About
Dahlia 'LB Michael Braithwaite' is a tuberous, herbaceous perennial in the genus Dahlia (family Asteraceae) that produces its main display from July to October. As a member of the Dahlia group, it shares the genus’s origin in Mexico and Central America and carries the characteristic tuberous rootstock. It is not frost-hardy and needs protection from hard winter frosts in the UK. Lift or otherwise protect tubers where winter temperatures regularly fall below freezing.
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 'LB Michael Braithwaite' belongs to the genus Dahlia within the Asteraceae family and shares the group’s tuberous, herbaceous habit and New World origins in Mexico and Central America. It flowers in the UK from July to October, providing colour through late summer into autumn. Because the species group does not tolerate hard frost, its seasonal growth comes from underground tubers rather than from permanent woody stems. Plant tubers in spring after the risk of hard frost has passed so shoots can develop and produce blooms through the summer months. When first severe frosts threaten, lift the tubers and store them in a dry, frost-free place for winter, or give heavy protection in situ; that winter step preserves next season’s plants. Monitor soil moisture during growth — tuberous plants need neither prolonged waterlogging nor extended drought while they are building a flowering display. In a UK garden, the extended July-to-October flowering period makes this dahlia suitable where a late-season show is required and where tubers can be accessed for lifting and storage. Keep a clear label with the cultivar name when you lift tubers so Dahlia 'LB Michael Braithwaite' can be re-established reliably the following spring.
More in the Dahlia genus
- Dahlia 'Clearview Cameron' (C)
- Dahlia 'Croydon Jumbo' (D)Dahlia
- Dahlia 'Elizabeth Snowden' (Col)
- Dahlia 'Katie's Velvet' (Col)Dahlia
- Dahlia 'Amazing Grace' (Misc)
- Dahlia 'Aurora's Kiss' (Ba)
- Dahlia 'Black Diamond' (Ba)
- Dahlia 'Bonanza' (D)