Best Dahlias for Beginners
A first dahlia should make you want a second. The varieties here are the workhorses: they bloom heavily, stand up without much fuss, and divide into tubers you can actually find an eye on next spring. We skipped the temperamental show flowers and the stingy tuber producers on purpose.
Plant after your last frost, pinch the growing tip at eight to twelve inches to force branching, and give the tall ones a stake. That is most of the job.
- No. 1
Cornel
Ball · Cor and Nellie Geerlings
The red workhorse. Summer Dreams puts it this way: ask flower farmers for their ten most reliable dahlias and many name Cornel. Super productive, strong straight stems, a long vase life. If you grow one red, grow this.
Who carries it - No. 2
Totally Tangerine
Anemone · Swan Island Dahlias (Gitts family)
An anemone in tangerine with a pincushion center, reliably first to bloom and going all season per Floret. Compact at three feet, container-friendly, and endlessly cheerful. Hard to kill, easy to love.
Who carries it - No. 3
Coseytown Goldilocks
Informal Decorative · LeeAnn Huber
LeeAnn Huber tags it beginner-friendly herself: a no-nonsense plant with abundant tubers, blooming reliably in early August on upright strong stems. Saturated honey-gold blooms. A Coseytown exclusive, so buy when the farm opens.
Who carries it - No. 4
Jomanda
Ball · Cor Geerlings
A rusty-orange ball that Floret calls one of the most productive varieties they grow. Ball form means long vase life and a tidy, recurring harvest. Dark stems set off the warm color.
Who carries it - No. 5
Ivanetti
Ball BA · Cor Geerlings
A deep berry-purple ball loaded with bloom all season on long strong stems, with a five to seven day vase life per Fleur Farm. A florist staple that happens to be easy. The moody color is a bonus, not a difficulty.
Who carries it - No. 6
Mikayla Miranda
Informal Decorative B · N. Gitts
White with lavender tips and a green-glow center, abundant and prolific in both blooms and tubers per Redwood Alley. Generous tuber production is exactly what a beginner wants going into a second season.
Who carries it