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

Overview

Dahlia 'Red Symphony' (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 'Red Symphony' (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 'Red Symphony' is a tuberous, clump-forming perennial dahlia that flowers from July to October. It forms a well-branched clump of green (occasionally darker) foliage and produces abundant stems for cutting. Plant in loam of neutral pH in a south-facing, sheltered spot in full sun. Suitable for borders and containers, it performs as a summer to autumn bedding dahlia.

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 'Red Symphony' sits within the genus Dahlia (family Asteraceae) as a bedding, herbaceous perennial grown from tubers. It flowers from July to October, offering an extended display through late summer into autumn. Foliage is green, sometimes tending darker on certain plants, and the habit is clump-forming with multiple stems arising from the tuberous crown. Position in full sun on a south-facing, sheltered aspect using a loam soil of neutral pH that remains moist but is well drained. The UK hardiness rating H4 denotes average garden hardiness: it tolerates typical UK conditions but benefits from the warmer, protected sites that suit south-facing planting. Keep soil workable and avoid waterlogging at the crown. Use Dahlia 'Red Symphony' in mixed borders where a summer-to-autumn run of bloom is required, in containers that receive full sun, or for cut flowers where regular harvesting of stems will prolong flowering. Its tuberous habit and steady stem production make it particularly useful when you need late-summer stems for vases and arrangements.