Dahlia

* Common name: Dahlia

* Botanical name: Dahlia

* What it is: A tender tuber that comes in a wide variety of showy flower shapes and colors and blooms from late summer through fall. Plants range from foot-tall dwarfs to 5-foot giants. Flowers are big (some up to a foot across) and range from daisy-like bloomers to fat pincushions.

* Size: 1 to 5 feet tall, space 12 to 18 inches apart.

* Where to use: Dahlias are ideal for adding showy fall color to sunny borders and any mixed shrub and flower garden. Because they don’t flower until late season and are generally taller than most flowers, use them toward the middle or back of gardens. Collectors plant entire dahlia gardens. Plants flower best in full sun.

* Care: These are not hardy perennials. Left in the ground over winter, the tubers will freeze and rot. Save tubers from year to year by cutting off the foliage after the first frost and digging and storing the tubers inside over winter. Some people store in peat moss, sawdust or sand, or you can wrap the dried tubers in plastic wrap. Plant tubers outside in mid to late May after all danger of frost.

* Great partner: Pair with mums and/or asters for a fall-peaking display. Or interplant with a succession of spring and summer perennials (daylilies, coreopsis, black-eyed susans, etc.) in a garden that flowers throughout the season.