Dahlia New Baby

The Dahlia 'New Baby' is a variety of Ball Dahlia with a brilliant colour, a vermilion orange visible from afar in the garden. Not very large, in the shape of pompons, its alveolate, fully double flowers play with the light. This variety proves to be both generous, stable in terms of colour, and remarkably floriferous. It is used in sunny borders, but also for cut flower production.

Like all dahlias, 'New Baby' belongs to the Asteraceae family. It is a tuberous perennial that forms a clump of erect, herbaceous stems from fleshy tubers, which are sensitive to frost. The Dahlia 'New Baby' is classified in the horticultural group of Ball Dahlias, more specifically in the miniature category, characterised by fully double, spherical or slightly flattened heads, which rounded ligules are rolled for most of their length. The flowers of this variety measure 5 to 7 cm in diameter. The breeder of this cultivar is the Dutch hybridiser Lammerse, who introduced it in the early 1960s. It is also found under the commercial names "New Baby Orange" or "New Baby Ball" in some English-language catalogues. This variety is among the dahlias that have notably received the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.
The plant has a bushy habit, well-branched from the base, reaching 80 to 100 cm in height with a spread of 50 to 60 cm. The stems, green or slightly reddish, are sturdy enough to support the inflorescences and long enough for cut flowers. The foliage, which is deciduous, disappears with the first frosts: it consists of large, pinnate leaves, medium to dark green, divided into ovate or lanceolate leaflets with dentate edges. Flowering extends from July to October, provided faded flowers are regularly removed. The heads form tight little balls of rolled ligules, with a discreet yellow eye. Their colour is changeable: the buds open in a bright, coppery orange, then gradually turn to vermilion red, while the tips of the ligules retain a golden yellow edge and in places take on apricot highlights.

With its well-formed, regular vermilion orange balls, the Dahlia 'New Baby' has a graphic and warm style that will energise a border or bed until late summer. It pairs wonderfully with the panicles of ornamental grasses like Hordeum jubatum. To play with contrasts of form, pair it with the small mauve stars of Aster ericoides 'Blue Wonder' and the violet-blue spikes of Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’. In a warm-coloured scene, it will pair with ball dahlias in coppery or pink hues, like 'Bantling' or 'Marshmallow Baby'. In cut flower arrangements, mixed with a few stems of ornamental tobacco Nicotiana langsdorffii 'Lemon Tree', it creates fresh, contemporary, and very luminous displays.

Dahlias were already cultivated by the Aztecs, who consumed their tubers and used the plant in medicine. This was long before 18th-century Europe fell in love with the Dahlia and turned this root vegetable into a true collector's plant, the origin of thousands of modern cultivars.