·   6-inch blooms from early summer right into fall!

'Tahiti Sunrise' is such a joy! Unlike most Dahlias, it's low to the ground, dense, and packed with flowers, so it is considered a landscaping type. But when you realize that each of these flowers is 6 inches wide and stuffed with gorgeous bicolor petals in fiery accents, you know that you've gotten a real bargain -- a landscaping plant that covers itself with cut flowers over a super long season!

Most Dahlias begin blooming in midsummer, but 'Tahiti Sunrise' beats them to the punch by a full month, opening its first blooms as soon as the early summer heat arrives. It keeps going all season, too, not quitting until the serious cold weather of autumn is upon it! Expect 4 months or more of bloom in most climates!

 

And unlike "cutting" Dahlias, 'Tahiti Sunrise' is very free flowering. Each of these blooms is an individual masterpiece, but you'd never know it from the way new buds pop open all over the place! Of course, you'll want to cut plenty for your vases, or grow a few plants just for this purpose in the cutting garden, while showing off the others in containers or as showy edging in the sunny garden! 'Tahiti Sunrise' makes a wonderful foreground planting to taller Dahlias, it combines beautifully with other perennials in the border, and makes a showstopping edging along the driveway or garden path!

 

This Dahlia blooms reliably from midsummer through fall from a spring planting. Best in the sunny garden, it prefers rich, well-drained soil high in organic matter, plenty of water, and staking to support its bounty of blooms. If you want bigger blooms, disbud a few branches and remove others altogether, so that the plant concentrates all its energy on making a few gigantic blooms rather than more smaller ones. Deadhead the flowers promptly to encourage new buds to arise even faster. North of zone 8, dig up the tuber in late fall and store in vermiculite or sawdust in a frost-free area. Then replant it in spring for another glorious bloom season!