r 



260 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



March 30, 1912. 



DECORATIVE, 

 P^ONY^ FLOWERED, AND 

 COLLARETTE DAHLIAS. 



Tlie following' paper was coiitribiiW by 

 Mr. J. B. Biding to the Conference recently 

 hold by the National Dahlia Society: 



The subject of my paper may not seem a 

 particularly entertaining one, dealing as it 

 does with all the nondescript sections, as 

 apart from the recognised show, cactUiS, pom- 

 pon, and singles. I say " recognited sec- 

 tions " because they have always beeu ac- 

 knowledged by the National Dahlia Society 

 and the Royal Horticultural Society, while 

 the subjects of my paper have only just 

 began to assert their rights to be regarded 

 as recognised flowers, for until last autumn 

 neither of these societies bad granted any 

 awards to the collarette or giant decorative 

 varieties, but for some unknown reason 

 about three sorts of the collarette type and 

 one giant decorative sort gained honours in 

 1911, I think much to the surprise of the 

 committees themselves. Ait any rate, we 

 have now placed in the thin edge of the 

 wedge, and it will require very few blow.> 

 to send it home. Up to the present neither 

 of the leading societies have .-stooped to grant 

 an award to the paeon y- flowered varieties, 

 but you may rest assured they will so honour 

 them in the near future. I do not like to 

 prophesy, but I can quote you that cele- 

 brated little sentence, " Wait and see." 



I can quite understand the aversion to 

 these types from some of our growers, ama- 

 teur and professional alike, especially thot-e 

 who regard the dahlia solely from an exhi- 

 bitor's point of view, I remember the day 

 \.hcn the jiopular cactus varieties were re- 

 vilod iu tlu' same way, but we have only to 

 go back about thirty years to the coming 

 of Dahlia Juarezi, and then compare it with 

 the cactus dahlia of to-day. It is quite the 

 ^arno with the types I have to deal with: 

 there is already plenty of evidence that they 

 will be improved upon duringf the next few 

 years. So I think we can safely ask the 

 exhibitors to bear patiently with us until 

 they ascend to their particular standard. 

 Not that I think for a moment, Mr. Chair- 

 man, the exhibiting world should rule the 

 roost, for I maintain that for every exhibi- 

 tion dahlia planted in this country there 

 are at the lowest estimate a thousand others 

 that ai-e planted out in our gardens solely as 

 decorative plants, to produce a fine effect 

 in the autumn months, and the plant to sur- 

 pass the dahlia for this purpose is still un- 

 known. What have we to compare with 

 their brilliancy in colouring during Septem- 

 ber and October ? Nothing whatever. So 

 I maintain, althoug-h the dahlias that I am 

 about to deal with may not come up to the 

 exhibition standard, they do, and will, assert 

 themselves in our gardens. 



Decorative Dahlias. 



Taking the sections in their order of intro- 

 duction to this country, we come to that non- 

 descript class known as decorative dahlias. 

 "Well, what is a decorative dahlia ? I take 

 it to be a section that cannot be placed in 

 any of our recognised division^ at the pre- 

 sent day. As far as I can remember they 

 followed closely on the heels of D. Jaurezi, 

 and were first of all sent out as cactus varie- 

 ties. I am now alluding to such old varie- 

 ties as Constance, Henry Patrick, Harry 

 Freeman, Mrs. George Eeid, Maid of Kent, 

 Honoria, etc. As the cactus improved in 

 form, these round-petalled sorts were cast 

 aside, and only used for decorative purposes, 

 and, although so old now, they are still 

 grown with the same object in view, but 

 their progress was very slow for some yeara, 

 due simply to the fact that, when they ap- 

 peared in the seed beds, they were ruth- 

 lessly cast on the rubbish heap. How many 

 garden gems have been lost in this way it 

 would be diflicult to estimate, but no doubt 

 many hundreds. It is only within the past 

 ten years that dahlia growers have given 

 them any attention, but I am glad to say we 

 are now on the right track and have some 

 really good additions to this class, some of the 



most prominent at the present time being 

 Delice, clear pink; Kaiserin Augusta Vic- 

 toria, Princess Juliana, Attraction, Loveli- 

 ness, Ch. Ducrot, Gintry, Mad, Keller, 

 Source de Feu, and Mad. A. Lumiere. 



