Brown Sugar Dahlia
Brown Sugar is a copper toned flower on a 4 foot plant. The petals appear to have a top color that is slightly different than the bottom of the petal, reminding us of a more subtle version of Crazy Legs. The plant is a fighter for light and in our garden; it let the other dahlias near it dominate the space. The plant can grow leggy with leaves spaced far between. A pinching of the plant when it has 4-5 leaves should seriously be considered to force some lateral growth.
We have visited with other gardeners who have planted this variety and it appears to be grown with mixed success. Some people say it does great. Others (it appears in super hot and very cool climates) struggle with it’s success. To support this variety, you may need to fertilized it with plant food earlier in the season to try and support foliage, and then in the late season with bloom and tuber food. Still, in our case it hasn’t preformed like other varieties. We have concluded that this dahlia is not for the “plant it and forget” kind of gardener and it acts more like a prima donna in the patch.
We had seen this dahlia in photos off Facebook and really were attracted to the fall tones. Fall is a big deal here at the farm and the kids start decorating as soon as the school year starts, so we felt like this color would be a great addition. So it was karma when a local friend posted her last Brown Sugar tuber for sale and we snatched it up. Now we are planning where to plant this dahlia in the future and what supports will be needed to get it to bloom well. If you are new to growing dahlias, you may start with other varieties.
Attributes of Brown Sugar Dahlias
Height – 4 feet
Color – Coppery orange
Bloom Size – 3 to 4″
Bloom Style – Ball
Bloom Time – ~90 day
