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| Gardens: give dahlias a chance | Gardens: give dahlias a chance |
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| Dahlias have an image problem. Even though garden gurus such as Monty Don and Sarah Raven are big fans, a lot of us still think of dahlias as old-fashioned and a bit of a fiddle. | Dahlias have an image problem. Even though garden gurus such as Monty Don and Sarah Raven are big fans, a lot of us still think of dahlias as old-fashioned and a bit of a fiddle. |
| Not so, insists Nick Gilbert – and he should know: he grows some 400 varieties, arranged alphabetically as a kind of living dahlia dictionary, in a field near Romsey in Hampshire. “You truly don’t need to fuss,” Gilbert says. “Dahlias will grow in any soil, and the only thing they really need is sunshine.” | Not so, insists Nick Gilbert – and he should know: he grows some 400 varieties, arranged alphabetically as a kind of living dahlia dictionary, in a field near Romsey in Hampshire. “You truly don’t need to fuss,” Gilbert says. “Dahlias will grow in any soil, and the only thing they really need is sunshine.” |
| And now is the perfect time to order dahlias for planting, ready for a display that will stretch from July to summer’s last gasp. And there’s no shortage of choice. Come August, you could probably see Gilbert’s dahlia field from space – a one-and-a-half acre blob of sizzling colour. The colour range is vast and the variety of forms bewildering: flowers shaped like stars, orchids, waterlilies and anemones; cactus forms of various degrees of shagginess; spirograph tennis balls and collerette types, with complex layers of petals; there are even dahlias you could grow for the beauty of their leaves alone – the delicately ferny Dahlia coccinea, say, or the glossy, pewter-leaved D. ‘Magenta Star’. | And now is the perfect time to order dahlias for planting, ready for a display that will stretch from July to summer’s last gasp. And there’s no shortage of choice. Come August, you could probably see Gilbert’s dahlia field from space – a one-and-a-half acre blob of sizzling colour. The colour range is vast and the variety of forms bewildering: flowers shaped like stars, orchids, waterlilies and anemones; cactus forms of various degrees of shagginess; spirograph tennis balls and collerette types, with complex layers of petals; there are even dahlias you could grow for the beauty of their leaves alone – the delicately ferny Dahlia coccinea, say, or the glossy, pewter-leaved D. ‘Magenta Star’. |
| While most dahlias grow to 3-4ft, there are also 2ft dwarf varieties and beefy six-footers, and for every dayglow monster sitting stiffly on its stalk like a child’s windmill, there are half a dozen graceful plants that will integrate successfully into the most naturalistic border. The single and collerette forms offer a munificent late food source for a wide variety of pollinators. No wonder Gilbert’s dahlia field, which is managed without chemicals, hums with bees well into November. | While most dahlias grow to 3-4ft, there are also 2ft dwarf varieties and beefy six-footers, and for every dayglow monster sitting stiffly on its stalk like a child’s windmill, there are half a dozen graceful plants that will integrate successfully into the most naturalistic border. The single and collerette forms offer a munificent late food source for a wide variety of pollinators. No wonder Gilbert’s dahlia field, which is managed without chemicals, hums with bees well into November. |
| Dahlias can be planted out only once the risk of frost is over. Pot the tubers up into large pots (two to three litres is fine) with good-quality multipurpose compost, so the stump is just visible above the surface. Put on a sunny windowsill or in a greenhouse or potting shed, keep the compost just moist and plant out in borders or large containers once the risk of frost has passed. | Dahlias can be planted out only once the risk of frost is over. Pot the tubers up into large pots (two to three litres is fine) with good-quality multipurpose compost, so the stump is just visible above the surface. Put on a sunny windowsill or in a greenhouse or potting shed, keep the compost just moist and plant out in borders or large containers once the risk of frost has passed. |
| After that, there’s not much to worry about, Gilbert says. “It’s a good idea to stake them, and they’ll flower better if you feed them ... a handful of fish, blood and bone three times over the season is plenty ... but the only thing you absolutely have to do is deadhead. In other words, keep picking them.” | After that, there’s not much to worry about, Gilbert says. “It’s a good idea to stake them, and they’ll flower better if you feed them ... a handful of fish, blood and bone three times over the season is plenty ... but the only thing you absolutely have to do is deadhead. In other words, keep picking them.” |
