Browse Plants

A reliable and prolific bloomer, 'Bashful' sports petals with colors that combine handsomely with their golden stamens. The blooms have a velvety texture and are highly attractive to bees and butterflies. Of relatively short stature, 'Bashful' should be planted near the front of a bed, where it will send up an endless succession of richly hued blooms.

A tall plant with striking but relatively small blooms 4 inches wide, 'Bed Head' works well in the back of a border. Though not as floriferous as other selections, it is special due to its striking, unusually tangled appearance. 'Bed Head' is a lush grower and requires strong staking, but as a cut flower in a vase, it is a true work of art.

This tuberous plant dazzles the eye with its deep purple-black leaves and brilliant summer blooms. The 4- to 6-inch-round flowers display red petals and deep purple and yellow centers, which are accentuated by the dark foliage. Its stems are the perfect addition to cut-flower arrangements.

True to its name, 'Bodacious' sports blooms that are a burning combination of colorful, supersize discs on stalks that often grow taller than the advertised 4 feet. The rich color and ruffled effect of the loosely arranged petals make heavy-headed 'Bodacious' a choice cut flower requiring stout staking. A true showstopper, it responds well to lifting and storing over winter.

Fine color, substantial size, and vigorous growth make 'David Howard' stand out from the crowd. Its blooms are a shade of apricot that contrasts pleasantly with its dark foliage and dark-hued companion plants. It is also agreeable both in the company of hot colors, like red and orange, or the cooler shades of blue and purple. It's a tall grower, which means it requires some staking and looks best in the middle or back of a border, where it will send up an endless succession of blooms that require no deadheading.

'Figaro' is a dwarf "landscape" dahlia with semi-double flowers in shades of red, pink, orange, yellow, and white. It works well as bedding and in containers, and blooms from planting time until frost.  

This shorter dahlia provides a lot of large flowers for months. 'Gallery Art Deco', of the Gallery series, achieves a height of 2 feet, while others of the series reach only 18 inches. It bears decorative, 4- to 5-inch-wide blooms in a blend of peach and apricot, with a fine outline of burgundy around each petal. Its short stature and abundant blooms make it a fine choice for containers.

Despite its humorous moniker, 'Hissy Fitz' isn't as irritable as its name suggests. Quite the reverse: It produces many strong, clear yellow blossoms. Due to small incisions at the tip of each petal, the overall effect is of a sunny, softly fringed pom-pom. Not a particularly tall grower, 'Hissy Fitz' grows sturdily, with stems that are simple to stake. All these qualities make it an easygoing addition to any sunny border.

Reminiscent of a kid's drawing of a star, 'Honka' possesses a similarly cheery, simple charm. With a light fragrance, unusual among dahlias, 'Honka' brings a subtle show to the late-summer border. Flowers held on sturdy stems hover above the plant and combine well when positioned alongside taller perennials with dark foliage for a backdrop. Its medium height eliminates the need for staking and assigns 'Honka' a place right where it looks best—in the front portions of a border.

The 20th century's most celebrated dahlia is 'Jersey Beauty'. This towering, 4- to 6-foot-tall 1920s classic will produce so many lively, true-pink, classic dahlia flowers that you can cut all you want and still have a great garden display. This selection is exceptionally vigorous and beautiful.

Of the maybe 10,000 named dahlias introduced in the 1800s—when dahlias ranked right up there with roses in popularity—only three survive. One of them is 'Kaiser Wilhelm', introduced in 1892. Its 3-inch flowers have neatly curled petals of soft custard-yellow brushed with burgundy, and a green button eye just like that of an old rose. The plant can grow to 5 feet.

The pink-and-cream dinner-plate-sized 'Kidd's Climax' of 1947 has 10-inch flowers atop 4-foot-tall plants.

'Myrtle's Folly' has one of the more complex blooms you will ever see on a dahlia. The flowers—a dense ball of narrow, irregular, twisted petals of deep pink and light orange—gradually mature to reveal a yellow center. Though slightly ungainly as a border plant, 'Myrtle's Folly' provides a steady supply of wonderful cut flowers that look lovely in a vase, where the frilly, candy-colored concoction of peach and pink can be enjoyed at close quarters.

This new dahlia has gorgeous, bright yellow blooms that pop against its rich, dark purple (nearly black) foliage. 'Mystic Illusion' is well branched and makes a strong statement in beds, borders, and containers.

'Pooh' possesses all the naive charm its name suggests. The petals of orange-red, thinly outlined in yellow with an inner ring of gold and lemon-colored petal-like sepals, provide a stunning combination of color and form easy to appreciate from a distance. With numerous small flowers borne on tall plants, this dahlia should be placed farther back in a border, where it is sure to stand out.

Heavy-headed 'Zorro' is breathtaking, particularly as a stemless bloom floating in a bowl of water. Its ruffled-looking form makes its dark red hue look deeper and darker than the deepest, darkest red rose. Staking is absolutely required to prevent the stems from flopping beneath the weight of its huge blooms. Get sturdier stalks by pinching back the young shoots; this will promote increased branching. A confident grower, 'Zorro' consistently produces quality tubers for division and, as such, is the perfect cultivar to start or sustain a collection.

This low, mounding, Southwest native shrub up to 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide has feathery foliage that contributes fine texture to a garden. While evergreen in milder climates, in temperate climates it is deciduous. Its small, pealike purple flowers appear in late summer and continue into fall.

Despite a soft, delicate appearance, trailing indigo bush is one of the toughest groundcovers around. The feathery, silvery green compound foliage makes the clusters of tiny, rosy purple flowers stand out at close range. The blooms, which occur most heavily in spring and summer, return sporadically the rest of the year. This plant is excellent for stabilizing soil on slopes because its stem nodes root wherever they come in contact with the ground.

This stunning specimen has luminous, creamy-ivory leaves and narrow green margins. The pale pink flowers are secondary to the glamorous foliage, which can light up a shady border and create definitive contrast.