Jowey Martina Dahlia Tubers

Jowey Martina Ball Dahlias

Jowey Martina is a sweetie of a ball dahlia, with tactile sherbet-lemon flowers - pastel, certainly, but so fresh and zingy - fading slightly at the rims, and long and straight flower stems that last for ages in vases. Blooming starts from mid-July in ideal conditions and, as long as you keep picking and deadheading them, they'll keep coming until the first frosts, giving a surge of brightness when the rest of the garden is starting to cool off and settle into autumn. She'll grow to a manageable 1m tall, with a tidy habit that is ideal for pots.
Take a look at our Dahlia collection.

Features

• Group: Ball
• Colour: Mellow butter yellow
• Height: 1m
• Scent: none
• Flowering: July/August to October or first frosts
• Size: 7-10cm
• Strong, straight stems, great for cutting and arranging in vases

Growing Jowey Martina Dahlias

All dahlias do best in deep rich soil with good drainage in a sunny spot. If it is windy they will need staking. They are greedy, thirsty plants so will need watering in dry spells, and they will always flower that little bit better if there is a bit of soluble food in the watering can once every couple of weeks.

It is generally more convenient to put support stakes in at planting time, rather than leaving it until there is foliage in the way.

Leave about 60cm between plants.

Planting companions for Jowey Martina

Her delicious butter yellow combines fabulously with greens, pinks and purples, so mix it in generous drifts, mid border, with other dahlias such as mauve pink Sir Alf Ramsey or, for a serene scene full of freshness and vigour, green-tinged White Onesta.
A veil of Verbena bonarienses or frothy Eupatorium makes a gorgeous purple backdrop, as do gladioli or bold and exotic pink cannas such as Apricot Dream. Thread through a few fluffy or wispy grasses for movement and added tactile appeal, and you're done.
In pots (make them big ones and remember to feed), grasses always work well, providing a winning contrast in texture to the big, bold dahlia flowers.

Did you know?

Raised in 2004 by Jozef Weyts (Jo + Wey) in Belgium, this fabulous ball dahlia is a soft butter-yellow, and one of a growing number in the Jowey collection, named after members of Mr Weyts' family, which includes hugely popular dusky terracotta Winnie, Linda, Joshua, Cheryl and Marilyn. Jozef is a retired maths teacher who, logically, fell for the Fibonaccian geometry of dahlias, especially the ball types.
The names Martin and Martina themselves are from the Latin Martinus, meaning 'warlike' or 'servant of Mars', the Roman god of peacekeeping or war (depends whose side you were on).

There are now more than 60,000 dahlia cultivars, with over 100 more being added every year. That's a lot of colour and gorgeousness – not bad from a flower that just 10 or 15 years ago was in the fashion doldrums, thought of as either for grannies or geeks in the show tent only.

All dahlias do best in deep rich soil with good drainage in a sunny spot. If it's windy, they'll need staking. They are greedy, thirsty plants so water in dry spells. They'll flower just that little bit better if there is a bit of soluble food in the watering can once every couple of weeks.

If you ignore seed, Dahlias can be planted at three stages: as tubers, rooted cuttings and pot-grown plants.

Plant tubers any time from March. The hole should be at least double the diameter of the tuber laid out on the ground. Incorporate about 25% well-rotted compost and if drainage is in any way doubtful then add plenty of horticultural grit too. Leave 60-80cm between plants (depending on final size) and make sure the tuber is covered with 10-12cm of soil. This is important as it will insulate the tuber against frosts in March-May as they will take a couple of months to show.

Rooted cuttings, available from early April, need to be potted up and kept in a sunny, frost-free place until mid May. Their treatment then is the same as for tubers except plant level with rather than 10cm below the surrounding soil level.

Pot grown plants are delivered in June. Plant out immediately in the same way as an established rooted cutting.

The more you deadhead, the more dahlias flower.