Dahlias: expectation vs reality

Dahlia kelvin floodlight

When we choose flowers, be they bulbs, tubers, seeds or others, we are always attracted by the beautiful presentation photos in the packages. In this article I gathered several comparative photos between the presentation picture of several dahlias and how they actually produced in my garden. That is, expectation vs reality.

Almost always, we make our purchase decision based on that photo, especially when we are buying a certain variety for the first time.

Some were quite accurate when compared to the photo, others less so.

There are several factors for differences and variations between expectation and reality. The conditions of the soil, its pH, the level of organic matter, the temperatures of the season, the sun exposure, just to name a few… several factors can make the flowers not grow with the expected aspect.

Not to mention wrongly cataloged varieties. It is very annoying to define a color palette for a border to find later that the scheme is compromised by a “bad dahlia”.

One of the factors that I noticed the most was that, in the dahlias grown in pots (even large ones), they are not as vigorous or produce flowers of the same quality as the same varieties grown in the flower bed.

Would you share your experience or any funny story with us on Dahlias expectation vs reality?