Plant Care Library

Group/Class:  City Lights Series

Brand:  Ball

Description:

This beautiful bi-colored variety features stunning red blooms sitting on top of deep dark green foliage; ideal for boarders, patio containers and fresh cut flower bouquets; drought tolerant; attracts birds and butterflies

Ornamental Features

City Lights™ Red Dahlia features showy ruby-red pincushion flowers with dark red overtones and gold anthers at the ends of the stems from late spring to early fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its serrated pointy leaves remain dark green in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

City Lights™ Red Dahlia is an herbaceous annual with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep. Trim off the flower heads after they fade and die to encourage more blooms late into the season. It is a good choice for attracting birds and butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

City Lights™ Red Dahlia is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

City Lights™ Red Dahlia will grow to be about 14 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 14 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 12 inches apart. This annual will normally live for one full growing season, needing replacement the following year.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

City Lights™ Red Dahlia is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.