Dahlia 'Ryecroft Helen' (S-c) — Bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial

Overview

Dahlia 'Ryecroft Helen' (S-c) is a bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial bedding in the genus Dahlia, part of the Asteraceae family, with green, occasionally dark-leaved foliage. Dahlia 'Ryecroft Helen' (S-c) 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. It is native to Western South America, Mexico and Central America.

About

Dahlia 'Ryecroft Helen' (S-c) is a tuberous, clump-forming herbaceous perennial grown for summer–autumn blooms and use as a bedding or cut flower. It bears green foliage that can occasionally be darker on some plants and flowers from July to October. Plant in a sunny, south-facing site with shelter for best flowering. Suited to borders, containers and supplying stems for the vase.

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 'Ryecroft Helen' (S-c) belongs to the Asteraceae and traces its origins to species from western South America, Mexico and Central America; in gardens it is treated as a tuberous, herbaceous perennial for bedding and cutting. The plant produces its main display between July and October and is typically grown where summer and early autumn colour is required. Place the dahlia in full sun on a south-facing, sheltered aspect and plant into loam with a neutral pH. The soil should remain moist but well drained; poor drainage will limit flowering. It carries an H4 rating (average) for UK hardiness, so choose a protected spot in more exposed gardens or site it close to a wall that receives sun and shelter. It fits well in mixed borders and larger containers where the soil medium can be kept evenly moist, and it makes dependable cut flowers for bouquets. Take stems for cutting through the July–October period to prolong the flowering display and encourage further blooms; stems harvested regularly will also supply a steady source of vase flowers during the season.