Our Favorite Dahlias for Wedding Designs
Nicholas dahlias in all their productive, peachy glory.
December 12, 2023
Dahlias, dahlias, dahlias. There are thousands of varieties of dahlias, in every color, shape and size imaginable (except, of course, blue). There are so many reasons people plant dahlias — as garden specimens to be adored by the eye and never touched, to be cut for gorgeous bouquets for the kitchen table, or perhaps to brighten up an herb or pollinator garden to feed the bees and butterflies.
I grow dahlias for all of those reasons, but I also grow them because they are unmatched when it comes to perfect cut blooms for wedding floral design.
We grow lots of dahlias on our cut flower farm in Burt, NY, located about an hour north of Buffalo. As a wedding florist and a cut flower supplier to other florists in Buffalo, we go through thousands of stems of flowers every week during peak growing season. From the thousands of varieties available to plant, how does a flower farmer decide which dahlia varieties to grow?
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Criteria for selecting dahlias for wedding floral design
There are a few criteria we take into consideration when choosing a dahlia variety to grow in our field.
COLOR is the most important factor when choosing dahlias to grow for wedding floral design. The most popular colors for weddings (the colors that seem they will never go out of trend) are: white, champagne, blush, light pinks, peaches (light to dark) and burgundies.
PRODUCTIVE BLOOM is the second most important criteria for us when choosing dahlias to grow for our wedding design business. We want plants that will produce tons of blooms throughout the season, rather than less productive varieties that will take up space and require more maintenance than is worth the lesser amount of blooms.
VARIETY OF BLOOM SIZES AND SHAPES is also important to plan out your dahlia patch when designing for weddings. You’ll want a variety of ball dahlias, decorative dahlias and dinnerplate dahlias to fulfill different design requirements (ie. ball dahlias work fabulously in bouquets while dinnerplate dahlias bring the wow-factor to large statement pieces and arbors).
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Our favorite dahlias for wedding designs… grouped by color:
white/neutral dahlias
favorite WHITE and NEUTRAL DAHLIAS FOR WEDDING DESIGNS
Our two favorite white dahlias for wedding designs are Brookside Snowball and Blizzard. Both of these dahlias are extremely productive. Brookside Snowball produces a true ball bloom that is a bit bigger than Blizzard, which has a smaller, decorative form. Together, these two form the base of our smaller white dahlia collection.
Cafe Au Lait is the most obvious dahlia for wedding designs in this entire list, but it goes without saying. Her champagne to blush coloring and wavy petals are so romantic that we hardly design a wedding without her from August through October.
Creamy is a new addition to our field this past growing season and she is another dahlia I cannot imagine growing without. Creamy dahlia tubers produce blooms that are a petite ball form, perfect for tucking into bouquets, in the most perfect pale yellow/buttercream tone.
peach dahlias
FAVORITE PEACH DAHLIAS FOR WEDDING DESIGNS
We grow a lot of peach dahlias and to narrow this “favorites” list down to three was a challenge, but I did it.
If I had to pick an all-time favorite peach dahlia for wedding designs, it would be Clearview Peachy. Clearview Peachy has the lightest, softest peach tones that sometimes border on blush, depending on the outside temperature. Clearview Peachy dahlia tubers produce plants with extremely long stems, and is an extremely productive bloom and tuber producer. Can’t go without her.
Cornel Bronze is a deeper “peach” ball dahlia that is more of a terracotta/orange color, but is incredibly useful during the fall wedding season. Cornel Bronze dahlias bloom slightly smaller than Clearview Peachy, which makes for a nice combination of size and color.
Lastly, Nicholas is my favorite large “peach” dahlia. Nicholas borders on more of a brighter, orangey-peach but I use this dahlia in every single wedding color palette that requests “peach.” Nicholas produces huge 6” blooms on tall, strong stems. It has ample side shoots that are fun to use in bud vases. Another plus: Nicholas dahlias are surprisingly very long lasting for a huge bloom. For some reason, Nicholas is repeatedly one of the least popular dahlias in our annual dahlia tuber sale… and I can’t imagine how or why! It’s one of my favorites!
blush and pink dahlias
FAVORITE BLUSH and pink DAHLIAS FOR WEDDING DESIGNS
Sweet Nathalie is, perhaps, THE perfect blush dahlia, if you enjoy a muted/champagne blush tone. Who doesn’t? Her coloring mimics Cafe Au Lait but in a different, smaller form.
Silver Years is our second-lightest blush dahlia in the field. In good growing conditions, Silver Years dahlias are extremely productive, shooting up 6+ stems per plant at once, nearly every week after cutting. The COLOR of Silver Years is unmatched.
Wizard of Oz starts out a bright, bubblegum pink and fades to a lovely creamy blush over the course of the season. Blooming on shorter stems, Wizard of Oz dahlias can bloom four true ball flowers on one single stem. Even though they are a shorter plant, they are special and we love them.
Peaches n’ Cream dahlias, believe it or not, are more pink than they are peach. If you’re going to grow any “fun” dahlia for wedding designs, let it be this one. The windswept heads of this dahlia are unlike any other in the field, and the pinky-peachy coloring blends with nearly every color palette requested. We will never go without Peaches n’ Cream dahlias!
burgundy dahlias
FAVORITE BURGUNDY DAHLIAS FOR WEDDING DESIGNS
We grow lots of burgundy dahlias in our field because come September that is all anyone wants — wedding couples and florists alike. Our favorite burgundy dahlia for wedding designs, hands down, is Diva. Diva dahlias, in my opinion, are one of the most incredible flowers in the entire field. The color is electrifying — vibrant fuschia meets deep purple in this bodacious, elegant decorative head of petals. Diva dahlias are super productive, beyond beautiful, and if you’re going to try any new dahlia in your field it’s gotta be this one.
Ivanetti are a quintessential perfect burgundy ball dahlia. Sometimes they grow in a brighter red, but for us, its welcomed with paired with Diva, Ripples, or Black Jack to tone it down. You have to have a reliable burgundy ball dahlia for wedding designs, and this one is it!
Rocco made this list because we love her tiny pompon shape for making boutonnieres and corsages for fall weddings. Because Rocco dahlias are so small, I don’t worry about the flower heads popping off boutonnieres. When you’re searching around for the perfect boutonniere flower for a fall wedding, Rocco will be there for you in profusion.
So this, dear reader, concludes our list for our favorite dahlias to grow for weddings… realize this list was curated using the criteria of COLOR, PRODUCTIVITY and RANGE OF SIZES/SHAPES. There are many other dahlias we love to incorporate into wedding designs in our Dahlia Tuber Shop — check them out here!
CLICK HERE FOR OUR LIBRARY OF DAHLIA GROWING ARTICLES!
