'Cafe Au Lait' Dahlia (Dinnerplate) - The blossoms hues of whites and pinks will brighten your landscape and arrangements. I recommend starting this variety 2-3 months ahead of the last frost as it seems to be one of the latest ones to bloom. The color and bloom structure will vary until the cool weather sets in.
Dinnerplate Dahlias are awesome additions to any garden. They provide structure and color to any garden with minimal effort. They do rather well in the back of your beds because of their size or even in stand-alone rows. They reward gardeners with an abundance of blooms starting in mid to late summer through frost. Typically they are not bothered by diseases and have attractive foliage until frost.
Characteristics
- 30”-50” in height
- Blooms are 6-8” wide
- USDA Zones 8-10 (Hardy in these zones, lift and store in winter in other zones)
- Summer to Fall
- Bloom Duration: Continuous Blooms through frost starting in mid to late summer
- Full Sun to Partial Shade
Additional Information
- Great for Mass Plantings, Borders, and Cutting Gardens.
- Great for butterflies and other pollinators
- Ships starting by early April
Key Planting Tips
We plant dahlia tubers 4-6" deep. We add a few alfafla pellets in the hole and backfill with topsoil amended with compost. We space this variety 18" apart. We recommend to simply pinch back the shoots after about 3-4 weeks to encourage branching.
You can amend soil with 10-10-10 or something similar. Just make sure the first number (nitrogen) is 5 or 10. You can fertilize every 4 weeks to help achieve larger blossoms.
For 90% of us, don’t water until your Dahlia sprouts. If your soil is very dry, water the soil first and then let it stand for 30 minutes before planting. Mulch around your plant leaving bare dirt directly above the tuber.
Every tuber is inspected by me (Andre Paquette) and then hand packed for shipment. In case of any issues, we reach our proactively to go over options. If you have any questions hit the Chat with Us Now button simply reach out by email or a phone call.
