Dahlia ‘Moonfire’

Dahlia ‘Moonfire’ is a particularly gorgeous Dahlia. It features golden orange petals blushed with orange-red at their center, and a dark chocolate disc that glows with flecks of bright golden stamen. The effect is stunning against the dark bronze foliage. No wonder it won multiple awards. Just look at it! The single flowers, up to 3 in. wide (8 cm) add welcomed color and form to the late summer and fall borders. An absolute must for anyone who wants to grow dahlias.

• Blooming massively from July until Frost, this dwarf dahlia grows up to 36 inches (90 cm) and is an excellent choice to create a lovely garden display or for showing. Ideal for containers!
• Winner of multiple awards (over 85 according to the American Dahlia Society!) including the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society.
• A great pick for borders, containers or as cut flowers thanks to its superb vase life. Did you know that the more you cut Dahlia flowers, the more flowers you get? This makes Dahlias twice as nice: pretty in a vase, pretty in the garden.
• Best flowering occurs in full sun, but light shade will be welcomed in hot summer areas.
• Provide consistent moisture during the growing season and do not allow soils dry out. Plant in a sheltered location to protect your dahlias from strong winds.
• Best in groups of 5 for best visual effect. Deadhead spent flowers to promote growth of additional flower buds.
• Toxic to dogs, toxic to cats, toxic to horses.
• If you live in a cool area (hardiness zones 3-7) and you want to save your dahlia bulbs, or more precisely, your dahlia tubers for next spring, you may dig them up before the first frost and store them over winter before replanting them next spring. Store them in boxes, covered with moistened sand in a cool, dark, frost-free place where temperature remains between 45-50 °F (7-10°C).
• This Dahlia is a member of the Single-Flowered Dahlias which feature blooms with a single row of flat or slightly cupped ray florets arranged in a flat plane, uniformly overlapping, preferably in the same direction with no gaps. Disc flowers may have up to three rows of pollen and the bloom is over two inches in diameter.

Dahlias come originally from Central and South America, particularly Mexico where they are the national flower. In their homeland, their natural habitats are cool moist mountain slopes. Their flowers were prized for their beauty early on, and the Aztecs used the tubers as a food crop as well as for medicinal purposes. Botanists who boarded the ships of the Spanish conquistadores discovered the imposing flower in the 17th century. Europeans first tested them as a food crop but soon admired them for their beautiful flowers. The plant was named in honor of A. Dahl, a Swedish botanist. This scientific name became so established that a common name for dahlias never took hold.
During the nineteenth century, the dahlia began stealing the hearts of people all over the world; today there are 20,000 different varieties. And every one is a descendent of one of the original species such as Dahlia rosea.