Dwarf annual dahlias Funny guys
Dahlias are loved by many flower growers and beautiful tall bushes can often be found in flower beds. However, not everyone knows that there is a more compact view among them, taking up much less space on the site, but no less beautiful from this. Compact dahlia bushes Cheerful guys will successfully fit into the design of even the smallest summer cottage and will delight with their multi-colored inflorescences right up to the very frost.
What do flowers look like?
Funny guys are dwarf dahlia varieties... They grow in small, but very lush bushes. The total height of the plants does not exceed 70 cm, and some specimens are completely crumbs - their growth is only 25 cm.But the flower stems are very powerful and strong, and the bush itself is covered with beautiful green foliage (for varieties with a red color of inflorescences, the presence on leaf plates is characteristic burgundy).
It is noteworthy that the time of flowering of dahlias directly depends on their size: the higher the plants, the later they bloom.
Dahlia inflorescences are similar to large daisies and reach 10 cm in diameter. Their color can be very diverse, there are also two-color varieties. The flower itself is a basket, in the center of which are yellow tubular petals, and the edges are framed by reed petals painted in the main color.
Growing features
Although Jolly Guys are perennial flowers by nature, as a garden crop they are cultivated as annuals. This is due, first of all, to the fact that the bushes cannot winter in our climatic conditions. In addition, they form tubers extremely reluctantly, and if this happens, then by the third year of life they still degenerate. Thus, the most optimal way cultivation and reproduction of dwarf dahlias - seed.
Sowing seeds can be done in two ways:
- Directly into open ground... Since the juicy and delicate dahlia bushes are afraid of low temperatures, they can be sown on the garden no earlier than the end of May.
- For seedlings. In order to speed up the flowering time, it is best to grow seedlings by sowing seeds in pots at the end of March. The matured bushes are transplanted to the flowerbed in the last days of May.
Dahlias, sown directly to the garden, will bloom only at the end of summer, and those obtained by seedlings - already in early July.
For the Cheerful Guys, it is necessary to take a bright place, since in the shade the bushes begin to stretch and lose their lush forms. You should not get carried away with watering: the flowers will calmly live for a couple of days without water, but they will not tolerate an excess of it and can rot. Otherwise, these wonderful flowers are very docile and bloom until the very autumn, until frosts begin.