Dahlia Summer Breeze

Dahlia 'Summer Breeze' is a semi-cactus dahlia with large bicoloured flowers, bright yellow and salmon red. It produces generous inflorescences in sunset hues from July until the first frosts. Well-bushy and of medium stature, it easily finds its place in a border, in a large pot, or in a bed dedicated to cut flowers. A perfect variety to enliven summer and autumn displays, both in the garden and in a cut flower arrangement.

Botanically, Dahlia 'Summer Breeze' belongs to the Asteraceae family, that of daisies and sunflowers. It is a perennial with fleshy tubercles, but it is not hardy: the foliage completely disappears in winter, while the tubercles must be lifted and stored dry and frost-free. This cultivar is classified in the semi-cactus dahlias group, halfway between cactus and decorative types: ligules (or "petals") are pointed but quite broad, less fine than on a classic cactus dahlia. Semi-cactus types are characterised by double flower heads with pointed ligules, partly rolled in on themselves. The breeder of this cultivar is Connell’s Dahlias, and it was introduced to the market in 2007.
The plant has a bushy, well-ramified habit, with upright stems, green tinged with purple or reddish-brown. It reaches approximately 90 cm in height and 60 to 80 cm in width, depending on growing conditions. The heads, which are large, measure between 15 and 18 cm in diameter. The petals are long, very pointed, and slightly curved, of a bright yellow with a greenish-yellow base, highlighted with salmon orange-red at the tip and along the margin. Flowering spreads from July to October-November if spent flowers are regularly removed. The deciduous foliage is compound, formed of large, bright green leaves, pinnate or divided into ovate leaflets with a dentate margin.

This Dahlia 'Summer Breeze' does not go unnoticed in sunny borders, paired with medium-height ornamental grasses and tall perennials. It can be combined with more romantic dahlias such as ‘Night Silence’ or ‘Zahra’, which are old rose and white respectively. In a more sophisticated border, it associates with orange varieties like ‘Okapi Sunset’ or ‘Ludwig Helfert’. In a vase, its sturdy stems allow for creating graphic cut flower arrangements, for example with umbels of Ammi visnaga 'Green Mist White', a few stems of cosmos, or dried grasses.

It is worth remembering that wild dahlias were already cultivated by pre-Columbian Mexican peoples, who consumed their tubercles and used them for their medicinal virtues long before they became stars of European gardens in the 19th century.