Scientific Name: Dahlia x hybrida
Common Name: dahlia
Family Name: Asteraceae
Origin: Central America, Garden origin, Mexico
Hardiness Zone: Zone 8b: (-9.4 to -7 °C)
Plant Type: Annual, Flowering cut plant
Mature Size: 0.7 - 1.3m x 0.3 - 0.6m (height x width)
Habit: Dense, Spreading, Stiffly upright
Form: Oval - vertical, Round
Texture: Coarse
Landscape Uses: Accent plant, Bedding plant, Container planting, Cut flower or foliage, Fall interest, Group or mass planting, Summer interest
Exposure: Full sun
Soil or Media: Well-drained
Leaves: Simple, Compound, Opposite, Soft flexible, Lustrous, Odd-pinnate, Elliptic, Ovate, Dentate
Flowers: Head (capitulum), White, Orange, Yellow, Green-yellow, Green, Violet, Purple, Pink, Magenta, Red, Dark-red, Brown, Jul-Aug-Sep-Oct
Fruit: Achene, Brown, Oct-Nov
Key ID Features:
Herbaceous perennial 30cm to 2.4m tall arising from tuberous roots; leaves opposite, most pinnately compound (unlike zinnia), leaflets elliptic-ovate, 10-15cm long x 5-10cm wide, margin toothed; flower heads zinnia-like, most most 5-10cm wide, round to flattened with many ray florets, usually solitary on tall stems but some will form new buds below, all colours except blue and <a href ='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia' target='_blank'>classified by shape</a>.