Dahlia 'Frank Holmes' (Pom) — Bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial

Overview

Dahlia 'Frank Holmes' (Pom) is a bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial bedding in the genus Dahlia, part of the Asteraceae family, with green, occasionally dark-leaved foliage. Dahlia 'Frank Holmes' (Pom) grows best in full sun, and tolerates loam soils and neutral pH. Its UK hardiness is rated H4. Suggested uses include borders, containers and cut flowers.

About

Dahlia 'Frank Holmes' is a pompon-form, clump-forming tuberous cultivar of Dahlia grown for bedding and as an herbaceous perennial. It flowers from July to October. The plant carries green foliage that can occasionally be darker and sets compact heads suitable for cutting.

About the genus

Dahlias come from the high meadows of Mexico, and somewhere in that heritage is the explanation for how they behave here: tender to frost, hungry, generous beyond all reason. No other plant gives you quite so much for so little. One tuber, planted after the last frost, becomes a shrub's worth of flowers by August — and the more you cut, the more they come.The range is faintly ridiculous. Tight pompoms, spiky cactus types, singles the bees adore, dinner-plates the size of your face. Whatever your garden's mood, there is a dahlia that agrees with it, which is probably why every generation falls out of love with them and then, a decade later, falls straight back in.They're at their best when much of the garden is winding down — late summer into autumn, flowering hard until the first frost calls time. I think of them as the encore. And they always play it.

Written by Henry

In the garden

Dahlia 'Frank Holmes' is a cultivated form of the genus Dahlia within the Asteraceae family, selected for its pompon bloom habit and clump-forming, tuberous growth. As an herbaceous perennial used for bedding, it performs as a seasonal flowering plant that reliably produces blooms between July and October. Give this dahlia a sunny, south-facing spot in loam soil with neutral pH. Soil should remain moist but well drained; shelter from exposed conditions improves performance. The cultivar is rated H4, which translates to average hardiness in UK terms and makes siting in a sheltered, south-facing border or a protected container important for consistent flowering. Dahlia 'Frank Holmes' suits mixed borders, patio containers and the cutting garden, where its compact pompon heads work well in arrangements. Planting in groups or at the front to mid-border level shows the rounded heads to best effect, and stems cut for vases retain the compact form of the blooms through late summer into autumn.