Dahlias: one species, wildly different flowers
Dahlias come in so many forms that two bunches of the same species can look like unrelated plants. Pompon types the size of a tennis ball, cactus varieties with narrow quilled petals, flat anemone forms, and dinnerplate dahlias with heads twenty centimetres across.
Which is why the variety group in a product listing tells you more than the colour does. The form name predicts what the bouquet will look like far better than any swatch.
A short season and a short vase life
Dahlias are cut from midsummer until the first frost, and through autumn they occupy the place peonies hold in early summer.
In a vase they are not long distance runners: four to six days with good care. The stem is hollow and soft, so the rules resemble gerbera rather than rose.
- Keep the water shallow, three to five centimetres.
- Change it daily, because a hollow stem clouds water quickly.
- Recut with a sharp knife every other day.
- Use a vase that supports them, since a heavy head outweighs a soft stem.
There is a conditioning trick for the larger types. Dip the freshly cut end into hot water for a few seconds, then straight into cold. That seals the tissue at the cut and adds visibly to the life of the bunch.
Building the bunch
Dahlias work by the stem. One large head in a narrow vase is already an arrangement, three pompons make a tight dome, five to seven build an autumn armful.
Mixing forms in one bouquet needs care. A quilled cactus type and a pompon placed side by side argue with each other, while one form in several shades reads as deliberate.
They combine well with autumn foliage, grasses, hydrangea and berried branches. Dahlias have essentially no scent, so nothing in the arrangement competes for the room.
Buy dahlias for a week rather than a fortnight. This is a flower of the season, not of endurance.
Who they suit
A dahlia bouquet reads warm and domestic, closer to a garden than to a shop. It goes to autumn occasions, September and October birthdays, housewarmings, and anyone who prefers garden flowers to imported stems.
The large forms photograph exceptionally well and hold a dinner table, provided the vase is stable and there is space around it.
For delivery around Geneva, ask for a rigid box. Dahlia petals are thin and crease under pressure, and a creased petal cannot be recovered.
JFLOO carries dahlias in season, from late summer onward. Choose the flower form first, pompon, decorative or cactus, and treat colour as the second decision.
