Discover the True Meaning of Flower Power With Dahlia Flowers

Dahlia flowers have been grown by keen flower gardeners across the globe for centuries. Initially they were grown mainly by the Aztecs in their native areas of Mexico and Guatemala, but since being discovered by European plant hunters in the late 1700's they have risen steadily in popularity.

There's many reasons for that - the main one being that you'll have to look long and hard to find plants that will pack a punch of colour, structure and delight that Dahlia Flowers will - and then they're easy to grow, even for the novice gardener.

The Dahlia flowers of today originate from a relatively small genus of plants, with less than 40 species, which have been bred into tens of thousands of hybrids that offer a vast variety in flower sizes, colours and shape. Actually, almost every colour under the sun has been covered - apart from black and blue. You can get Dahlias that come close to these two colours - and are named accordingly - but they are not true colours.

The most popular flower types are the large cactus and semi-cactus Dahlia, but also the small pompom Dahlia are quite popular. The Dahlia flowers varies in size, ranging from Giant (25cm diagonal or above) over Medium (15-20cm diagonal) to Miniature (less than 10cm diagonal).

In most temperate areas (ideal growing conditions are considered to be zone 8-10) they will flower profusely from July, right up until the first frosts in late October. They can be grown outside of these areas, but needs to be started off in a greenhouse or indoors in a windowsill or conservatory.

The smaller types of Dahlia are excellent for growing in patio containers, so even a limited gardening space is no excuse for not growing these magnificent flowers. The larger types are better grown in flowerbeds, either as a true Dahlia flower bed, or interplanted into a herbaceous flower border. The larger Dahlia flowers will even do very well in an exotic jungle-themed garden, where they will add a splash of colour to the structural plants that are typical for this kind of garden.

Even though the Dahlia fell off in popularity from the late 1970's - well into the 1990's - in recent years they have gone through a renaissance. It's hard to understand why the Dahlia fell out of favor in the first place, but now you can get a wide variety of Dahlias from most garden centres and on line seed and bulb retailers.