ABC Wednesday-D For Dahlia

ABC Wednesday prompts with the letter 'D' this week. D is Dahlia. The photos of this beautiful flowers were taken during the trip to Europe…

 

Dahlia is a flowering plant with about 30, 000 species. Dahlia come in a wide array of sizes and forms from as low as 12 inches to as tall as 8 feet with flowers ranging from half-inch to giant sizes. The blooms are curvaceous, spiky with single or double forms. There are white, red, orange, yellow, pink, dark purple and some are two tones color as the picture above. Dahlias is easy to grow except in cold conditions or extreme hot dry weather, it is not easy to survive in Singapore. But it is a very common garden flowering plants in other Asia countries. Dahlias can propagate or multiply from seeds, root division or cuttings. Dahlias grow and bloom well in pot but it needs an area that has a minimum of six hours of sunlight. Well-draining, rich and fertile soil that is slightly acidic is a must for growing dahlias. Dahlias cannot abide soggy roots I have tried growing potted Dahlia many years ago, it soon died cause by some diseases or insects.  Such as Mealy bugs, those look like little white tufts of cotton, hide undersides of leaves or on stems at the apex of leaf joins, once the plants attacks by this Mealy bugs, it is difficult to survive… Now, we seldom find Dahlias plants sold in the local nursery here. But the beautiful flowers are really worth for all the hard work in growing this plant. I will try to grow again if I can get the baby plants…