February may still be cold, wet and stormy, but the garden never truly slows down.
Now is the time to focus on getting warm-season plants ready, giving them the preparation they need to establish strong, healthy roots before shifting their energy to flowering.
Planting dahlias in February is the perfect place to start for those keen to prepare for a year of beautiful garden blooms.
Strictly speaking, there is no single best dahlia variety, as it entirely depends on what you want from them.
Huw Richards, ambassador for GARDENA, and grow-your-own expert, shares his top picks for dahlias with Country Living, along with some handy advice for seasonal growing and pointers on which dahlia varieties work well for your designated garden space.
1. Best for pollinators
Encouraging pollinators is something we’re all keen to be mindful of, and a necessary consideration when planting February bulbs.
The Bishop of Llandaff is Huw’s go-to dahlia for helping pollinators to thrive. It's open, single flowers allow bees and hoverflies to access pollen easily.
This variety needs a few key areas of focus to encourage productivity. "To keep these reliable plants flowering well, it’s essential to avoid overfeeding - too much richness pushes leaf growth at the expense of flowers," says Huw.
"Good compost, decent drainage, and full sun are all it needs. Deadhead little and often to keep blooms coming for pollinators right through the season."
2. Best for cut flowers
There’s nothing better than proudly bringing armfuls of fresh blooms, cut from our own garden, into our own home. "Cornel Dahlia makes the perfect cut flower for the florist gardener. Producing long, straight stems and flowers that hold beautifully in the vase," says Huw.
For best results, Huw says to pinch the main growing tip when the plant reaches around 30–40cm. This delays flowering slightly but massively increases stem count later.
3. Best for smaller gardens and pots
To maximise space, Huw recommends utilising naturally compact flowers, with varieties such as Gallery Art Deco Dahlias being key. Their tidy growth habit and strong stems make them the ideal dahlias for pots, borders, and the front of beds without the need for staking.
Good watering and properly sized pots matter when growing this variety of Dahlia. "Choose the largest pot you can reasonably fit and water deeply rather than little and often. Compact dahlias still build substantial root systems, and restricting them leads to weak flowering and stressed plants."
Once the hard work and preparation have been done, you can look forward to a year of bountiful blooms and gorgeous colours popping their cheery heads up in British gardens throughout the season ahead.
16 great books for gardening and indoor plant inspiration
RHS How to Create your Garden: Ideas and Advice for Transforming your Outdoor Space
Adam Frost's practical, no-nonsense approach will help you plan and build a garden that works for you. The Gardeners' World presenter takes you step by step through the whole process, from simple garden design ideas to a full garden makeover.
Modern Container Gardening: How to Create a Stylish Small-Space Garden Anywhere
Isabelle Palmer shows you how to make the most of every little space with a series of projects for small gardens, singular containers and window boxes, that can be completed in a day or weekend. Perfect for novice gardeners, Modern Container Gardening offers beautiful photography and clear step-by-step instructions.
National Trust School of Gardening: Practical Advice from the Experts
The National Trust employs over 500 gardeners with an extraordinary wealth of expertise. And now, in this in-depth guide, they pass on their wisdom and provide the answers any new and seasoned gardener is looking for. This book is intended to give you inspiration and confidence to make the most of your garden, without being overwhelmed with unnecessary technical detail.
Veg in One Bed: How to Grow an Abundance of Food in One Raised Bed, Month by Month
Veg In One Bed explains how to build your bed and grow from seed, as well advice on planting, feeding, and harvesting. YouTube gardening star Huw Richards shows how to guarantee early success by starting off young plants on a windowsill and suggests what to grow in each part of the bed.
DK The Complete Gardener: A Practical, Imaginative Guide to Every Aspect of Gardening
Monty Don offers straightforward gardening advice in this book, revealing the secrets of growing vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs, while respecting the needs of the environment by gardening organically. You can also enjoy a tour of his Herefordshire garden, including his flower garden, herb garden, kitchen garden, and more.
