Dahlia Melody Latin

The Dahlia ‘Melody Latin’, a decorative, small-sized variety, is well-suited for adorning borders in flower beds and flowering containers. Its very double, bright yellow flowers are resplendent in the garden, on the balcony, and in cut flower arrangements. The plant flowers all summer long and right through to the end of the season.

The genus Dahlia belongs to the family Asteraceae and comprises tuberous perennials primarily native to the mountainous regions of Mexico and Central America. In our climate, these plants behave as perennials with frost-sensitive tubers: the foliage dies back in winter, while the tubers, being sensitive to frost, must be protected or brought into a frost-free location after the first frosts. The Melody series, created in the Netherlands by Aad W.M. Verwer (Gebr. Verwer, Lisse), consists of compact (50 to 75 cm), highly ramified and floriferous decorative dahlias, selected for container and border cultivation.
‘Melody Latin’ is classified within the horticultural group of dwarf decorative dahlias: inflorescences are double heads with numerous, regular ray florets, a stocky habit, and particularly abundant flowering. Its flowers, approximately 10 cm in diameter, are formed of strongly imbricate ligulate florets, slightly rounded at the tip, of an intense, luminous yellow that remains clear as they fade, surrounding a small central yellow disc. The plant forms a well-ramified, dome-shaped clump with green, sturdy stems that do not require staking. The foliage, medium to bright green, is composed of leaves divided into 3 to 5 segments with a dentate margin. From June to October, flowering is almost continuous if care is taken to regularly remove spent flowers. The aerial growth is deciduous: in autumn, the leafy stems blacken and dry out, while the tubers enter dormancy.

In the garden as on the balcony, ‘Melody Latin’ evokes a small, radiant sun, easily paired with colourful foliage and other flowering plants. In a flower bed or container, it pairs well with ornamental grasses which soften its yellow pompons, or with other dahlias from the same series: ‘Melody Harmony’ cream washed with mauve/purple on dark foliage, ‘Melody Dixie’ with very double flowers, cream with a lilac-pink edge. The Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Little Bunny’ offers cream spikelets that lighten their flowering.

Dahlias were long studied in Europe for food use, their tubers having been consumed by some pre-Columbian peoples; the idea was abandoned here, but the plant gained a strong symbolic status in the process, to the point of becoming the national flower of Mexico.