Dahlia hybrid
Alias: Chinese peony, celestial peony, oriental chrysanthemum
Family and Genus: Asteraceae, dahlia genus
Origin: Dahlia is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to the Mexican highlands, and was introduced to China more than 400 years ago.
Mexicans regard it as a symbol of generosity and magnificence, hence it is revered as the national flower.
Currently, dahlias are cultivated in most countries in the world, with new breeds constantly emerging. Statistics show that there are over 30,000 dahlia varieties, making it one of the species with the most flower varieties in the world. The colors and shapes of the flowers are numerous and complex, making it impossible to list them all.
形态特征：
The color of dahlias is colorful, ranging from red, yellow, orange, purple, white, etc., very attractive.
Double-petaled dahlias have white petals with red stripes, like white jade inlaid with red agate, extremely enchanting.
The plant is about 1.5 meters tall, with opposite leaves that are pinnately compound. Its capitulum has countless yellow tubular flowers in the center and long, curly ligulate flowers on the edge, with a variety of brilliant colors, and the beauty of the flowers is displayed through them.
Dahlias have enlarged tuberous roots that store a large amount of nutrients and can be used for asexual propagation. Gardeners cut the tubers from the root neck and plant them separately to obtain many new plants.
There are more than 7,000 varieties of dahlias, almost every color imaginable. It has become a world-famous flower, widespread in gardens everywhere. Dahlias are also known for being pollution-resistant plants.
Growth Habits:
Dahlias adapt to different climates and soil types across the country, with few diseases and pests, easy to manage, and best for propagation.
They have obvious advantages in terms of growth rate, longest blooming period, highest flower yield, and largest flowers, which are 10-20 centimeters larger than peonies. According to "Chinese Peony," the largest flower diameter among famous peony varieties is 20 centimeters. The largest flower diameter of elite dahlias is 30-40 centimeters, making them the unique large flowers in the world. The largest flower diameter with the smallest plant size, dwarf elite varieties do not exceed 85 centimeters, such as the white peony variety, which does not exceed 40 centimeters in plant size and has a flower shape of 25-34 centimeters. When planted outdoors in clusters, they can bloom dozens of flowers a year. In the Central Plains region, some varieties can still have flower buds until frost, and if moved indoors or to a sealed sunlit balcony before frost, they can bloom continuously under suitable temperature conditions.
Related Reading:
Good luck and prosperity - Dahlia
During the Spring Festival,到处 is filled with joy and excitement. At this time, the dahlia, praised by the people as "good luck and prosperity," blooms especially brilliantly, as if it is "dancing with thousands of gestures and adorned with thousands of makeup," making the festival even more lively.
In the history of flower cultivation in the world, dahlias are recognized as one of the international famous flowers and are cherished by flower lovers as the "favorite" of the flower family. Although they belong to bulbous herbs, they pour their vitality into large flowers. Some flowers are as large as bowls, some resemble pompons, and others look like water lilies. Each flower is usually composed of dozens of petals, arranged neatly. The colors of the flowers are rich and varied, not only single colors but also bicolors and tricolors. Therefore, many Europeans and Americans believe that dahlias have a strong sense of the times and can meet the colorful life needs of modern families. In addition to being widely planted in public places such as flower beds, flower paths, and flower ridges, many home gardens and balconies carefully cultivate them. Especially its cut flowers have bright, striking, and touching features, making them most suitable for flower baskets and flower signs, used for store openings, dance girl performances, and exhibition hall decorations. Therefore, Americans call it the "business flower."
Due to the wide market for dahlias, gardeners around the world are keen to breed new varieties to expand their income faster. By now, there are a total of 31,200 native species and artificially bred new varieties. This is a record that no other flowers in the world can match. People in southern Guangdong prefer the red and white "big cat" and the orange "golden beehive" new varieties. Europeans and Americans are most captivated by the "mini" (miniature) dahlias. The plant height is only about 20 centimeters, each flower is as small as a chess piece, and each plant can bloom 7-8 flowers, making it very delicate when planted in a small pot and truly irresistible.
China's history of cultivating dahlias is not long. Ancient people often referred to peonies and peonies as the "two wonders of flowers," which are native to temperate regions and difficult to survive in the south. During the Spring Festival, people can often see提前催开的 peonies transported from Luoyang and Heze, but peonies grown in the north are rarely seen. In fact, dahlias and peonies look very similar, and many people in Guangdong mistakenly take dahlias for peonies. In fact, peonies and peonies both belong to the Malvaceae family and are traditional famous flowers native to northern China. Dahlia, on the other hand, belongs to the Asteraceae family and is originally from Mexico and Guatemala, where it was first cultivated in 1519. The flower was named after the Swedish botanist Dahl, and in China, it is translated as "big beauty." Now, cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Tianjin have all expanded their cultivation. If we follow the ranking of ancient people, calling peonies the "king of flowers" and peonies the "prime minister of flowers," then the alien dahlias should be名副其实的 "guest flowers."
Dahlias are very susceptible to severe cold and heat, preferring to grow in cool and humid climates, with temperatures between 10-25℃ being most suitable. The soil should be fertile, loose, and neutral sandy loam. If planted in clay soil that tends to compact, it will affect flowering. Propagation methods include cutting, dividing, and sowing, but planting with tubers resembling ginseng is relatively easy. That is, cut the tubers next to the bud eyes with a sharp knife and plant the small pieces separately.
When the plant reaches about 30 centimeters tall, it is time to start pinching the top to retain 5-6 strong branches, so that the nutrients can be concentrated, allowing each branch to bloom 1-2 flowers. If yellow leaves, diseased leaves, and excessive basal leaves are found, they should be removed in time to reduce the spread of diseases and pests.
Dahlias are short-day plants and can bloom from autumn to spring. If you want to delay the blooming period, you can use long-day treatment, ensuring that the plants receive more than 12 hours of sunlight each day. If you want dahlias to be available before the Spring Festival, you must pay attention to adjusting the lighting time, and if you want to make them bloom earlier, reduce the daily sunlight to 6-8 hours. Some people's dahlias grown on balconies often bloom smaller and weaker, mainly due to insufficient sunlight. Therefore, in cultivation, it is important to prevent strong sunlight exposure and also not to make it too shady, otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve the purpose of appreciation.
The stems of dahlias are mostly hollow and fragile, easily bending and drooping when short of water. Excessive water can cause stem and root rot. In addition to carefully adjusting water and fertilizer, it is necessary to insert bamboo stakes in time and tie each stem to the bamboo to keep them in place and prevent them from falling over during flowering, wasting all the effort and losing commercial value.
The above () introduces the complete characteristics of dahlias, Chinese peonies, celestial peonies, and oriental chrysanthemums for everyone to learn and understand!