Dahlia Lemon Cane

The 'Lemon Cane' Decorative Dahlia bears slightly informal, double, bright yellow flowers with varying white edges. Of medium size but vibrant, they bloom in abundance from summer until the first frost, on a bushy plant of beautiful stature. Combine it in your flower beds with gauras, grasses or cosmos in harmonious colours, they will lighten its generous silhouette and enhance its beauty. Its sun-like flowers also allow for numerous combinations in floral compositions.

Dahlias are tuberous plants in the large asteraceae family, originally from the high plateaus of Mexico. Currently, the approximately 25,000 horticultural varieties obtained by humans have arrived, to our great pleasure, in gardens all over the world. Dahlias are classified according to the shape of their flowers. 'Lemon Cane', registered in 1995, is classified in the category of Decorative Dahlias. In this group, the colourful ligules of the head are regularly arranged in a spiral, they can be curved towards the stem or fringed, for example. In this variety, the heads are 12 to 13 cm (5in) in diameter and their petals or ligules are wide, oval, slightly concave, lemon yellow in colour, more or less white at their tips. Flowering occurs from July to October. The plant will reach at least 1m (3ft) in height, and 60 to 70 cm (24 to 28in) in width, the habit is bushy and erect. The very branched stems are hollow and the leaves are opposite, pinnately compound, meaning they are divided into 3 or 5 leaflets, which have very denticulate lobes. The leaves and stems are of a medium green colour.

To encourage flowering and extend the flowering period, make sure to remove faded flowers. Even better, regularly create attractive colourful bouquets by combining various varieties. The medium size of this variety makes it suitable for ornamenting flower beds with tall perennial plants or low bushes. The flowering of Echinaceas is perfect when accompanied by Dahlias, as they occur simultaneously, as well as the flowering of shrubby salvias, for example. Also consider ornamental grasses (Miscanthus saccharifolius, Stipa arundinacea, Eragrostis trichodes) which take on beautiful autumnal colours.

As a star plant in ornamental gardens, Dahlias are undoubtedly beautiful flowers, they are perfect in flower beds but can also enhance vegetable gardens. In Mexico, this tuberous plant was initially 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.