Dahlia

 

Dahlias are perennial tubers that bloom from late summer to the fall months. They come in multitude of different colors, shape and sizes. Most can grow as tall as six feet in height with blooms as big as a small plate.

Established dahlias require a thorough and deep watering at least once a week during the summer months. Summer this year in Southern California is unusually humid with a few inches of rainfall. With the mandated reduction in water usage due to the drought, I have watered my dahlias only every other week but still came out with huge and healthy blooms. The rain during the summer months definitely helped.

Besides the pink dahlia that I planted a few years back, I planted a new one during early spring and it bloomed with an orange red flower. As usual the pink one has blooms that are huge but not as huge as the last few years. It definitely needs to be dug out and divided. I will have to do this early January. It should have been done this year but did not have the time.