| And what to do at the end of the growing season? “If your soil is light and free-draining, leave the tubers in the ground over winter, as we do here,” Gilbert says. If not, dig them up three weeks after a blackening frost, hose to get rid of the muck in the crevices and cut off stems level with the tubers. Pack the clean, dry tubers in a polystyrene box (the kind greengrocers use for watercress), and check them now and again: if they look shrivelled, give them a light misting to firm them up. Plant into pots mid-March and start watering. | And what to do at the end of the growing season? “If your soil is light and free-draining, leave the tubers in the ground over winter, as we do here,” Gilbert says. If not, dig them up three weeks after a blackening frost, hose to get rid of the muck in the crevices and cut off stems level with the tubers. Pack the clean, dry tubers in a polystyrene box (the kind greengrocers use for watercress), and check them now and again: if they look shrivelled, give them a light misting to firm them up. Plant into pots mid-March and start watering. |
| Or don’t bother, advises Gilbert. “After all, most people will happily spend £20 or £30 on bedding plants and throw them away at the end of the season. That will buy you a lot of dahlias, which will also give you months of colour.” So treat your dahlias as annuals, and if they survive the winter, it’s a bonus. It doesn’t get much easier. | Or don’t bother, advises Gilbert. “After all, most people will happily spend £20 or £30 on bedding plants and throw them away at the end of the season. That will buy you a lot of dahlias, which will also give you months of colour.” So treat your dahlias as annuals, and if they survive the winter, it’s a bonus. It doesn’t get much easier. |
| Nick Gilbert’s top easy dahlias | Nick Gilbert’s top easy dahlias |
| ‘Albert Schweitzer’ A semi-cactus with a curve in the pink and yellow petals that gives it a raffish, informal look. Big leaves and masses of flowers. | ‘Albert Schweitzer’ A semi-cactus with a curve in the pink and yellow petals that gives it a raffish, informal look. Big leaves and masses of flowers. |
| ‘Badger Twinkle’ A small cactus form with purple and white upswept petals held on long, grey stems. A refined but very easy dahlia. | ‘Badger Twinkle’ A small cactus form with purple and white upswept petals held on long, grey stems. A refined but very easy dahlia. |
| ‘Bishop of Auckland’ Dark red, velvety single flowers perfectly set off by shapely, burgundy foliage. The best of the Bishops. | ‘Bishop of Auckland’ Dark red, velvety single flowers perfectly set off by shapely, burgundy foliage. The best of the Bishops. |
| ‘Black Monarch’ This gorgeous giant decorative form has much more dash than the better known blacks, with silky, lime-green sepals peeping between layers of deepest red-ridged velvet petals. | ‘Black Monarch’ This gorgeous giant decorative form has much more dash than the better known blacks, with silky, lime-green sepals peeping between layers of deepest red-ridged velvet petals. |
| ‘Blue Bayou’ An unusual anemone form to grace any border, with mauvy-lavender outer petals around a darker, tightly packed pincushion centre. | ‘Blue Bayou’ An unusual anemone form to grace any border, with mauvy-lavender outer petals around a darker, tightly packed pincushion centre. |
| ‘Chimborazo’ A striking pattern of red and yellow, yet its pleasing stature and airy habit make it a very usable border plant, especially among grasses. Lush and floriferous. | ‘Chimborazo’ A striking pattern of red and yellow, yet its pleasing stature and airy habit make it a very usable border plant, especially among grasses. Lush and floriferous. |
| D. coccinea A tall dahlia with a lovely, loose, nodding habit, with small, orangey-red, single flowers borne on slender bronze stems. A real bee-magnet. | D. coccinea A tall dahlia with a lovely, loose, nodding habit, with small, orangey-red, single flowers borne on slender bronze stems. A real bee-magnet. |
| ‘Daisy’ Like a tall Japanese anemone, but with more presence, with waxy, white, yellow-centred flowers that bloom for months. Graceful but sturdy, and very easy to place. | ‘Daisy’ Like a tall Japanese anemone, but with more presence, with waxy, white, yellow-centred flowers that bloom for months. Graceful but sturdy, and very easy to place. |
| ‘Disneyland’ A wackily coloured collerette that’s a great choice for children: easy to grow, resplendently tall, with masses of blooms in paintbox shades of red, orange, primrose and lime. | ‘Disneyland’ A wackily coloured collerette that’s a great choice for children: easy to grow, resplendently tall, with masses of blooms in paintbox shades of red, orange, primrose and lime. |
| ‘Little Sally’ A sturdy bush bearing chirpy little red pompons that look like a poppy-coloured echinops. Works wonderfully with grasses. | ‘Little Sally’ A sturdy bush bearing chirpy little red pompons that look like a poppy-coloured echinops. Works wonderfully with grasses. |
| ‘Magenta Star’ Semi-translucent, single, starry flowers held on black stems set off by elegant, dark foliage. Looks delicate, but acts tough. | ‘Magenta Star’ Semi-translucent, single, starry flowers held on black stems set off by elegant, dark foliage. Looks delicate, but acts tough. |
| ‘Thomas A Edison’ A very easy decorative form, with bright green foliage and handsome, dark stems, bearing sumptuous great heads of regal episcopal purple. | ‘Thomas A Edison’ A very easy decorative form, with bright green foliage and handsome, dark stems, bearing sumptuous great heads of regal episcopal purple. |
| • Gilbert’s Dahlias is open daily except Mondays. The dahlia field is open from 12 August until mid-October. | |