Dahlia Magic

At this time of year, is there a plant to compete with Dahlias when it comes to variety of flower shapes and sizes and sheer exuberance of colours?

Yet despite this, they were under-represented at the autumnal Chelsea Flower Show this year. Does their gaudy showiness put some garden designers off, I wonder. They used to have a reputation as being far too ‘common’ for any respectable garden. Perhaps there is still a secret snobbery amongst some of the gardening elite preventing them from making the most of this wonderful plant. They appeared in only two of the show gardens, in particularly the RHS garden which gave them a prominent role as part of a fiery autumnal border.

The other show garden used just a few dahlias in pink as part of a more subtle border display.

Fortunately they are still an allotment favourite everywhere, where they are often planted in great clumps of dazzling colours. Allotment growers seem unperturbed by clashes of size and colour – even growing them amongst the beans and fruit canes. Long may this continue.

Dahlias can continue flowering for months, well into November in some parts of the country – right up to the first frosts. What more could we ask for!

SeeHow volume 1 contains 4 popular varieties. More will be included in SeeHow volume 2.

The above Text and all Photographs are copyright of Wincenty (Wicek) Sosna. Please contact SeeHow for permission to reproduce in any way, in part or as the complete text.