Copper Eclipse Dahlia Bulbs

Bronze that stops short of brown. The petals open copper and hold that tone through the center, with the deepest color sitting in the throat of the flower. In evening light it looks like rusted metal; at noon it’s closer to burnt orange with a dark shadow at the core. There’s no pink in it anywhere, which is unusual for a warm dahlia and the reason it mixes cleanly with purples.

What you get

• Graded tubers with a visible eye, packed in peat.
• Blooms 5–6 in with narrow, pointed petals that hold their shape late into the season.
• Plants 34–42 in tall, with stems long enough to cut for arrangements.

An honest note

Copper and bronze dahlias shift with the light more than any other color group. In flat grey weather this variety reads almost plain brown. In sun, or under warm evening light, it’s the most striking thing in the bed. Judge it on a bright day.

How to plant

• Soil temperature matters more than the calendar. Wait until it holds 60°F / 15°C at 4 in deep — normally about two weeks after your last frost.
• Lay the tuber flat, eye up, 4–6 in under the surface, and leave 15–18 in between plants for airflow.
• No water until shoots appear. A dormant tuber in wet soil rots in about ten days; roots don’t form until the shoot breaks through.
• Six hours of sun minimum, and a stake in at planting time if the variety runs tall. Driving one in later spears the tuber.

Hardiness & season

• Perennial in USDA zones 8–11, grown as an annual or lifted and stored over winter in zones 3–7.
• First flowers 8–10 weeks after planting, then continuous bloom until the first hard freeze.
• Pinch out the growing tip at 12 in for a bushier plant with more, smaller stems — skip it if you want a few large blooms.
• Keep cutting and deadheading. A dahlia allowed to set seed stops producing buds, and the September flush never happens.