Dahlia Twyning's Smartie

The Dahlia Twyning's Smartie is an unclassed plant, a very unusual semi-dwarf dahlia that creates a colourful display for 4 months. It produces almost single, highly contrasting flowers, all different, with petals more or less coloured, striped or streaked with white and pink-red around a golden yellow heart. A variety with a compact habit, high in colour, which will bring a lot of uniqueness to sunny borders and containers.

Dahlias belong to the Asteraceae family and are originally from the high plateaus of Mexico. Currently, the approximately 25,000 horticultural varieties obtained by humans have arrived, to our greatest pleasure, in gardens all over the world.
The variety 'Twyning's Smartie', introduced in 2004, is a Dahlia classified in a separate category, that of Mignon Dahlias, characterised by flowers composed of a crown of wide and flat petals revealing the yellow center. It is also part of the semi-dwarf Dahlias, as it will not exceed 70 cm (28in) in height and 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16in) in width. The flowers of 'Twyning's Smartie', with eight petals curled inwards at their tips, are less than 10 cm (4in) in diameter. Each petal and each flower distribute colours differently, in a blend of white and rose leaning towards red. The tiny flowers in the centre form a very visible golden disc. The flowering period is from July to October. The habit is bushy and upright. The very branched stems are hollow and the leaves are opposite, pinnately divided into 3 or 5 very toothed lobes. The leaves and stems are medium green.

To encourage flowering, take care to remove faded flowers, or even better, regularly make large colourful bouquets by combining it with other varieties. 'Twyning's Smartie' pairs particularly well with the grey foliage of wormwood (Artemisia Powis Castle, Artemisia absinthium Lambrook Silver) or the dark needles of certain small conifers (Chamaecyparis obtusa Chirimen, Chamaecyparis obtusa Juniperoides). In the front of borders, in informal borders or even in large pots on the patio, this Dahlia will create colourful and unique spots in the company of white asters (Aster Ashvi), light blue or mauve flowering asters (Aster cordifolius, Aster turbinellus, Aster novi-belgii Marie Ballard...) for example. Its flowers are of course magnificent in bouquets.
 

The star plant of borders and ornamental 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. But its poor taste qualities relegated it to the rank of ornamental plant. Since then, the interest in their beautiful exuberance has never waned.