Dahlia Bocherell

The 'Bocherell' Decorative Dahlia offers a flower of a delightful and delicate apricot colour, adorned with an equally delightful touch of lemon yellow, which gives it its character. Double and globular, elegantly formed, it therefore has a butter yellow to lemon yellow heart that blends into the outer petals of a soft apricot. The plant forms a large bushy clump and blooms late in the season, with abundant medium green foliage.

The Dahlias belong to the large family of Asteraceae, originally from the high plateaus of Mexico. Currently, the thousands of horticultural varieties obtained by humans have invaded, much to our delight, gardens all over the world. Dahlias are classified according to the shape of their flowers. Bocherell, introduced in 2010, is classified in the category of Decorative Dahlias. In this group, the coloured ligules of the head are regularly arranged in a spiral, they can be bent towards the stem or curled for example. In this 'Bocherell' variety, the heads are about 12cm (5in) in diameter and the ligules are wide, slightly flattened and concave. Flowering occurs from mid-July to October. The plant reaches approximately 95cm (37in) in height, and 50cm (20in) in width, with a bushy and upright habit. The highly branched stems are hollow and the opposite leaves are divided into 3 or 5 leaflets, which are finely toothed. The foliage is a beautiful intense green.

To promote repeat flowering and extend the flowering period, make sure to remove faded flowers. Even better, regularly create charming colourful bouquets by combining various varieties. Plant this 'Bocherell' Dahlia in the middle of a border with lemon yellow, mauve, purple, orange, yellow, brown, and red blooms. Try, for example, mauve asters, lemon yellow daylilies like citrina, and Verbena bonariensis. The flowering of sunflowers, Cosmos, and Echinaceas beautifully complement the flowering of Dahlias in summer and early autumn. Also consider the vibrant spikes of grasses during this time of year.

Stars of cottage gardens, Dahlias are undoubtedly beautiful flowers, perfect in flower beds, but they can also enhance the vegetable garden. In Mexico, this tuberous plant was first cultivated as a root vegetable for consumption. Its poor taste quickly assigned it the status of an ornamental plant. Since then, the interest in their beautiful exuberance has never waned.