Every cutting garden needs Fleurel, with its giant ivory-white blooms opening from primrose-yellow buds. It complements every other color in the garden or vase, flowers reliably over an extra-long season, and stops guests in their tracks with its huge 8-inch double blooms!

Fleurel is an Informal Decorative Dahlia, but there is nothing informal or casual about these petal-packed 8-inch blooms. They begin in midsummer and continue into mid-fall in many areas, outlasting most other Dahlia varieties. (Perhaps they enjoy the company of the Shasta Daisies!) The outermost petals are pure white, becoming ivory and creamy toward the center. Long-lasting in garden and vase, they are splendid to behold. This is the style called Dinner Plate -- because the flowers are as wide as that!

This plant is upright, about 3 feet tall and spreading 2 feet wide. It sets numerous blooms among toothy dark green foliage, and appreciates support for its heavy flowerheads. Give it full sunshine, heavy feeding, plenty of water, and adequate space in the garden (protected from high wind and driving rain) for best blooms. And such blooms you'll get!

Like all Dahlias, Fleurel is actually a tender perennial, hardy only in zones 8-10. Dig up the tuber before first frost and save it to re-plant next spring. You'll want an encore of Fleurel!