Dahlia 'Nettie' (Ba) — Bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial

Overview

Dahlia 'Nettie' (Ba) is a bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial bedding in the genus Dahlia, part of the Asteraceae family, with green, occasionally dark-leaved foliage. Dahlia 'Nettie' (Ba) 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 'Nettie' is a tuberous, clump-forming herbaceous perennial in the Asteraceae that carries a sustained sequence of flowers from July to October. It produces a well-branched mound of green, occasionally darker, foliage. Plant in a south-facing, sheltered spot in loam with a neutral pH where the soil remains moist but well-drained. It suits borders and containers and supplies reliable stems 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 'Nettie' is grown as a bedding and herbaceous perennial within the Asteraceae and forms a clump of tuberous roots with multiple stems and foliage that can be green or occasionally darker. Its flowering run extends from July to October, offering late-summer and autumn colour for the garden and for cutting. Give Dahlia 'Nettie' a sunny, south-facing position with some shelter from prevailing winds. It prefers loam soil at a neutral pH that holds moisture without becoming waterlogged; aim for a moist but well-drained planting medium. The hardiness rating H4 indicates average winter hardiness in the UK, so choose a sheltered site that reduces exposure to severe conditions. Use it at the front or middle of mixed borders, in large containers on a sunny patio, or as a source of cut flowers for vases. Regular picking of stems during the flowering period maintains production and brings its July-to-October display indoors; the plant's tuberous habit also makes it straightforward to keep as a seasonal bedding specimen or container centrepiece.