When there are so many beautiful flowers in the world , you might wonder why choose the dahlia? Why is the dahlia so wonderful for bouquets? We think we know the answers! There are A LOT of reasons!!!
Firstly, dahlias are available in almost every shade and every hue of every colour unlike many flowers that are available in just a handful of standard colours. There are sooooo many colours! So many! You’ll find dahlias in the colour groups of White, Yellow, Pink, Orange, Red, Purple, and Bronze. No Blue… and I don’t think we’ve ever seen a Green or a Brown dahlia bloom, but genetically these may be possibly whereas Blue is not.
Additionally, unlike most other flowers, dahlias are available in multiple magical forms and styles! Forms are defined by the general shape of the bloom, the shape of its petals, the number of rows of petals, the arrangement of the petals, open centred (like a sunflower showing off its central disc), or closed centre (the central disc is not visible until the flower is fully matured and spent). Its true that some dahlias can look quite a bit like other flowers such as Asters, Peonies, Daisies or Waterlilies!
The shapes! The general shape of the flower can be round like a ball (Ball and Pompon), flatter like a plate (Decorative), cupped like a saucer (Waterlily). The shape of the petals in each bloom are another source of incredible variation in form! Petals can be pointy, rounded, incurved, recurved, reflexed, wavy, curly, flat, elongated, tubular… The shape of a dahlia bloom’s petals further define forms of Cactus, Semi-Cactus, Informal Decorative, Formal Decorative, Novelty, Anenome, Peony…
The petals! The number of petals in a bloom further contribute to the appeal of dahlias. Some are Singles… open centred having a single row of petals around a central disc. Others are Doubles… multiple rows of petals around the central disc, some with a closed centre, some with an open centre.
The size of the blooms! As tiny as 1″ across (Pompons) these are perfect for bouquet accents… to larger than 10″ across (multiple forms such as Decorative and Semi-Cactus often referred to as Dinner Plate sizes) that are spectacular to use for focal flowers in event or bridal bouquets. There is a dahlia bloom available in every single size you desire for a bouquet! We favour those that are up to 6″ in size for daily bouquets.
The stems! Dahlia stems can differ by variety too! Some are super stiff and straight up, while others are more wiry or bendy and perfect for whimsy. We like the full range of stems for use in bouquets so long as they are long enough to use!
The bloom window! Dahlias offer blooms for a long period during the summer! Bloom time varies by variety. Some will bloom earlier in the season and some will bloom later. We favour the earlier to mid season blooming varieties because we want them for bouquets as early as possible in the season. We do love to have a few later blooming dahlias in the queue to contribute to the ever changing variation that adds interest to our bouquets all season long. And remember! Dahlias are known to be cut and come again flowers! The more blooms you cut for bouquets, the more blooms you’ll get!
The possibilities of creating beautiful bouquets using dahlia blooms are endless! The colours, the forms and styles, the sizes, the stems, the bloom window! Dahlias make it fun and easy to create beautiful bouquets enabling the spread joy and happiness!
Tips for beautiful bouquets:
- Choose colours that work well together! If the tone or shade of a particular variety isn’t quite right, save it for another bouquet. Sometimes when we grow a new variety, we find that the colour might be gorgeous but also awkward because we don’t have any other dahlia blooms that go well with it. If we really love the colour, we’ll use these as focal flowers in bouquets using other flower types and greens as filler. And if we really really love the colour, we’ll start trying to source more dahlia varieties to complement it and we will often grow more of that variety.
- Threes work well! 3 varieties with colours that complement, 3 stems of each bloom… or multiples thereof.
- Bridges and blenders! Many dahlias are bicolour or have a blush or a kiss of a secondary colour. These are perfect for tying in colours in a bouquet! Cherish is a pale yellow with a pinky purple burgundy kiss that is incredible for using in bouquets to tie in with other blooms of pink, purple, or burgundy. Bowser Denyse is a beautiful pink bloom with white petal tips that help to tie in white blooms or other pink blooms….
- Fillers! While we are quite partial to a vase full of just dahlias, filler flowers and greens are always handy and afford variety, texture and interest to bouquets. Some of our favourites are zinnias, cosmos, honeywort, bouquet dill, peony foliage, marigold gem, feverfew, borage, statice, asters, strawflowers, phlox, euphorbia, eucalyptus and in mid-late September we love to use dahlia foliage for greens in bouquets!
- Freshness! Fresh flower bouquets are not meant to last forever. Dahlias typically last about 5 good days in a vase. Cut blooms before they are fully mature ~1/2 to 3/4 open. They may open up a wee bit after blooming but generally not much and hardly at all if cut at the 1/2 to 3/4 open stage. Cut blooms in the cool of the morning and place directly into cool clean water. Keep the water in the vase fresh – change it daily if possibly (most importantly in the first few days while the stems are still taking up water). Bouquets displayed in a cool area will last longer than bouquets displayed in a warm area.
Grow Beautiful Dahlias!
Make Beautiful Bouquets!
Enjoy the Dahlia!!!