deadhead early. Final downside is the stems are super short making it a really difficult choice for a cut flower, I managed a few by floating them but it’s good for a bouquet unless you take a whole stalk.

Marks out 10 probably about two or three.

Blue Bayou

In the catalogue it looks absolutely stunning and it is … for about five seconds. It opens and it has this wonderful centre boss. That is all frilly and floofy , it’s another anemone flowered type and is quite open for the insects and the pollinators but it loses its outside petals really quickly and it starts to look really raggedy really quickly. However, It’s incredibly floriferous.

Plus sides, it’s produced tons of flowers all season. The overall effect being very pleasant on the eye and it’s stood up tall. It’s reached about three to four foot in height and required zero staking it does pretty and from that point of view it’s been really, really successful.

downsides are that as a cut flower it drops it’s petals super quick.

Marks out at 10? Probably about seven., it’s definitely a keeper for me!

Night Butterfly

This is my favourite this year but was the last to flower and it has been the least floriferous. Night Butterfly is absolutely stunning. It is an open collarette. A deep velvety chocolatey, red with little white petal flecks around the centre boss Which is accessible to pollinators. The insects love it!

Plus sides, it’s gorgeous, makes a lovely cut flower, lasts well and dies pretty.

Downsides,It is quite short and has a tendency to be a bit sprawley, it probably would benefit from staking. It requires regular deadheading in order to keep it flowering, unlike Blue Bayou, who just doesn’t care.

For appearance alone I’m gonna give it a seven or an eight out of 10 and the only reason it’s not higher is because of its sprawley habit and the fact it’s a bit of a diva.

and last but no means least!

Tartan

i absolutely adore this Dahlia, it’s one I know well and I managed to get a young plant at Hampton court this year.

a fully double decorative Dahlia it stands up well and so far hasn’t needed staking although it hasn’t reached its full height.

the flowers are held on long stalks, making it an excellent cut flower and each one is a subtly different mix of maroon, raspberry pink and pure white.

so far I’m yet to find a downside as it dies quite well too!

i would give this 9/10

Next year I would love to get hold of labyrinth and autumn orange.

What’s been good for you this year and what would you like to grow next year?