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gardens that have become dear to me

2:58

over my gardening years. There

3:03

was a time when dahlias

3:06

were persona non grater. Oh,

3:09

terribly vulgar flowers. We don't want those

3:11

in the garden. And then

3:13

that great garden, Christopher Lloyd, came

3:15

along and said, nonsense, they're

3:17

extremely good. They give us colour from

3:20

mid summer to the frosts of autumn.

3:23

And lots of us said, Oh, I'm so

3:25

glad you sent that because I've always loved

3:27

them. And I don't want to be thought

3:29

in for a dig. So dahlias, for goodness

3:32

sake, don't spurn them. They're fabulous for

3:34

taking your garden through from the early burst

3:36

of summer colour. You know, June's pretty good

3:38

in the garden, isn't it? And then a

3:40

lot of stuff goes over. And you think,

3:43

well, this is where the dahlias come into their own

3:45

because they'll flower from early July right

3:48

the way through to November,

3:50

depending on when the first frost comes.

3:52

They get blackened by frost. And

3:54

that means that either you cut them right

3:56

down to the ground with a very thick

3:58

mulch over the top. if you

4:00

want their tuberous roots to get through the

4:02

winter. Or you do as I

4:04

do, I dig mine up and I don't do

4:07

anything dramatic with them. I cut all the top

4:09

growth off, dig up the tubers and there's a

4:11

sort of big hole underneath my potting bench and

4:13

I just stick them in there. I stack them

4:15

up one on top of another. No

4:17

compost, no you know, sandy

4:20

whatever to put them in. No, leave

4:22

them as they are. As long as

4:24

the room is frost free, I

4:26

just take them out again in spring and start them into

4:28

growth and just plant them in the garden. It's as easy

4:31

as that. They are fab. You'll

4:33

find varieties in all kinds of colors. The only

4:35

color that's missing is true royal

4:38

blue but they come in every

4:40

other color. Some favorites,

4:43

Franz Kafka is a pink

4:45

pom pom. Now pom pom dahlias are

4:48

about two or three inches across, it's

4:50

tight little quilled petals. Absolutely

4:53

beautiful and you need to touch them, you

4:55

need to wrap your hand around

4:57

the pom pom dahlia just

4:59

to appreciate the form

5:01

of the flower. It's a piece of

5:03

botanical magic and Franz Kafka

5:05

and other pom pom dahlias only go

5:08

to about three feet tall. Slightly

5:10

taller at five feet is a pale

5:13

pink cactus called jusudy

5:15

andromida. Now cactus dahlias

5:17

have spiky quilled petals.

5:21

That's a glorious one as opposed

5:23

to decorative dahlias which have

5:25

the more rounded petals and make a

5:27

more rounded less spiky

5:30

flower. There's one that's known as a

5:32

water lily type called creme de cassisse

5:35

and the strangeness of this flower

5:37

is that the petals, which is

5:39

quite rare on a dahlia, are

5:41

pale pink on the upper surface

5:44

and dark pink on the

5:46

lower surface giving this wonderful bicolor

5:50

look to them. They really are amazing so

5:52

do try creme de cassisse and see if

5:54

you like it as much as I do.

5:57

A pale peachy pink dahlia with

5:59

twitch petals, it really got a

6:01

funny looking thing. It's Penhill watermelon

6:03

but the colours are glorious, it's

6:05

not quite salmon and it's not

6:07

quite peach and the form of

6:09

the flower has a sort of

6:12

froth to it, another four-footer that

6:14

really I think you'll love. And

6:16

if you like purity and you

6:18

want a white dahlia, a white

6:20

decorative, Eveline is glorious,

6:22

she's white but she's ever

6:24

so slightly tinged with lilac,

6:26

particularly in the centre of

6:28

the flower. Dahlias love

6:30

really rich soil, it needs to be

6:32

like fruitcake as though you could eat

6:34

it. You can either grow them

6:37

in rows on your allotment or your veg patch

6:39

just for cutting. I do

6:41

a few like that in my veg patch

6:43

but I also plant them in an among

6:45

border perennials and shrubs so if there's a

6:47

gap, whack in a dahlia

6:49

and you know I'm not too fussy about

6:52

colour scheming. I just like a splash

6:54

in an among the border. They go

6:56

in in my garden in

6:58

late May when danger frost is passed,

7:01

a little bit earlier if they're completely

7:03

dormant those tubers with no shoots on them,

7:05

you can then risk putting them in at

7:08

the beginning of May. They'll come up through

7:10

the ground and grow incredibly quickly. They tend

7:12

to need a stake because although the taller

7:14

ones will flop over a bit. So,

7:17

stake them as soon as you can see them

7:19

coming through the ground. Loosely tie them in just

7:21

to give them a bit of support and then

7:24

leave them there until the autumn. They

7:26

do pay for being deadheaded. Snip off

7:28

any faded flowers that will keep the

7:30

new ones coming and keep your borders

7:32

looking smart. Dahlias in for

7:35

a dig? Oh, I don't

7:37

think so. That's it from me.

7:39

Until next time, enjoy your

7:41

garden, whatever the weather. Thanks

7:45

for listening to the BBC Gardeners

7:47

World magazine podcast. Subscribe now

7:49

wherever you get your podcasts and never

7:51

miss an episode. If you've enjoyed this

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episode Please tell others about it

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