Dahlia 'Yellow Lakeland Sunset' (C) — Bushy, clump-forming, tuberous perennial

Overview

Dahlia 'Yellow Lakeland Sunset' (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 'Yellow Lakeland Sunset' (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 'Yellow Lakeland Sunset' is a tuberous, clump-forming herbaceous perennial that produces yellow blooms from July to October. It forms a well-branched clump of stems bearing green, occasionally darker, foliage. Plant in a south-facing, sheltered spot in loam that is neutral and moist but well-drained, and use for borders, containers or cut flowers.

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 'Yellow Lakeland Sunset' belongs to the Asteraceae and traces its ancestry to western South America, Mexico and Central America. As a tuberous, clump-forming perennial it repeats growth from stored roots and flowers reliably through the summer into autumn, with blooms appearing from July to October. Give this dahlia a full-sun, south-facing position with shelter from strong winds. It prefers loam of neutral pH that remains moist yet drains freely; avoid waterlogged sites. Its UK hardiness is H4 (average), so select a protected spot and consider site microclimate when placing near borders or containers. Green foliage (occasionally darker-leaved) supports plentiful stems for cutting; the variety suits mixed borders, large patio containers and floral arrangements. Because it regenerates from tubers it will produce the same flush of flowers each July to October when grown in appropriate conditions, making it a dependable source of summer–autumn blooms for the cutting garden.