Bishop of Llandaff' has a lot to answer for. Not so long ago, dahlias were as de rigueur as plastic gnomes and not half as ironic. They were untrendy, unfashionable and, more often than not, simply ghastly. Then along came the Bishop, with his rich alizarin robes and brilliant chrome-yellow centre. He quickly became popular among the very people who hated dahlias, setting a thoroughly bad example. Then before you could say 'Arabian Night' or 'Grenadier', dahlias started popping up all over gardens that had hitherto known better - and we had all come to just adore them.
Well, almost... not the nasty vulgar sort, of course, the dahlias that looked like a deliciously brash wedding hat, sitting over a raucous laugh, with a fag in one hand, and a gin and orange in the other. Not the dahlias that were grown with a quiet fanaticism on allotments across the country and then displayed singly, like floral haiku, in canvas marquees at lateseason flower shows across the land. And not dahlias in the wrong place and not dahlias getting uppity in the border. But the right sort of dahlias - like the right sort of people, really - were such fun!
Big and bold
I grew up with dahlias. They are part of the flora of my strange childhood. My mother grew the big, cactus-flowered dahlias, all lipstick pinks, brassy yellows and shouty reds. They had their own bed next to the veg and were relegated - in a kind of apartheid, along with gladioli - to a cutting garden. Here, the soil was bare and every plant was supported by a stout square stake, of a kind we used for nothing else in the garden and that lived bundled at the back of the shed for most of the year.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von BBC Gardeners World.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 2023-Ausgabe von BBC Gardeners World.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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We love June
We're cruising towards midsummer: this is a month full of love and abundance. Wherever you look there will be something in your garden that lifts the spirits and makes you glad to be alive. We have colour to cheer us, we have leaves that still have the bounce and freshness of small puppies, we have the first berries fattening up, there are birds frantically parenting very demanding broods of chicks, the bees are all over the place, it's prime barbecue and picnic season, and we have lawns as lush and green as billiard tables. What a month to fall in love.
Your wildlife month
The female will usually lay one clutch of up to eight eggs
An edible garden in pots
Join Lucy Bellamy in creating an edible container garden for all seasons, as she harvests what's ripe now and starts later-season crops
Garden craft with kids
Fill the summer holidays with fun nature makes for kids, including botanical printed t-shirts, seed sowing in upcycled food containers and a hanging home for beneficial insects. Jaime Johnson and family show you how
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Using a colour theme is an easy way to give any garden a strong, unified character - Nick Bailey shows you how
Indoor plants, outdoor treats
Break the rules and give your house plants a summer holiday, with Michael Perry's mixed pot display ideas
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
The first few weeks of summer are a good time to get spring-flowering plants in shape. Follow Frances' guide for best results
Gardening for wellbeing
As the pressures of modern living bear down, our outside spaces can provide soothing respite for our minds and bodies, says Arit Anderson
Your greenhouse guide to A fruitful summer
Get the best from your greenhouse fruit and vegetable crops this summer, with these tried and trusted growing tips from Adam Frost
Stars of the show
Agapanthus is the perfect midsummer plant, flowering with spectacular blooms from June onwards and, as Monty explains, it loves to grow in a pot