Dahlias

Dahlias
The dahlia started life as a Mexican daisy with small flowers. The wild form is purple, but variable enough to give rise to the hundreds of colours, shapes and heights now available.

The earlier-flowering bedding varieties with their bright, long-lasting, single, double or quilled blooms, are sought after and easy to raise from seed as half-hardy annuals.

Dahlias are perennials that form underground tubers. After the first winter frost the foliage turns black and the tubers are lifted, dried and stored over winter for replanting in spring.

Some popular varieties are the singles 'Coltness Hybrids' and 'Mount Noddy', the semi-double 'Sangria', the double 'Rigoletto', and the large, red, classic single 'Bishop of Llandaff'.

If you're looking for colour from mid-summer until the first frosts of autumn, then dahlias are hard to beat. After years in the doldrums, these colourful beauties are back in fashion, with the dark-leaved 'Bishop of Llandaff' leading the way.

There are more than 50,000 different dahlias available in every shade imaginable, except the elusive blue. Plants come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, from the tiny liliput types, which reach only 60cm (2ft) tall, to the enormous showbench varieties, with blooms the size of dinner plates.

Dahlias come from Mexico and were introduced to Europe about 200 years ago. The first plants were grown at the botanic gardens of Madrid and were cared for by the Swedish assistant curator, Andreas Dahl, after whom they were named.