Yes the colors change, the flowers are smaller and fewer flowers as the daylight dwindles. If you have the least bit of frost it will kill the foliage and that will be it for the year. My friend's house is in zone 9 area and she has had a few blooms on Cafe au Lait into December. They are hadly recognizable but still welcome addithons to the Christmas greenery we use starting after Thanksgiving. Note that I Am not talking about all the others she raises, cafe au lait seems to be our lateness winner. Mine are always wiped out by frost in an 8b area by late November, at which time I may loose a few pale, half opened blooms.

Thank you for the reply.

This spring I planted out some 'Figaro' dahlias that I had grown from seed. Since we'd been having summer droughts the past couple of years, I decided to plant them in a low-lying area. But this year we had rain and more rain, and that area stayed waterlogged far too long. Some of the dahlias died. A few have made it, but don't look nearly as nice as they did before the rains started.

I wanted to start some more seeds now and have them ready to go out (in a different area of course) when the weather begins to cool. Based on your post, I think it just may work. No harm in trying. I can always replace them with pansies if they don't make it.