DAHLIA 



THE BULB BOOK 



DAHLIA 



the plants having a compact habit of 

 growth. 



3. Show Dahlias. These include 

 (i.) all self-coloured ; (ii.) all shaded 

 flowers ; and (iii.) all flowers having 

 petals of a pale ground colour, edged 

 with deeper pink, rose, mauve, purple, 

 crimson, maroon, etc. The flower- 

 heads are usually very large and 

 double, and symmetrical in outline. 



4. Fancy Dahlias. These are 

 simply large, rounded, Show Dahlias 

 having two or more colours, the 

 colour at the tip of the petal being 

 much paler than the ground colour. 

 Striped flowers, no matter what the 

 ground colour may be, are always 

 regarded as Fancy Dahlias. Ama- 

 teurs frequently confuse "Fancy" 

 Dahlias with " Show " Dahlias. 



5. Cactus Dahlias. Springing 

 originally from D. Juarezi (see above), 

 these varieties have simply taken 

 plant-lovers by storm of late years, 

 owing to their beautiful forms, mag- 

 nificent colours, and the shape, varia- 

 tion, and regularity of their radiating 

 petals, which are more or less pointed 

 and twisted. The range of colour 

 is probably greater in the Cactus 

 Dahlias than in any other section, 

 almost every shade being represented 

 except blue. Whites, reds, scarlets, 

 crimsons, purples, yellows, pinks, 

 mauves, orange, salmon, rose, apricot, 

 etc., etc., are to be found almost pure, 

 or in conjunction with innumerable 

 intermediate shades. 



6. Paeony -flowered Dahlias. This 

 is a modern section, remarkable for the 

 great size of the flower-heads, these 

 often being as much as 9 ins. across. 

 They are semi-double in character, 

 the individual florets being broad and 

 wavy, the centre being composed 

 largely of yellow tubular florets. The 

 flower-stalks are long and strong, and 

 carry the blooms well above the 

 foliage. At first there was a tendency 



amongst these Paeony - flowered 

 Dahlias to become rather " floppy "- 

 looking and drooping, but the more 

 recent creations incline one to the 

 opinion that this undesirable tendency 

 will be overcome in the course of 

 time. 



7. Giant-flowered Dahlias. This is 

 another modern group remarkable for 

 the great size of their double flower- 

 heads, the florets of which are wide, 

 flattish, or reflexed. There are not 

 many forms of a fixed character at 

 present, perhaps one of the best being 

 Souvenir de G. Douzon, which has 

 an immense reddish - scarlet bloom. 

 Others are Jeanne Charmet, lilac-pink 

 shading to pure white in the centre ; 

 Le Colosse, huge, red; Mdlle H. 

 Charvet, pure white; Madame van 

 den Dael, silvery pink ; Perle de la 

 Tete d'or, large, white ; Yellow Colosse, 

 bright yellow ; etc. 



As hundreds of new forms are 

 raised by specialists every year, and 

 as many of the older favourites drop 

 out of cultivation owing to the intro- 

 duction of new ones, it would be mere 

 waste of space giving a list of varieties 

 in each of the sections here, as they 

 would soon be out-of-date. The best 

 and simplest plan for the Dahlia- 

 lover is to consult the lists of nursery- 

 men every spring, and make a selec- 

 tion from them. Another good plan 

 is to visit the Dahlia - growers in 

 August and September to see the 

 plants growing naturally. In this 

 way it will be easy to note the varieties 

 that throw their flowers well above 

 the foliage, and thus give a more 

 brilliant aspect to the garden than 

 those shy -blooming varieties that hide 

 their blossoms amongst the leaves. 



CULTURE. Perhaps there is no 

 exotic so easily grown as the Dahlia 

 that is, leaving out such species as D. 

 arborea, D. excelsa, D. imjierialis, 

 which can only be brought to perfec- 



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