Dahlia Vanessa

Dahlia 'Vanessa' is a dwarf decorative dahlia that offers a rare combination with its large flowers borne on a truly compact plant. It is an ideal variety for ornamenting borders and flowering containers. The colour of its flowers, a bright pink washed with cream at the centre, is luminous without being garish, and easy to combine with other hues. From July until the first frosts, you can enjoy it in the garden, on the patio, or in numerous cut flower arrangements.

Belonging to the large dahlia family, 'Vanessa' is a tuberous perennial from the Asteraceae family.
'Vanessa' belongs to the group of decorative dahlias, characterised by very double heads, without an apparent disc, with wide and relatively flat, sometimes slightly recurved ligules. It is more specifically classified among dwarf decorative dahlias, or border dahlias, selected for their low, well-ramified habit. In the 'Vanessa' variety, the clump reaches 50 to 60 cm in height with a spread of 30 to 40 cm, with thick and sturdy stems that support the weight of the flowers well. The flowers in heads, composed of several regular ranks of slightly pointed ligules, measure between 10 and 12 cm in diameter, sometimes up to 15 cm. Their colour displays a palette from pink to salmon pink, lighter towards the centre. For prolonged flowering from July to October, faded flowers must be regularly removed.
The foliage, a pure green, is divided into ovate leaflets with a dentate edge, and forms a dense cushion that covers the base well. The aerial vegetation is entirely deciduous: in autumn, stems and leaves blacken under the effect of the first frosts, the plant is then pruned and the tubercles are removed from the soil to overwinter them dry and frost-free. Selected in the Netherlands, Dahlia 'Vanessa' was introduced to the European horticultural market in the early 2000s.

In the garden, Dahlia 'Vanessa' is perfect for highlighting a path, the edge of a border, or enlivening a large container near the house. Its pink colour combines well with purple or bronze foliage, for example that of the dwarf dahlia ‘American Pie’ and Sedum 'Purple Emperor'. In a more romantic style, it can be paired with dahlias in apricot or salmon tones like ‘Zingaro’, and bordered with light perennials such as Nepeta Nova® 'Blue'. In a vase, its large corollas structure cut flower arrangements; they pair particularly well with white foxgloves, the plumes of a miscanthus and the umbels of the ornamental carrot 'Dara'.

The dahlia was introduced to Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, notably to France in 1802. Although its tubercles were first used as a starch, its ornamental qualities very quickly took precedence. Today there are thousands of cultivars that delight flower enthusiasts.