Alongside being extremely visually rewarding, one of the Dahlias' most appealing features is how easy they are to propagate and grow. When you put your mind to it you will soon be cradling a lavish bouquet in an assortment of wild and riotous colours. We have put together a list of achievable steps and instructions for planning, planting and maintaining your crop so that you too can enjoy bountiful amounts of vivacious blooms in your garden.

Growing your own Dahlias requires soil preparation in around March or early April. Choose a spot in your garden that gets the most sunlight as Dahlias do best in an open sunny situation bedded in fertile soil that doesn't get too dry. Dahlias are usually grown from tubers and if so should be planted after the last frost in spring to promote prosperous cultivation. If you already have tubers from the previous year these can be forced into early growth in spring by potting them up to be planted out in a border by late spring.

In Willow Crossley’s course with Create Academy, she talks about how to plant Dahlia tubers, taking you through various types of Dahlia's, her favourite styles, which ones work best for weddings and how best to plant your tubers.

Willow’s favourite types of dahlias are:

• Santa Claus
• Thomas Edison
• Tartan
• Honka
• Edge of joy
• White Perfection

When ordering Dahlia's Willow recommends Sarah Raven for those based in the UK.*Dahliaaddict.com*is a great website for finding growers and finding out when Dahlias are going to be on sale in the US. The site lists the various Dahlia names alphabetically and who sells them.

When you are planting out your Dahlias they may need some initial help to stand. Stake your Dahlias as soon as you plant them and then tie them in as they begin to grow. Use sturdy pieces of wood rather than bamboo or other flimsy materials. Additional care requires slug control, and protection against slugs in these early growing months is essential in order to avoid disappointment.

Once you begin to see buds developing this is your sign to start feeding your flowers. The National Dahlia Collection recommend feeding your Dahlias a proprietary tomato food once every 10 days or so to inspire prosperous growth and care. Other alternatives to tomato feeders should be liquid and high in nitrogen and potash and given to the plants weekly in summer. You can buy the tomato feed*here*.

When your flowers begin to start blooming, between midsummer through to the first frosts of autumn be meticulous about deadheading. If you are consistent about picking the flowers this will result in a constant supply of bushy blooms from July through to November.

Providing you have done a sufficient amount of pinching out you should have a beautiful array of blooms to choose from to play with all summer. When harvesting Dahlias, Willow recommends re-cutting the hollow stem under water to avoid airlocks. When preparing for an arrangement, Dahlias should be picked first thing in the morning, given a good drink of water and seared in boiling water for twenty seconds. The smaller and more fragile a plant is the less time you should sear them in water for. When you are cutting your Dahlias and selecting a colour palette don’t be afraid of clashing, but also put a lighter Dahlia in the bunch like a Café au Lait or a White Perfection.

The vivacious shapes of Dahlias make for a wonderful show-stopper of an arrangement. Willow suggests groupings of particular Dahlias that would be best for a late summer or early autumn arrangement.

• Santa Claus
• Cafe Au Lait mango madness
• Night butterfly
• White cosmos (purity)
• Thomas Edison
• Elonaye
• American Dawn
• Ott’s thrill
• Eileen
• Edge of joy
• White Perfection
• Jowey Linda

The arrangements marry better together when there is a mix of different shapes and sizes. Willow recommends an open neck container as so many of the dahlias have chunky stems.

Proportion wise aim for one and a half times the height of the container. Crisscross the flowers initially across each other to make a grid. You can put a frog in the bottom to anchor your first couple of flowers. The petals do not want to be wet. Remember dahlias like a lot of water so monitor the water levels in the container. When buying from a grower remember the firmer they are, the fresher and look at the backs of the Dahlias to gauge.