About
Dahlia 'Katie's Velvet' is a cultivated dahlia (genus Dahlia) in the Asteraceae, propagated from tubers as an herbaceous perennial. It flowers from July to October. Like other dahlias it is not frost-hardy and requires winter protection in colder UK areas. Its flowering period makes it useful for summer-to-autumn colour and 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 'Katie's Velvet' is a named cultivar within the genus Dahlia (family Asteraceae), a group of tuberous, herbaceous perennials originally from Mexico and Central America. Plants are raised from tubers and produce their display in the late summer and autumn months, with a reliable flowering window from July to October. For cultivation, sit the tubers in a sunny, sheltered position with a fertile, free-draining soil. Plant tubers after the risk of frost has passed; maintain regular moisture while shoots are developing and during the main flowering season. Taller forms benefit from a stake or support early in the season. Removing spent blooms helps to encourage continued flowering through October. Dahlia 'Katie's Velvet' suits mixed borders, dedicated cutting beds and containers where its long flowering run can be appreciated. In milder parts of the UK tubers can be left in the ground with mulch for winter protection; where frost is severe, lift and store tubers frost-free until spring. Note that dahlia tubers store carbohydrate as inulin rather than starch, a characteristic to bear in mind when drying and storing them for winter.
More in the Dahlia genus
- Dahlia 'Clearview Cameron' (C)
- Dahlia 'Croydon Jumbo' (D)Dahlia
- Dahlia 'Elizabeth Snowden' (Col)
- Dahlia 'LB Michael Braithwaite' (D)
- Dahlia 'Amazing Grace' (Misc)
- Dahlia 'Aurora's Kiss' (Ba)
- Dahlia 'Black Diamond' (Ba)
- Dahlia 'Bonanza' (D)