Baroniņš has grown exemplars of a whopping height of two meters (dahlias can reach a height of six meters) with tubers about a meter long. There have been even taller plants in the indoor premises at the Botanic Garden of the University of Latvia, but the dahlia in question didn t flower, perhaps due to lack of light.
Dahlias are by far the most colorful and most various flowers in the world, though there are no dahlias with exclusively blue flowers.
These colorful additions to the garden require a lot of light and grow spindly in the shade. It s important to plant it on the lee side, as many dahlias have quite brittle stalks. They also like moisture, and have to be watered once a week if the weather is too dry.
Latvians like to think they are more in tune with the seasons than most, and there may be something to it. With that in mind, we'll be guiding you through the next few months with this series on some of the plants you can encounter from summer onwards, how and where they grow, with expert advice.