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Asteraceae
DAHLIA 'Café Au Lait'
Café au Lait Dahlia, Dahlia, Informal Decorative Dahlia
This entry has yet to be reviewed and approved by L2G editors.
Few garden plants rival dahlias as everblooming bedding plants and cutflowers. The porcelain-like blooming 'Café Au Lait' is a herbaceous, warm-season, tender perennial with bulbous underground tubers. Its compound green foliage is made of oval and pointed leaflets with toothed margins. The numerous "dinner-plate" flowers, measuring 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) across, are a delicate, misty pink. Streaks of pink to rose may also appear in the younger petals. The long-lasting flower head comprises numerous rows of pointed petals, creating an informal decorative class dahlia. It is good to remove the spent flowers to encourage continued flower production up until frost. The hybrid 'Café Au Lait' was introduced around 2003.
Dahlias prefer well-drained, fertile soil and full to partial sun. The most beautiful flowers occur when nights are comfortably cool and days warm and sunny. Hybrid dahlias are often grown from divisions of tuberous roots and cuttings to preserve their unique characteristics. Dahlias are cold sensitive and their tuberous roots should be lifted and overwintered in cool dry locations where winters are harsh. In hot, humid subtropical regions the dahlia is best grown in the late fall and winter with the start of the dry season.
12 - 1
8 - 11
1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Bulb or Corm or Tuber
Full Sun, Partial Sun
3'-4' / 0.9m - 1.2m
2'-3' / 0.6m - 0.9m
Hybrid Origin
Neutral
Well Drained
Loam, Sand
Fast
Average Water
Clump-Forming
Summer, Fall
Showy
Pink, Light Pink
Green
Dark Green
No
Yes
Coarse
Bedding Plant, Container, Cutflower, Mixed Border
Butterflies
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