Cotton Candy Blue Dahlia Bulbs

Blue at the tip, candy pink at the base. Softer than Golden Sapphire and lighter than Blue Horizon — this is the pastel version of the same idea, and the one that mixes most easily into an existing border. The petals are broad and slightly reflexed, which opens the flower up rather than keeping it a tight ball.

What you get

• Graded tubers with a visible eye, packed in peat.
• Blooms 4–5 in, fully double, on plants 28–36 in tall.
• Good bud count — a plant that keeps flowering into October if you keep cutting.

Keeping it flowering

Dahlias stop when they set seed. Cut or deadhead every three or four days, right back to a pair of side shoots, and the plant responds by pushing new buds from below the cut. Skip a fortnight in August and the September flush never arrives.

Planting

• Wait for warm soil. Plant two weeks after your last frost date, once the soil holds 60°F / 15°C at 4 in deep. Cold soil rots tubers before they wake.
• Set them 4–6 in deep, eye facing up, with 2–3 in of soil over the crown. Space 15–18 in apart so air moves between plants.
• Water once at planting, then hold off until shoots break the surface — a soaking wet tuber with no roots has nowhere to put the water.
• Full sun, 6+ hours. Stake at planting if you want straight stems; adding supports later breaks roots.

Season & hardiness

• Blooms 8–10 weeks after planting and keeps going until the first hard frost.
• Hardy in USDA zones 8–11. In zones 3–7 lift the tubers after frost blackens the foliage, or grow as an annual.
• Pinch the center shoot at about 12 in to double the stem count; more stems, smaller blooms.
• Deadhead spent flowers every few days. Left to seed, the plant stops producing new buds.