Dahlia 'Passionate Glow' (D) — Bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial

Overview

Dahlia 'Passionate Glow' (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 'Passionate Glow' (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 'Passionate Glow' is a tuberous, clump-forming herbaceous perennial grown for bedding and cut flowers. It flowers from July to October, offering a sustained season of blooms. Plants form multiple stems with green, sometimes darker, foliage and belong to the Asteraceae family.

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 'Passionate Glow' is a tuberous, clump-forming herbaceous perennial in the Asteraceae family, raised for summer and autumn flowering and for use as cut flowers. It produces multiple stems from the tuberous rootstock and carries foliage that is typically green but can appear darker on some plants. The defined flowering season runs from July to October, which makes it reliable for supplying stems through late summer and into early autumn. Place plants in full sun on a south-facing, sheltered site to reduce wind damage to the stems. It prefers a loam soil with a neutral pH and a moisture level that is kept moist but well-drained; avoid waterlogged conditions. The hardiness rating H4 (average) indicates it will tolerate ordinary UK conditions when given the recommended exposure and soil, but select a protected position for the longest season of bloom. Use Dahlia 'Passionate Glow' in mixed borders where summer and autumn colour is required, in large containers sited in a sunny, sheltered spot, or grown specifically for cutting. Its July to October flowering window provides a steady supply of stems for arrangements and late-season displays in the garden.