Dahlia Café de Paris

Dahlia 'Café de Paris' is a splendid semi-cactus variety with refined and delicately worked shades. It boasts a mix of lilac, beige, and old violet. It charms with its large, tousled, and airy flowers in pastel tones. It bears an abundance of blooms from summer until the first frost, on a fairly tall bushy plant. This dahlia is reminiscent of the famous 'Café au Lait' variety. It adds an elegant touch to sunny flower beds and floral compositions.

Dahlias belong to the Asteraceae family and are originally from the high plateaus of Mexico. There are currently thousands of horticultural varieties that have conquered gardens worldwide. They are tender perennials with fleshy tubers.

'Café de Paris' forms a bushy clump 1 to 1.2m (3 to 4ft) tall and about 70cm (28in) wide. It is classified as a semi-cactus dahlia, a horticultural category defined by the shape of the flower. In this group, the colourful ligules of the head only partially curl up, at least one-third of their length. This dahlia has ligules that curl up at their tips, and are more flattened at the base. The flowering of this variety begins in July and ends in October-November. The heads measure 15 to 20cm (6 to 8in) in diameter. The ligules are cream-beige with lilac and violet tones. The habit is bushy and erect, and the branched stems are hollow. Its leaves are opposite and pinnately divided, meaning they divide into 3 or 5 toothed lobes. The leaves are of a medium green colour.

Remove faded flowers to encourage new blooms. You can use cut flowers to make colourful bouquets, combining them with other varieties.

Dahlia 'Café de Paris' is a beautiful cut flower that can be used to create wedding bouquets with white lilies and arums. In the garden, it blends in with perennial flower beds and can lean on more compact bushes. It matches particularly well with pink and mauve blooms, or old violet, especially those of roses and perennial sages. Consider planting it with the roses Rhapsody in Blue and William Lobb. In flower beds, it pairs perfectly with "thistles" (cardoon and artichoke), Japanese anemones, fennel, and cosmos, for example. It will create an intriguing display with tall sedums and miscanthus.

Dahlias are stars of borders and ornamental gardens, confidently accompanying the most beautiful flowers. However, they are also appreciated alongside vegetable plants. In Mexico, this tuberous plant was first cultivated as a root vegetable for consumption. Its poor taste qualities quickly saw it categorised as an ornamental plant. Since then, the interest in their beautiful exuberance has never waned.