I am looking out the window of my office and literally watching a plant grow, I know, I know, small minds amused by small things and all that but this particular plant gives me so much joy at this time of the year, I get very, very excited.
So, what is this thing that just keeps on growing and makes me smile??
It is…drum roll please…Dahlia imperialis or Tree Dahlia and BOY! do I love this plant.
I propagated it many years ago from some hardwood cuttings given to me by one of our listeners when I was on ABC radio, some moons ago, now. I am forever grateful to that lady and always think of her every time my “Darling Dahlia” (that’s what I call her) flowers.
There have been years when she is just about to burst into flower and along comes a May storm and I lose all the branches and the flowers end up on the ground but that has not happened this year, and I am ever so happy about that.
These beautiful hardy perennials hale from South America and grow really well in Perth in a sunny, protected-from-the-wind position. Mine sits alongside our Jarrah tree. The Tree Dahlia as it is more commonly known will grow 3-5 metres and mine is every bit of 5 metres this year.
Each year, I cut them right down to ground level and up they come again. The leaves and flowers emerge from sturdy bamboo-like canes. They get a little bit of slow release fertilizer and water twice a week in Summer and that is about it in terms of care.
If you are lucky enough to be given some canes from another gardener (they are very hard to buy in the shops), Here are some tips from Gardening Australia on how to propagate them.
* Cut canes into 50 centimetre lengths. Ensure you have at least two nodes per cane, because they’ll actually root and shoot from those nodes.
* Choose a site that’s sunny, protected from the frost and wind and dig a trench 10 centimetres deep.
* Lay a cane horizontally along the trench. They shoot from the nodes and in no time at all, you’ll get a lovely clump.
* You could put three canes in the ground to get a nice thicket of plants.
* When new growth gets to a metre high, nip the tips out. The canes won’t get as tall but will be sturdier and more resistant to wind damage.
So there you have it, the tree that is not a tree. It’s a Dahlia, Darling!.
