Dahlia Fairway Spur

Dahlia ‘Fairway Spur’ is a giant decorative dahlia, prized for its enormous peach-pink inflorescences with salmon reflections, which take on a more bronze tone towards the centre. Its heads dominate flower beds from summer to autumn. With prolonged and regular flowering, it is a plant of choice for the ornamental garden, but also for creating large romantic cut flower arrangements.

Like all modern dahlias, this cultivar is a non-hardy tuberous perennial: the aerial part disappears in winter, while the tubercles store reserves. The plant cannot tolerate sub-zero temperatures; it is therefore overwintered by lifting and storing the tubercles in a dry place, or by protecting them under a thick mulch in very mild climates.
'Fairway Spur’ is a decorative dahlia with very large flowers, rated AA FD BR in the international classification: "AA" for the giant category (flowers exceeding 25 cm), "FD" for the formal decorative form with regular ligules, and "BR" for the bronze-apricot shade of the flower. This selection is attributed to a Dutch breeder, D. Bruidegom, introduced in the late 1960s. The plant has an upright habit, forming a well-ramified clump 1 to 1.20 m in height and about 40 to 50 cm in spread. The thick, sturdy stems bear inflorescences in heads that can reach 25 to 30 cm in diameter, sometimes up to 35 cm when disbudding is practised to keep only one bud per stem. The flowers are formed of very numerous flat to slightly incurved and undulate petals, arranged in tight layers that completely conceal the centre. Their colour is a mix of salmon, apricot-pink and peach, with a warmer, almost coppery centre. Flowering spreads from July to October. The foliage, medium green, is formed of pinnate leaves with ovate to lanceolate lobes, of a clear green. The stems are hollow but robust, a green tinged with bronze towards the base.
To prolong flowering and encourage repeat blooms, regularly cut off the faded flowers.

In the garden as in a vase, this dahlia imposes its generous and warm style. It suits romantic atmospheres and works wonders in late summer displays with indulgent hues. It pairs well with pastel varieties like ‘White Perfection’ or 'Penhill Watermelon'. Darker varieties like ‘Rip City’ or ‘Dark Spirit’ can be added to give depth and contrast to the whole. It can also be paired with large ornamental grasses like Pennisetum macrourum or Miscanthus 'Red Chief' and with cosmos, which lighten its giant flowers. In a cut flower arrangement, in large vases, mix it with ferns, euphorbias or old-fashioned roses.

The genus Dahlia is native to the Mexican mountains, where it was long cultivated by pre-Columbian peoples for its flowers and edible tubercles, before being introduced to Europe in the 18th century and later becoming the national flower of Mexico. Dahlias use inulin as a reserve, a sugar once exploited in Europe as a substitute for diabetics. The hollow stems of some species were used as water conduits by the Aztecs.