It has been far long since my last
Petal by Petal series. Well that is changing now and what better time than summer when flowers are plentiful, especially local varieties that only emerge once a year. One of my favorite summer blooms is the dahlia. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, like this
vampy red version that was featured here last summer. The flower market in New York is over-flowing with this variety right now and while I thought my process of elimination would be difficult, it ended up being quite easy after seeing the '
Café au Lait' dahlia. This particular variety is known as a Dinner plate dahlia because it is literally just that, nearly the size of a dinner plate. The smaller varieties of dahlias have a longer shelf life, unfortunately the larger they are the quicker they begin to wilt. Even though I only had them for about three days, they still added a dose of happiness to our home.
'Café au Lait' Dahlia
While there are over 20,000 varieties of dahlias, the Café au Lait variety is one of the most impressive. It is noted that the Aztecs used the tubular stems for food and medicinal properties. The dahlia is named after the Swedish botanist, A. Dahl.
Bloom Height: 8 to 10 inches
Bloom Size: 6 to 10 inches
Color: Cream to pink
Bloom Season: June through October (depending on location)
Origin: Central and South America, Mexico
*Photography by Alison
**Flower information via
These are 100% my favorite posts you do–especially now that I've finally been to the NYC flower market myself and seen it in all it's glory. The only reason I knew what half the flowers were was because of your posts!
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know dahlias could get so big! I'll have to keep my eye out for these!
ReplyDeleteI love these! I buy them often actually....I love that there is a dinner plate sized one! I had no idea that the sunflower had competition!....I have been seeing so many sunflowers around here....
ReplyDeleteGrandma grew beautiful dahlias in her garden! So beautiful! Xoxoxo
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