Pinelands Pam Dahlia Tubers

Pinelands Pam Dahlia Plants

Pinelands Pam is an eye-catching yellow and red dahlia that's great for late-season colour a sunny spot. The tactile powderpuff flowers are rich yellow, tipped with red and split at the ends, like a firework caught mid-explosion, and up to 25cm across. With regular deadheading this dahlia will flower from mid summer to the end of autumn, bringing long-lasting drama and colour to borders and pots. The flowers are great for cutting and bringing indoors, where they last well in a vase. Browse our Dahlias here.

Features

• Colour: yellow with red/pink tips
• Flower size: 20-25cm
• Type: fimbriated decorative dahlia
• Cutting: yes, long-lasting in a vase
• Height/spread: 1.2m x 50cm
• Flowering: July to October
• Planting months: end Feb to July

Growing Pinelands Pam Dahlias

She can reach more than 1m in height, so best planted at the centre or towards the back of a sheltered bed or border. The flowers are big and fairly weighty, so you'll need to support the stems with brushwood, canes and string, or special metal plant rings, putting them in when the plants are still small, in late spring, to make life easier. When planting, remember this and be sure to put them somewhere where access isn't too tricky. This will also help when it comes to deadheading (do this and you'll have flowers until the first frosts) and cutting stems to bring indoors. If you're growing dahlias in pots, you'll need something big to do them justice. In borders or pots, they'll need good well-drained, moist soil, so dig in some garden compost or leaf mould to borders.

For failsafe flowers the following year, cut down your plants in early winter, then dig up the tubers. Brush off any soil, then store upside down on trays in a cool shed until spring.

Planting Companions

Try planting with other dahlias in similar bright colours to create a sizzling hot border. Flame-red Berger's Record would look great, or bring out its sunshine colours by threading through neat pompom dahlia Golden Torch. Towards the front of the border, ornamental grasses such as soft, wafty pennisetums complement dahlias beautifully. Or combine with other late-summer stars in warm colours, such as tagetes, crocosmias, heleniums and rudbeckias.

Combine with fluffy pennisetums in roomy pot on a sunny patio or flanking the front door for a partnership that will just keep on giving.

Did you know?

Introduced by Cyril Higgo in South Africa, in 1999, and it's in the Decasplit or Fimbriated group of Decorative Dahlias. These have beautifully textured petals, the ends of which are split in two, creating a lovely frilly effect.

After decades in the doldrums, thought of only as show flowers for garden geeks and grandmas, dahlias are now rightly popular and back in the spotlight. And there's no shortage of size, colour and form options, with more than 40 species and 20,000 cultivars to choose from. Apart from their popularity, the reason why there are so many is that dahlias are octoploids. This means they have eight sets of chromosomes (four times the usual number), which gives them a natural advantage in terms of diversity.

Dahlias are natives of the higher reaches of Mexico and Central America. Six species have been bred for ornamental use, where they're categorised by types, including cactus, peony, single, double, pompom, waterlily and dinnerplate varieties.

The flowers of decorative dahlias range from about 8cm to 25cm across. They are absolute showstoppers, both in the garden and in a vase. For best results as cut flowers, snip them when three-quarters open, then trim the stems once more underwater before arranging.

Telling a dahlia bud from a spent flower can be tricky. If in doubt, a spent flower is conical, or even slightly pointed. The bud is rounder and more compact in shape.

How to plant Dahlia Pinelands Pam

Choose a spot with as much light as possible. Improve the soil from the hole by removing roots, weeds, large stones and other rubbish and mixing in about 25% by volume of well-rotted compost or manure.

Position your Pinelands Pam plants 60cm apart, then backfill the hole with mixed soil and compost, firming it gently as you go. Water in thoroughly.

Deadhead. Trim back in late autumn. Bring tubers into a cool shed and store upside down until spring.