In the Garden: Dahlia combinations for gardens and bouquets

Dahlias come in various colors, shapes and sizes, making them easy to include in any garden, container and bouquet. Grow them in their own dedicated space, mix them with other flowers, or plant a few at the end of the vegetable garden.

Consider including different varieties of dahlias for added interest and beauty in the garden and your arrangements. Select colors that you imagine will look great together in a vase. This will make it easy to create a lot of creative combinations on the fly.

Grow dahlias with flowers of different shapes and sizes to create more interesting arrangements. Dahlias offer many options and it’s one of the reasons they are such a popular cut flower. Longfield Gardens provides help and inspiration in Types of Dahlias: 8 Great Looks.

You’ll find the widest range of colors and styles with new varieties in the decorative dahlia group continually being released. Add a bit of elegance to the garden and bouquets with Mondriaan’s soft pink petals tinged with pastel yellow, apricot and lavender. Decorative dahlias make great cut flowers, and their sturdy stems make them easy to grow with other flowers in gardens and containers.

Add interesting texture to your gardens and bouquets with anemone-flowered and collarette dahlias. The anemone-flowered dahlias have a cluster of tubular florets in the center surrounded by more traditional petals. The two different lengths of petals in the collarette varieties add to their charm.

Enjoy an abundant harvest of cut flowers when growing ball and pompon dahlias. These perfectly round flowers are packed with tightly rolled petals and are long-lived in arrangements. Their size makes them excellent additions to mixed bouquets helping to connect the various flowers for an impressive display.

The unique blossoms of waterlily dahlias have made it one of the most popular for cutting. The relatively flat flowers have tightly closed centers surrounded by several rows of flat or slightly curved petals.

Grow a few single dahlias for you and the pollinators to enjoy. The daisy-like flowers have a prominent center surrounded by a single row of petals. Their airy appearance complements a variety of late-season perennials in the garden and bouquets. Mix in a few peony-flowered varieties for a showier display. These also have a prominent center but are surrounded by two or more layers of petals.

Add a bit of excitement to any arrangement with cactus and semi-cactus varieties. Their tightly curled petals make them a standout in the garden and bouquets.

You’ll only need one or a few dinnerplate dahlia blooms to make a statement in a vase or arrangement. The large flowers can grow up to 10 inches across on four- to five-foot-tall plants. Tag team a pair of dinnerplate dahlias for the back of the border. Labyrinth and Tyrell have apricot flowers with pink and yellow accents that blend nicely with a wide range of colors in the garden.

If you feel overwhelmed by all the choices or can’t decide on the best combination, let the experts lend a hand. Consider purchasing one or more ready-to-plant dahlia combinations selected to look great in the garden and arrangements. The bumblebee collection includes pollinator-favorite Kelsey Sunshine collarette and the coral pink decorative Great Silence. Or for a big splash of purple try the Berry Spritz dinnerplate collection (longfield-gardens.com) with lavender-pink, lilac and eggplant purple blooms.

Take pictures of your favorite combinations and notes of what you want to try next year, and most importantly, enjoy the fantastic blooms. Fortunately, any flower combination is sure to brighten your day.

Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” instant video and DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Longfield Gardens for her expertise to write this article. Her website is MelindaMyers.com.