Dahlia 'Rosemary Webb' (D) (Dahlia) — Bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial

Overview

Dahlia 'Rosemary Webb' (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 'Rosemary Webb' (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 'Rosemary Webb' is a tuberous, clump-forming herbaceous perennial in the Asteraceae grown for its extended display of flowers from July to October. It produces upright stems from a multi-bulbed crown with green, occasionally darker, foliage. Best sited in full sun on a south-facing, sheltered spot in loamy, neutral soil that stays moist but drains freely.

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 'Rosemary Webb' belongs to the Asteraceae and is treated as a bedding, herbaceous perennial that regenerates from tubers each season. The cultivar forms a well-branched clump of stems and foliage and carries its blooms through the summer into early autumn; flowering runs from July to October. For reliable growth choose a full-sun position with a south-facing aspect and protection from exposed winds. A loam-based soil with a neutral pH suits this dahlia, and it prefers to remain moist but well drained rather than waterlogged. It is rated H4 (average) for UK hardiness, so plant where frost exposures are moderate or provide winter protection in colder microsites. Dahlia 'Rosemary Webb' works equally well at the front of mixed borders, in generously sized containers, or as a source of cut flowers. Leaves are typically green and can be darker on some plants, offering a subdued backdrop to the blooms. Its flowering span from July to October makes Dahlia 'Rosemary Webb' a practical option for supplying late-summer and autumn displays and for cutting.