Dahlia Cactus Mixed

Every petal rolled into a tight quill, so the flower opens as a spiky starburst rather than a disc. The mix runs hot pink, yellow, orange and ruby red on substantial plants to 120cm, with stems long enough to cut.

The quilling has a practical benefit nobody mentions on the packet. Water runs straight off a rolled petal instead of pooling in the middle of the flower, so cactus dahlias come through a wet British August far better than the heavy decorative and dinnerplate sorts, which sit full of rainwater and rot in the head. In a wet summer that is the difference between a crop and a mess.

It is a half-hardy perennial grown from seed as an annual, flowering July to the first frosts, and the tubers can be lifted and stored over winter if you want bigger plants next year. At 120cm with heavy heads it needs staking, and it needs it in June rather than after the first gale. Slugs find the young plants before anything else does, so protect them when they first go out.