Hot stuff

DO you think Roald Dahl was the only person in the land to pronounce the flower’s name correctly? Dahlias were not named after him, but after Anders Dahl, one of Linnaeus’s Swedish pupils in the late 18th century. Not a bad accolade, I reckon. Young Dahl must have been pretty hot stuff to deserve such an honour.

- Alan Titchmarsh

At this time of year, dahlias are every bit as spectacular as the BFG or James’s Giant Peach and it is hard to believe that, in the latter part of the 20th century, they were regarded as infra dig; far too common to be planted in gardens regarded as tasteful. Dahlias belonged on allotments and in kitchen gardens with chrysanthemums—something to be grown for exhibiting in flower shows.

It was COUNTRY LIFE’s regular contributor Christopher Lloyd who was instrumental in restoring their respectability, although he would have scoffed at the use of such a word, as snobbery was as alien to Christo as silence and circumspection are to the current President of the US.

Thank goodness that gardeners throughout the land have seen sense as far as the dahlia is concerned, for its ability to flower effusively from midsummer until the first frosts of autumn makes it a valuable contributor to beds and borders across the land.