DK RHS Practical House Plant Book
The Practical House Plant Book by the RHS contains a dozen step-by-step projects to help you assemble an eye-catching terrarium, create a floating kokedama 'string garden', or propagate succulents. Complete with 175 in-depth plant profiles, this is an essential practical guide for indoor gardeners.
Ten Speed Press Small Garden Style: A Design Guide for Outdoor Rooms and Containers
A small garden space – an urban patio, a tiny backyard, or even just a pot by your door – doesn't have to sacrifice style. In Small Garden Style, garden designer Isa Hendry Eaton and lifestyle writer Jennifer Blaise Kramer show you how to use good design to create a joyful, elegant, and exciting yet compact outdoor living space.
No Dig Garden Charles Dowding's No Dig Gardening: From Weeds to Vegetables Easily and Quickly: Course 1
Charles Dowding, innovator of no dig, teaches you everything you need to know about this method of organic gardening. With 19 chapters, you'll learn how to use no dig on different soil types, recognise and massively reduce the different types of weeds, know the difference between soil and types of compost, and grow an abundance of vegetables using the no dig method.
Kyle Books In Bloom: Growing, harvesting and arranging flowers all year round
Get all the inspiration you need for planting cut flowers, and fill your home with colour and the gorgeous scent of the garden year-round with In Bloom. Clare Nolan reveals her secrets for growing a bountiful harvest as well as styling spectacular homegrown displays in this beautifully designed book.
The RHS' Complete Gardener's Manual will help you choose plants that will thrive in your space, design a border for year-round colour, grasp different pruning techniques, discover how to protect your veg patch from pests, and make the best compost.
Bloomsbury Wildlife Wildlife Gardening: For Everyone and Everything
Do you want to attract more bees, birds, frogs and hedgehogs into your garden? In Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything, Kate Bradbury teams up with the Wildlife Trusts and the RHS to help you discover how you can make your garden, balcony, doorstep or patio a haven for garden wildlife. You'll find handy charts, practical projects and fact files.
DK My House Plant Changed My Life: Green wellbeing for the great indoors
Gardener and TV presenter David Domoney is a firm believer that indoor plants can make 'a practical and emotional contribution to our wellbeing'. In this book, David explains the hard science behind the positive effect of the humble houseplant on wellness, and provides expert tips on how to keep your plants thriving, plus shares his top 50 life-enhancing houseplants.
DK RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design: Planning, Building and Planting Your Perfect Outdoor Space
If you're looking for new garden ideas, the RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design will guide you from planning to planting, such as choosing the correct materials for your structures and assessing your drainage, to laying patios, making ponds, and planting perennials.
Lorenz Books How to Create an Eco Garden: The practical guide to sustainable and greener gardening
This planet-friendly book is filled with ideas for creating your own eco garden on any scale, from a small courtyard to a large garden or allotment. Discover organic techniques that improve biodiversity, learn the value of using recycled and reclaimed materials for landscaping, and take on simple projects such as making a pond and a wildlife hotel.
DK RHS Encyclopedia Of Plants and Flowers
Drawing on expert advice from the RHS, this best-selling reference book – organised by colour, size, and type, rather than as an A-Z directory – will help you select the right varieties for your outdoor space.
Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd Build a Better Vegetable Garden: 30 DIY Projects to Improve your Harvest
Joyce and Ben Russell have devised 30 kitchen garden projects, devised to either extend the season, protect crops from pests or improve yields. These projects transform your vegetable plot into somewhere more productive, more attractive and more secure.
Becky is a freelance journalist based in Somerset, UK, specialising in all things home, gardens, lifestyle, and entertainment. With a love of classic rom-coms and a penchant for romanticising her own everyday life, she enjoys embracing cosy, slow living with her family and their crazy Welsh collie, Cookie. Becky has been published in publications such as Cosmopolitan, The Independent, The Evening Standard, The Telegraph, Collider, Happiful Magazine, OK! And many more.
