Dahlia 'Lady Kate' (D) — Bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial

Overview

Dahlia 'Lady Kate' (D) is a bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial bedding in the genus Dahlia, part of the Asteraceae family, with green, occasionally dark-leaved foliage. Dahlia 'Lady Kate' (D) 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 'Lady Kate' is a tuberous, clump-forming herbaceous perennial prized for its summer-to-autumn display, flowering from July to October. It forms a well-branched mound with green foliage that can occasionally take on darker tones. The plant prefers full sun in a south-facing, sheltered spot and performs best in neutral loam that is moist but well-drained. It carries an H4 hardiness rating (average) for UK conditions.

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 'Lady Kate' sits in the Asteraceae family and is cultivated as a bedding and herbaceous perennial with tuberous roots. Plants produce a succession of blooms through the official UK flowering period, from July to October, making the variety useful for late-summer and early-autumn colour. For best results place specimens in full sun on a south-facing site with some protection from exposure. Use a neutral, loamy soil that retains moisture without becoming waterlogged; good drainage is essential. The hardiness rating H4 translates to an average hardy plant in UK terms, so choose a sheltered position rather than an exposed ridge or wind-blown corner. Dahlia 'Lady Kate' suits mixed borders, patio containers and cutting beds. Its steady July-to-October flowering run supplies stems for floral work as well as extending colour through late summer into autumn, so locate plants where blooms are easy to harvest and display.