We now come to another section or sub- 

 section, generally known as Giant decorative 

 varieties. These were of Continental origin, 

 and have become more or less popular ac- 

 cording to people^s ideas. From my point 

 of view they are valuable for garden decora- 

 tion, or producing fine colour effects in our 

 boi>ders, in the front of shrubberies, rhodo- 

 dendron beds, and similar places, but they 

 are not so useful for room decoration or cut 

 flower purposes, except in certain cases, 

 where the space or receptacle is unusually 

 large. They are in some instances as large 

 as sunflowers, and the effect they produce is 

 quite gorgeous. They are not recognised as 

 exhibition flowers, therefore it is rare that 

 we see them at an ordinary flower show. 

 For creating a huge mass of colour they are 

 unsurpassed. The best selection I can give 

 are Souv, de G. Douzon, F. Grinstead, Le 

 Grand Manrton, Le Colosse, Yellow Colosse, 

 Ph. Charmet, Glory of Paris Souv- de M. 

 Silvent, Tener Alvarez, Le Triomphe, La 

 France, Mons. Gondcheaux, Mad. A. Nonin, 

 Le Fils du Ciel, Jeane Charmet, Grand Due 

 Alexis. 



Pseony-flowered Daliiias. 



The paeony-flowered section has come in for 

 more abuse from the British horticulturist 

 than any other modern type. They have 

 been described in the press by various writers 

 as *' iigly mongrels,'' bunches of coloured 

 rags>" and other similar and uncomplimen- 

 tary phrases. They came from iioliand in 

 the lirst place as som.ething new, and they 

 were, from a certain standpoint, but doubt- 

 Less you are all aware that these or similar 

 kinds were known to oiir own raisers, just in 

 the same way as they were to our Dutch 

 neighbours, but they were too busy raising 

 se^'dlings after their own hearts to think 

 of making them into a collection and placing 

 them l>efore the public. I am under the 

 impression that I was growing one of the 

 first collections in this country, at any rate 



l>efore Mr. John Gi-een had the happy in- 

 spiration of naming them paeony-flowered 

 dahlias. This, I think, was in 1904. The col- 

 lection came to me privately for trial, and I 

 well remember my judgment on them, which 

 was as follows- — "very pretty in the garden, 

 but would not take on in this country; alto- 

 gether much too roi'gh." 



But, luckily, I did not destroy the stock, 

 and after events proved that I had made a 

 mistake, for the paeony dahlia has come to 

 stay, not, perhaps, in its original form, for one 

 can see clearly year after year most striking 

 improvements not only in the colours but in 

 the form of the flowers, and, greatest of all, 

 the advance that has been made in the habit 

 of the newer plants, with their sturdy growth 

 and fine stiff stems. I am looking forward to 

 seeing great development in the near future. 

 In passing, one must acknowledge the valu- 

 able help given by the superintendents of 

 our public parks, by educating the general 

 public as to the uses of this particular (sec- 

 tion, and those of you who have seen the 

 diplays in the London parks will agree with 

 me when I say these have done far more to 

 popularise this flower than any trade dis- 

 plays ever could do in so short a period. 



I should like everyone to regard the pa&ony 

 dahlia as a garden flower, and not judge it 

 from an exhibitor's standpoint, and I do not 

 think that staging large disbudded flowers 

 will help it forward in the least degree, 

 though I am prepared to admit that where 

 they have to l>e displayed in large vases or 

 bamboo stands the surplus buds and lateral 

 growth have to be rubbed out to obtain a 

 long stem, but for ordinary floral work this 

 is quite unnecessary. I do not advocate 

 producing huge flowers either for garden or 

 room decoration, for by so doing the stem 

 will not remain rigid without artificial sup- 

 port- It has been said that we have no guide 

 or standard to work u]3 to. This may be 

 true, but if we take the Geisha or Liberty 

 an ideal paeony flower, we cannot go far 

 wrong. No doubt in the next few years we 



shall be able to discard all those sorts that 

 do not carry their flowers erect and, well above 



_ foliage 



Varieties are now so numerous that it ie 

 im.possible to mention all that I think are 

 good, so I shall confine myself to one dozen 

 varieties: Bertha von Suttner, Nora Lind- 

 say, The Geisha, Holman Hunt, Liberty. 

