Dahlia Jive

The anemone Dahlia 'Jive' is a recent and vigorous variety, forming a beautiful bush covered in fully bloomed flowers of a highly nuanced red. They are composed of a frizzy red-orange pompom heart touched with yellow, placed on a plate of wider, deep purple-red lanceolate petals. It blooms for a long time, from summer to autumn, above a lush green foliage. Its stature allows it to splendidly occupy the back of perennial borders, and its gleaming flowers make for very colourful bouquets.

Dahlias are tuberous plants from the large family of asteraceae, originally native to the high plateaus of Mexico. At present, the at least 20,000 horticultural varieties obtained by humans have invaded, to our great pleasure, gardens all over the world. Dahlias are classified according to the shape of their flowers. 'Jive' is classified in the category of decorative Dahlias with anemone-like flowers. In this group, the coloured ligules of the head are arranged in pompoms in the centre and surrounded by a collar of wider petals. In this variety, the heads are 10 cm (4in) in diameter and the outermost ligules are lanceolate, dark red, while those in the centre are short and frizzy, more orange, tinged with yellow at the edges. As they bloom, the yellow hue gradually invades the central 'pompom'. The flowering takes place from July to October. The plant will reach 1 to 1.20 m (3 to 4ft) in height, and 50 to 70 cm (20 to 28in) in width, with a bushy and upright habit. The highly branched stems are hollow and the leaves are opposite, divided into 3 or 5 leaflets, which have very toothed lobes. The leaves and stems are very dark green, slightly bluish, a shade that enhances the colour of the flowers.

To encourage repeat flowering and extend the flowering period, make sure to remove faded flowers. Even better, regularly compose attractive colourful bouquets by combining various varieties. The vibrant flowering of this variety deserves to be highlighted by the light foliage of grasses, field eryngiums, molinias for example. This combination emphasises an elegant contrast between the delicacy of tall grasses and the assertiveness of the dahlia flower. The flowering of echinaceas perfectly complements that of dahlias, they occur simultaneously, as well as the flowering of cosmos or perennial salvias.  

As the star plant of cottage gardens, dahlias are undoubtedly beautiful flowers, they look impeccable in flower beds but can also enhance the vegetable garden. In Mexico, this tuberous plant was first cultivated as a root vegetable for consumption. Its poor taste quickly assigned it the rank of an ornamental plant. Since then, the interest in their beautiful exuberance has never waned.