The Old Favourite Dahlia 'Chat Noir' from Sarah Raven

Dahlia 'Chat Noir' has long flower stems and a superb vase life – a true old favourite, with wonderful spiky, sea urchin like red flowers.

Our dahlias:

are first class, healthy tubers – the largest and best you can buy.
come with full planting, spacing and cultivating instructions for beginner gardeners
tubers should be potted up when they arrive and be kept in a light, frost-free place until the frosts are over and then be planted into the garden.

Genus	Dahlia
Group/Species	Semi-cactus Group
Variety	Chat Noir
Type	Tender Perennial Tuber
Border Position	Back, Middle
Bulb Size	1
Soil Type	Acid, Chalky, Fertile, Neutral
Scent	Unscented
Site	Full Sun
Moisture	Moist but Well-drained
Height	1m (39in)
Spacing	Plant just under the soil surface, 75cm (30in) apart.
Sowing, Seeds, Planting	Pot them up undercover March or early April in a generous pot (at least 2 litre) filled with multi-purpose potting compost. Place them in a light, frost-free place and keep the compost moist. Pinch out their growing tips when they have reached about 8" tall. They will have formed bushy plants by the time the frosts have ended and will be in flower by the beginning of July. If you don’t have anywhere to grow the potted tubers, you can put them straight into the ground when the frosts are nearly over, mulching them or protecting with a cloche or protective horticultural fleece if the foliage appears before the frosts are over, but this will delay flowering.
Care Tips	Support with a stout stick, tie in every couple of weeks. In the south you can mulch deeply and overwinter them in the ground, alternatively, lift and overwinter your dahlias frost free undercover.
Flowering	July - November
Vase Life	Only pick dahlias in full flower. Recut the hollow stem ends under water to avoid airlocks.
Cooking Notes	All dahlia flowers are edible. I use the petals scattered over salad and to decorate a range of puddings.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Sow Under Cover/Plant Indoors
Direct Sow/Plant Outdoors
Flowers/Harvest

How to take dahlia cuttings

Watch and learn how to take dahlia cuttings – turn 1 tuber into 10.

How to plant and grow dahlia tubers

Find out how to grow strong, healthy dahlias this spring – how to plant, look after and overwinter them, and what to do with your bulbs when...

How to overwinter dahlia tubers

Sarah discusses the best options for overwintering dahlias – lifting or mulching.

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Dahlia 'Chat Noir' reviews

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Star quality

Reviewed 12th April 2015 by Dr C

I have bought and grown these from Sarah for a few years now and they perform wonderfully. I follow her instructions and the plants never fail to deliver 5-star quality. I garden in East Anglia on heavy clay but with some grit and lots of good quality compost (and strong staking) they do really well. The stems are long enough for cutting and popping in a vase to bring inside.

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