Dahlia 'Impression Fantastico'

The Dahlia 'Impression Fantastico' is a particularly elegant dwarf dahlia with delicate and luminous flowering. From summer to frost, it offers original flowers with mahogany petals mixing magenta and chocolate, adorned with a central crown of tiny white petals surrounding a yellow heart. With good resistance to bad weather, this variety shows a bushy and compact habit that makes it suitable for the forefront of beds or borders. This plant is superb in pots.

Dahlias belong to the Asteraceae family and are originally from the Mexican highlands. Currently, the few 20,000 horticultural varieties obtained by humans have invaded, to our greatest pleasure, gardens worldwide.

The 'Impression Fantastico' variety is a dwarf dahlia; it will not exceed 40 cm (16in) in all directions. It is also classified as a collarette dahlia, a horticultural category defined by the shape of the flower. In this group, the coloured ligules of the capitulum are regularly arranged in a crown around a collar of tiny petals surrounding the central disk. The flowers of 'Impression Fantastico' have outer ligules of a beautiful mahogany colour, and those in the centre are white. The golden heart of the flower makes it even more luminous. The flowering period is from July to October. The habit is bushy and compact, not requiring staking. The very branched stems are hollow, and the leaves are opposite, pinnatisect, dividing them into 3 or 5 very toothed lobes. The leaves and stems are dark green.

To promote repeat flowering, remove faded flowers, or even better, regularly make large colourful bouquets by combining them with other varieties. 'Impression Fantastico' pairs particularly well with blue flowers and silver foliage. In the front of beds, this dahlia will create colourful spots alongside Echinaceas, for example, which bloom at the same time, as well as Daylilies or Asters. This modest variety is particularly suitable for container gardening to decorate the terrace or balcony easily.

As a star plant for borders and cottage gardens, dahlias confidently accompany the most beautiful flowers but are also appreciated alongside vegetable plants. In Mexico, this tuberous plant was first cultivated as a root vegetable for consumption. However, its poor taste qualities made it an ornamental plant. Since then, the interest in their beautiful exuberance has never waned.