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Dahlias
Dahlias are enjoying a huge renaissance in popularity as gardeners realise their value in providing a riot of colour from mid-summer to the first frosts. Just as many perennials are beginning to flag in the heat of summer, dahlias are coming into their own, revelling in the warmth to produce wave after wave of their exuberant blooms. Give them a sunny position with a rich soil and they cannot fail to please.
We have been at the forefront of promoting the dahlia to it's current level of popularity, introducing new varieties into the UK through our long established contacts with leading dahlia breeders. We have evaluated many thousands of dahlias over the years, developing an unfailing eye for outstanding varieties. Anne has shared her expertise for many years as a long-standing member of the Royal Horticultural Society's Dahlia Forum, bringing many worthy new varieties to a wider audience.Varieties proposed by us for the 2024/2025 trial enjoyed huge success, with many AGMs awarded. Our submissions of 'Feline Yvonne' and 'Great Silence' were the 'People's Choice winners in 2024, & 2025 respectively.
For our mail order customers, we are constantly evolving our range of dahlias to benefit from the introduction of new, improved varieties, and believe that the selection we offer allows many harmonious and exciting colour combinations to be made. In every part of the colour spectrum we have tried to include a variety of different dahlia types, to give contrasting shapes and heights within a planting scheme. We have also added the sizes of the flowers, as well as plant heights, since this is difficult to gauge from a photographic image, and can vary enormously from one variety to another. Please use the dimensions as a guide rather than an absolute - actual dimensions can show considerable variations, due to differing cultural conditions.
There is the facility to choose dahlias for their suitability for cutting & for containers under the 'filter by attributes' selector on the top left of the page. These selections are by no means exhaustive - we all have our own ideas about these things - but they do represent 'failsafe' choices, so that dahlias for cutting will all have a decent length of stem and container selections will fill a pot without the plants appearing 'leggy' or thin.
NOTE: We supply all our dahlias as top-sized tubers. The actual tuber size will, however, vary according to variety and from season to season. In 2026 there will again be the option to buy tubers singly for some varieties, although our packs of 3 tubers continue to offer the most outstanding value for money.
AGM after a variety name denotes the accolade of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Pre-season ordering of dahlia tubers will be possible on-line from 1st January 2026. Deliveries usually start from mid-February*, continuing through to mid-May. *Weather allowing (we do not ship if overnight temperatures are zero degrees or below). In mild conditions, we may start deliveries earlier.
We regret that we are currently unable to ship orders outside the United Kingdom. Orders from Northern Ireland continue to be welcomed, as part of the UK.
Note also that, from July onwards, we do have a good selection of pot grown dahlias available at our nursery or from shows we attend and on our special open days.This often includes varieties which we hold in our collection but which are not available as tubers. Visitors can also see a wide range of dahlias growing on the nursery and in our display garden.
Most gardeners will be aware of the difficult harvest conditions over a whole range of flower bulbs in the last few seasons. Dahlias have not been immune and the 2025 season was very late in producing reliable crop availability information. For this reason, we do not begin taking orders until January 1st, by which time we can be reasonably sure that what we have ordered will be available for customers. Note that some varieties are in very short supply again this year, whilst other popular varieties are not available at all. In some cases, the growers will have retained some stock to ensure future availability.
OUR 2026 DAHLIA COLLECTION WILL BE AVAILABLE TO ORDER FROM MIDNIGHT ON NEW YEAR'S EVE. SOME OF THE NEW VARIETIES WE ARE OFFERING CAN ALSO BE SEEN ON OUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT (https://www.instagram.com/rosecottageplants/) .
