I like to grow annual dahlias, but often the Japanese beetles ruin the experience by devouring the flowers. This year the beetles came on strong for a few weeks, but then disappeared quickly. Annual dahlias start blooming just a couple of weeks later than other annuals like zinnias and marigolds, so the beetles were long gone by the time my dahlias opened up.
This is ‘Figaro Red Shades’:
The plants grow 14 to 18 inches tall with 3-inch double and semi-double flowers that appear from summer into fall on clean, dark-green foliage. Other than Japanese beetles, my plants aren’t bothered by any other pests or diseases.
The flowers look great with many colors including yellows and purples. I have some of my plants growing alongside ‘Chantilly Pink’ snapdragons:
2 comments
Red is my favorite color. This year I grew mostly single dark leafed dahlias because the European Earwig is a major problem here. But at the cottage I had a few Figaro (red, yellow and orange) that I bought at an outlet store. They did well there. My dahlias are in and ready to be stored for winter. I will probably do some work on storing the tubers today. Too cold and wet outside to winterized the remainder of our shrubs. James
It’s hard to beat that rich, red color—it’s my favorite too. We had a hard freeze the other night and have even seen some flakes of snow already. I’m glad you were able to gather all your dahlia tubers.
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