Growing dahlias - boogie woogie, hawaii, lambada and happy butterfly

I tried growing dahlias for the first time this year after seeing such nice ones in Sarah Raven's garden, and while it went well, I have a serious gripe. And its my usual gripe about misleading packaging, but more of that later. Lets start with the good stuff.

It might look like a bunch of potatoes but tis is a dahlia tuber

Despite having already singled out a whole bunch of varieties I particularly liked, I went and bought four different ones. The reason being I wanted to try growing them in pots as I just don't have the bed space to devote to dahlias, much as I might want to. While I had read that you could, I didn't want to spend a fair chunk of money of fairly expensive tubers only to find that it didn't work. The mother has tried growing dahlias in pots in the past and they didn't flower so I felt dubious.

So one day early in the year while wandering around my local garden centre I saw they had all their dahlias tubers in stock and I thought I would try a few out. Despite it being a garden centre I actually thought the varieties on offer were actually pretty decent. But then I would because I followed the picture on the front of the packet. Big mistake.

The varieties I plumped for were 'boogie woogie', 'hawaii', 'lambada' and 'happy butterfly'. They are all variations of pink, because if you read my inspiring dahlias you will know that's what I like in a dahlia.
I planted the tubers at the beginning of May in the large-ish pots that I used to grow my fuchsias in. I thought the bigger the pot the better, and buried the tubers about half way down. Then I watched a video by Sarah Raven, the owner of all the splendid dahlias, who said dahlias only need a pot slightly bigger than themselves and to leave what will become the stem sticking out the top of the pot. Of course I didn't think about watching the video first, and I certainly wasn't going to dig them up again so half-way down they stayed.

Because I knew I hadn't planted them quite correctly I watched growth like a hawk, but they did finally appear. But then I watched another video on propagation which said cut off one or two of the stem growths as you ideally don't want more than five. Five?! I had one single stem out of each. Clearly this was a sign of things going wrong.

What the packet promised

But then in the second week of August my first flower appeared and I was thrilled. Out popped what I assumed was a lambada but is in actual fact a boogie woogie. Boogie woogie is meant to be an anemone dahlia with hot pink petals round the edge and a mass of egg yolk yellow petals in the centre just tinged with the odd spot of pink. On the packet is is very attractive. This is my boogie woogie.

What the plant actually delivered. Its perfectly nice, but its not the boogie woogie
I bought

It has white petals round the edge streaked with pink and a mass of lemon yellow petals in the centre. With no pink touches. Its perfectly attractive, and if that is what I had believed I was buying I would have been thrilled. But I keep the fronts of the packets and I therefore know it should not look like that. I would say I have been mis-sold a different variety, but I have typed boogie woogie into Google and both types come up. So now im totally confused as to whats happened. But at the end of the day I do not have what I believed I was buying, so thanks Simple Pleasures Bulbs for that.

The promised hawaii flower

The delivered hawaii flower. Ummmm....?

While I am in full gripe mode lets talk about hawaii. Hawaii, or at least the packet, proports to be something really special. A pompom dahlia in yellow, white and pink which is very snazzy and in your face. This is my hawaii.

One glaring difference, its white and yellow. There is no hint of the bright hot pink I was promised. I literally don't know what this variety is, because it certainly isn't a hawaii. Its not a hawaii gone slightly awry, its literally a completely different flower. And not one I would have bought.

Miraculously it does actually look like the packet, and its pretty

Onto a happier note, my other two varieties have been lovely. Happy butterfly is a peach and yellow number which is really rather pretty, although I can't see the reference to butterflies.

A vision of peach and cream loveliness, happy butterfly

My final variety lambada finally flowered in October, a full two months after the others. But boy was it worth it. A really heavy bloom with a skirt of pale lilac petals and a great big creamy yellow centre, which is also flushed with lilac and a touch of pink. It is so feminine and pretty, which I would normally hate, and I do feel like need to grow something strong coloured and a tad butch next to it, but it is undeniably pretty. I don't know why the blooms took so long to come out but I have a few flowers on it so not the end of the world.

Who knew it could happen twice, my Lambada also resembles the packet

I think I have established you can grow dahlias in pots so can now branch out. But I also plan to dig up the tubers from this year and replant them again next year, added to with some new varieties which will be coming off my inspiration list. Im dying to get a totally tangerine and a waltzing mathilda and get some coral going on.

You could say Lambada is a bit insipid in colour, but I think she's ravishingly feminine