Gardening task to ensure heat-loving dahlias produce ‘larger and better quality flowers’

The Horticultural Royal Society states that the best flowers to add to your displays this month are cannas and dahlias.

Originally from Mexico, dahlias are heat-loving plants that are highly sensitive to frost.

Cannas, on the other hand, are vibrant and tender perennials that produce showy flowers in shades of red, orange, yellow and pink.

Also a heat-loving flower, cannas do best when added to the ground in June for a burst of colour.

The Royal Horticultural Society confirms that “June is the best month to consider planting out summer beddings and seed-raised plants”.

The body adds: “Make sure they are well-watered and keep them moist during dry weather. Plant out cannas and dahlias once the danger of frost has passed.

“Gaps in herbaceous borders are best filled with annual bedding at this stage in the season.”

Deadheading

Deadheading is vital for flowers as they fade out of bloom because it redirects the plant’s energy into growing new petals instead of seeds.

Offering advice on growing healthy dahlias, the RHS states that it is good to deadhead at the first sign of struggle.

“If you’re growing for giant flowers or cut flowers, nip out the smaller flower buds behind the central larger bud,” notes the RHS.

“This will give you larger, better quality flowers, but this isn’t necessary if you’re simply growing dahlias for border displays.”

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Gardeners should also be deadheading their cannas during the blooming season to keep new flowers coming.

Guy Barter, a chief horticultural advisor for the RHS, notes that new plants in the vegetable garden and bedding also benefit from fertilisation in June.

“New plants in the vegetable garden and bedding or container plants need to do most of their growing in June while light levels are high and temperature constraints lowest,” explained the expert.

“Fertiliser will help them make the most of this light for good results later in the summer.”