Cafe au Lait Dahlia Tubers

Cafe au Lait: Decorative Dahlia Tubers

If ever a flower was perfectly named, then Cafe au Lait is it! The ever-changing colours of the blooms end up the colour of a perfect milky coffee. They open pale pink, fading to a warm cream blush with a hint of peach and buff. It's one of those flowers that you can pair with everything without it fading into the background.
Browse our other Decorative Dahlias or our Dahlia range.

The huge, decorative flowers can reach 25cm across, with fully double flower heads with flat or slightly incurved florets. The divided, dark green foliage sets off the blooms perfectly.
It is equally loved by exhibitors and flower arrangers, who value its unusual colour and ability to blend well with almost any other floral hue. When disbudded, the blooms can reach their maximum 25cm width and like peonies, it doesn't take many to fill a vase or wow show judges. They're also ideal for wedding bouquets and arrangements.

Features

• Colour: Creamy white with a peach flush
• Foliage: Green divided leaves
• Flower Size: Up to 25cm
• Type: Decorative Dahlia
• Cutting: Yes
• Height/Spread: 1.2m x 70cm
• Flowering: July to November
• Outdoor Planting Months: March to July

Growing Cafe au Lait 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.

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

Tubers can be planted at any time from March onwards. 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 as well. Plant one tuber per hole, leaving 60-80 cms between plants (depending on final size) and make sure the tuber is covered with 10-12 cms (4-5") of soil. This is important as it will insulate the tuber against frosts in March-May as they will take a couple of months to show.

Rooted cuttings, which are available from early April onwards, will need to be potted up and kept in a sunny and frost free place until they are ready to be planted out in mid May. Their treatment then is the same as for tubers except they are planted level with rather than 10 cms below the surrounding soil level.

Pot grown plants are not delivered until June, and are then planted out immediately in the same way as an established rooted cutting.

The more you deadhead, the more flowers you'll get.

Did You Know?

Introduced by Dutch breeders Bruidegom in 1968 as part of a range including Cafe au Lait's Royal, Twist and Supreme.