Raspberry Ripple Dahlia Bulbs

Streaked rather than edged. The color runs through the petal instead of sitting on the margin: pale pink at the base, raspberry toward the tip, with the intensity varying from flower to flower on the same plant. That inconsistency is the appeal — no two blooms in a bucket are identical, which is exactly what a florist wants from a pink.

What you get

• Graded tubers with a visible eye, packed in peat.
• Blooms 4–5 in, fully double, with a small pale center.
• Plants 30–38 in tall with good cutting stems.

Where it works

Pink is the easiest color to get wrong in a border — too blue and it clashes with warm tones, too warm and it clashes with cool ones. A pink with raspberry in it splits the difference and sits comfortably with both.

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.