Andy Vernon - The Plant Lover’s Guide to Dahlias

I think its important we get this right from the start. I dont just like dahlias: I love them.

They are totally wonderful and fabulously gorgeous. Theres something about dahlias I just cant resist, and its a lot more than their incredible range of colours and forms.

Dahlias are like no other flower. They are the most variable and incredible characters, with larger-than-life personalities: from big, vibrant, bodacious bloomers with a full knicker-box of petals to delicate, daisy-like damsels to devilishly dark velvet varietiesand lets not forget some of the most eccentrically shaped and crazy clown-coloured cultivars. In late summer, when theyre standing in the sun and flaunting their flowers, they are having the most wonderful time. They brighten my day, make me smile, and hug my soul.

For a long while, the gardening good-taste brigade considered dahlias rather too much, or a bit common. Now, at long last, a dahlia revival is occurring, and a resurgence of interest in these dazzling blooms is well under way. They are the comeback queens of the herbaceous border, and are being welcomed into our gardens to inject drama, courageous colour, and some late-summer fireworks.

I feel like I have been waiting quite some time for this new dahlia craze to catch on. In 1998 I attended the Royal Horticultural Society Hampton Court Flower Show and fell completely in love with a small exhibit by Winchester Growers, which then held the National Collection of Dahlias. I remember thinking, why arent more people growing these incredible plants?

Many gardeners, growers, breeders, and aficionados across the dahlia world are playing an important role in the new dahlia revolution. In the United Kingdom, certain pivotal individuals stand out. We have much for which to thank the late Christopher Lloyd and Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff. In his iconic garden at Great Dixter, Lloyd and his head gardener, Fergus Garrett, set the British horticultural world alight. They developed an incredible exotic garden where once a formal rose parterre had stood. The garden features huge, leafy, sub-tropicalstyle planting and rich, dramatic, herbaceous perennials and annuals. It became a huge, much-talked-about hit.

Of the many dahlia varieties grown and championed at Dixter, Bishop of Llandaff was the first to be universally accepted into polite gardening circles. It became very popular in exotic planting schemes and mixed borders in the 1990s. While complementing red hot pokers, cannas, crocosmias, and heleniums, its deep black divided leaflets and rich red flowers also contrasted brilliantly with acid green foliage and giant leaves and fronds.

Dahlia Bishop Of Llandaff complements cannas at Kings Heath Park.

In some ways Bishop of Llandaff is a most un-dahlia-like dahlia, as it is compact, bushy, and almost black, with divided foliage and clean, simple flowers. It didnt cause too much curtain twitching or ruffle too many feathers, and it sat well among the accepted perennial favourites of the time. Bishop of Llandaff was first raised in the 1920s, so it is a relatively old variety, but around 60 years laterand for the next two decadesit was to become terribly in vogue and would eventually pave the way for a new fashion for smaller single and semi-double flowered dahlias, as well as dark-leaved varieties.

Not far away in East Sussex, another dahlia guru began developing a passion for dahlias. Sarah Raven uncovered wonderful new varieties and re-discovered some classics that were perfect for cutting. I was lucky enough to get to know her when I worked with her on various BBC television gardening series. We soon discovered a shared love for these plants. Sarah has done much to champion vibrant dahlia varieties in rich single colours, and she has a passion for the deepest, darkest crimson and claret types. Her eye for colour and flower form is second to none, and shes done a great deal to encourage a much bolder use of colour throughout our gardens.

Since about 2003, down in deepest Cornwall at the National Collection of Dahlias, Michael Mann, Jon Wheatley, and Mark Twyning have done sterling work to bring dahlias to a new audience. They have staged the most astounding dahlia displays at Royal Horticultural Society flower shows across the United Kingdom, often bringing plants into bloom months in advance at the Chelsea Flower Show. Mark Twyning has blazed a trail by breeding the most exciting new garden varieties. These plants are relatively small and compact, with simple single and semi-double flowers. His varieties are now some of the most popular garden dahlias in the United Kingdom. Across Europe and further afield, we are experiencing a new wave of breeding smaller, more compact varieties, perfect for domestic gardens and containers.

Dahlia Royal Visit is a charming purple-and-white blended variety.

Dahlia lover may seem like a strange term, but I like it best. I am not an exhibition or professional grower. I hugely admire men and women who can grow the blooms to complete perfection, and I appreciate the passion that ignites their quest for these ultimate blooms. But I just want lots and lots of dazzling blooms, in as many different colours and varieties as I can pack into my patch. The challenge of growing and integrating good garden varieties into quite a small suburban space is what really excites me.

In recent years Ive loved growing dahlias in all sorts of pots and containers and discovering with which herbaceous plants they look good and grow well. Im addicted to strong, vibrant colours, particularly in late summer, when the light is getting slightly lower but the evenings are still long and warm. The summer garden spectacle is reaching its absolute peak, and this is the dahlias time.

Dahlias have true international appeal. They are loved and adored all over the world in an incredible number of countries: Germany, France, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. My latest obsession is watching dahlia videos, made by passionate growers from around the world, on social networking sites. I love to study the ways in which different dahlia growers do things. Everyone has their own methods and tips, but no matter what the approach, these short films show that growing dahlias for garden display is easy no matter where you live.

Dahlia exhibitors have made the care, cultivation, and display of the plants into an art and science. This is necessary when you require absolute perfection. However, if, like me, youre really just a very keen gardener with a healthy love of all things colourful and floral, you will find that dahlias are such easy plants to grow in the garden.

Dahlia Mrs McDonald Quill. A large and dramatic bicoloured decorative.

I love propagating dahlias, growing them, collecting new varieties, and giving friends excess plants Ive grown from seed. My partner refuses to cull a seedling, so fastidious pricking out and potting on results in a lot of excess plants to give away. I love putting together simple, colourful bunches of cut blooms, or placing individual blooms in separate jam jars or vases to create a mini dahlia display in a window ledge. Most of all, I love to explore how dahlias can be grown with other garden plants as well as single specimens in containers.