DAHLIAS to dazzle

Save the best till last with these beautiful late-season stars

- CHRIS MORLEY

Fashionably late

Dahlias typically don't begin to flower until late July/early August, but they're worth the wait for the colour and exuberance they bring to an often-flagging garden.

Flower shapes range from cute-as-a-button pom-poms to pointy-petalled cactuses and shaggy-mopped 'dinner plates', while colours come in pastel, bright and smoky shades.

Even better, they flower thick and fast through September and October, until struck by frost.

Floral fireworks

Use large-flowered varieties to pep-up mixed borders. Good companions include other late bloomers, like salvia and cosmos, or shrubs like hydrangea and pittosporum.

As top-heavy plants, they are prone to flopping, so stake any varieties over 60cm. The following dahlias all have the wow factor: