Danique. My god do I love this flower. Love love love. The rich tones, dark foliage, the dark stems, the deep contrasting color on the reverse of the petals. She is not a tall plant and I don’t mind it one bit. She still gives me good stems and I fall more in love with her every season. Originally acquired as a mislabel and it was one of the best happy accidents a dahlia lover could receive. And per my previous post, I have included some photos with her next to Misses Miley. They each have qualities I enjoy and I appreciate the variances in textures they each bring due to their different forms while still working in the same color family. I believe @threelakesblooms recently posted a photo of Danique with Misses Miley and I believe Copper Boy (and possibly Brown Sugar as well but I could be mistaken on that last variety being included (edit: it’s actually all 4!),) displaying a great example of the texture created from their different forms working harmoniously together. I don’t find Danique to be much shorter than Misses Miley for me here and they both seem to have a similar growth habit & size, and each produces lots of blooms and good stem lengths for me.
While I have a significant fondness for a dahlia plant that turns into a large shrub (I’m lookin at you, Dragon’s Blood, Florelie Jeanette, African Peach, and Carlos Watermelon, just to name a few,) 😂 one of the incredible perks of plants with smaller growth habits is you don’t have to choose between varieties if you’re limited on space or if you plant really tight. Danique and Misses Miley are both very conducive to a 9-12” spacing without being smothered and have tidy growth habits. And while you can grow pretty much any dahlia in a container, if you like or need smaller to midsize plants for a full sun apartment balcony or condo patio that produce enough blooms with long enough stems to cut some for an arrangement while still having flowers displayed on the plant, these would both fit that bill.
#dahliaseason #fallflowers #darkdahlia #autumnflowers #dahlialove #dahliaflower #flowerphotos #danique