Brown Sugar Dahlia Tubers

Brown Sugar Ball Dahlia Tubers

Brown Sugar is an addictive little ball dahlia, cute and sweet in equal measure. The flowers are a fashionably rich and enticing shade: apricot, pink, orange, paprika and a hint of copper all come to mind in the one bloom. It's not easy to sum up, so we're going with 'terracotta'. She grows to just under a metre and is relatively tidy, a good size for a patio pot, and the flowering stems are long and straight, making her a great candidate for vases and arrangements indoors. Flowering from July to the first frosts, she'll give you plenty to cut, too.
Find more dahlia inspiration here.

Features

• Group: Ball
• Colour: Terracotta orange/red
• Height: 90cm
• Scent: none
• Flowering: July to November
• Size: 10-12cm
• Long, straight stems, ideal for cutting for vases

Growing Brown Sugar Dahlias

All dahlias do best in deep rich soil with good drainage in a sunny spot. If it is windy they will need staking. They are greedy, thirsty plants so will need watering in dry spells, and they will always flower that little bit better if there is a bit of soluble food in the watering can once every couple of weeks.

It is generally more convenient to put support stakes in at planting time, rather than leaving it until there is foliage in the way.

Space them about 75cm apart. As with all dahlias, the more you snip, the more they'll flower.

Planting companions for Brown Sugar

That gorgeous rich paprika colour is a dream for plant pairing. A palette that includes delicious creamy shades is a must, as well as something in a more orangey apricot. So consider pairing Brown Sugar with other dahlias such as soft coffee and pink Cafe Au Lait Royal, tangerine cactus dahlia Ludwig Helfert and deep claret Rip City. Imagine the vase arrangements you'll create indoors...
In borders, other good planting partners include red hot pokers (kniphofia), bronzed and buff grasses such as Stipa gigantea, rich red cannas, daylilies and sedums. There are endless options, really, all extending the summer season in a blaze of colour right into autumn.

Did you know?

Brown Sugar was raised in 2003 by Roger Adams Jr. of Pleasant Valley Glads & Dahlias, Connecticut, USA.

The ball group of dahlias is one of the most mesmerising and tactile, with a wonderful arrangement of incurved petals spiralling in gentle perfection from the rim to the centre, darkening as they go.

The first documentation of dahlias seems to be drawings of the plants made by a companion of Spanish explorer Francisco Hernández in Mexico, published in 1651. Dahlias didn't make their way over to Spain until the 1700s, however, when Mexico City's botanical gardens shared plants with Antonio José Cavanilles, of Madrid's Royal Botanical Gardens. In 1791 the term dahlia was first used, by Cavanilles, when he published Icones et Descriptiones Plantarum, which coincided with him sending tubers to Swedish botanist Andreas Dahl.

Today there are around 50,000 listed dahlia cultivars, all derived from just two or three of the original species sent over from Mexico. In 1963, it was declared the national flower of Mexico.

If you ignore seed, Dahlias can be planted at three stages: as tubers, rooted cuttings and pot-grown plants.

Plant tubers from March. The hole should be at least double the diameter of the tuber laid out on the ground. Incorporate about 25% well-rotted compost and if drainage is in any way doubtful, then add plenty of horticultural grit. Leave 60-80cm between plants (depending on final size) and make sure the tuber is covered with 10-12cm of soil for insulations against frosts in March-May.

Rooted cuttings, available from early April, need to be potted up and kept in a sunny, frost-free place until mid May. Then treat the same as for tubers but plant level with rather than 10cm below the surrounding soil level.

Pot grown plants are delivered in June. Plant out immediately in the same way as an established rooted cutting.

The more you deadhead, the more dahlias flower.