 South Pole, Mrs. G. Gordon, Mrs. J. B. Rid- 

 ing, Titian, Codsall Gem, Merveille, and 

 Kuskin. 



Collarette Dahlias. 



We now come to the collarette type, a sec- 

 tion that has been very much to the front 

 during the past two seasons, and no doubt 

 the coming season will see it very much in 

 evidence. It is not a new type, as many 

 people suppose, for it has been grown in 

 this country at least eleven years to my 

 knowledge, but, like a good many other 

 plants, its worth was not recognised at the 

 time — I believe because the first variety, 

 President Viger, was not very free flower- 

 ing. 



I have it on the authority of Mon. Maurice 

 Rivoire that the collarette dahlia appeared 

 in the year 1889 in the municipal gardens of 

 the Park Perle de la Tete d'Or, at Lyons. 

 The first two varieties appeared as sports on 

 different plants, but he does not name the 

 varieties that so sported, but he writes me. 

 "The fact of the simultaneous appearance 

 upon two different plants of a character so 

 abnormal is truly extraordinary." The varie- 

 ties having been obtained in an official es- 

 tablishment could not be sold therefrom. So 

 Meissrs. Rivoire and Son acquired them and 

 placed them in commerce in 1901. Tliese 

 varieties or sports were President Viger and 

 Joseph. Joujou. Since that period this firm 

 has introduced many excellent varieties, and 

 Mons. Rivoire says he is persuaded that this 

 section has not said its last word, and that 

 it yet holds some surprises in store. He 

 lays great stress on the fact that last year 

 the collarette dahlias were remarkable tor 

 their continuous flowering wlien all other 

 kinds of dahlias had almost ceased to flower 

 owing to the extreme heat. It seems to nit 

 that while our French and German neigli- 

 bours have been steadily improving tins 

 section, we in this country failed to recog- 

 nise their merits at all. True, a few ot 

 added some fresh sorts, but in a very det^m- 

 torv fashion— why I do not know. 1 eui^ 

 pos^ because they were not fashionable, ana 

 consequently there was very little deinana 



for them. , , ^ j :a^a 



It was in the autumn of 19(J9 that I decided 



to form a large collection, so I P"'^^^^ 

 almast every variety I could lay hancb 

 both in France and Germany, and ^^'^^H 

 them in London and elsewhere the foHo^^^S 

 autumn, staging them as decorative flower 

 and not show specimens. As you ka|>^' 

 were favourably commented on m i^ 

 of the horticultural Press. -I He 

 dahlia specialists also began to se-e so 

 thing in the type, with the result that la^ 

 year several of the leading dahlia gro^^J 

 made features of them at the autumn sho^^- 

 with the result that the collarette as a i p 

 has come to stay. I do not claim that tn : 

 will oust any other section, neitliex 

 desirable they should do so; but i ao 

 that they are worthy of a place m ""J f„„ 

 dens. W majority are very free aovvering 



while the plants have a good s""^y, rpij. 

 and throw their flowers well above tiie _ 

 age, while in a cut state in 

 pear to la«t longer than the ordinary smg 



form. ,1 rounJ 



We have two distinct types, tn« ^^.^^ 

 flower with slightly recurving flore^^s, ^^^^ 

 are all of French origin ; and 5/^*", th* 

 type or star-like form, which hails ^'^^^i 

 Fatherland. Then, again, we have 

 " collars," the close fitting ^ne as s ^^^^^ 

 the variety Maurice Eivoixe, x' ^^^^ 

 loose one that is associated witn 

 Rothschild. No doubt we shall^sooii^^^^^ 

 provement both 



form. At present 1 tavom ^^^^gr 



flowered varieties, because ^^^y f^^m W^"^ 

 substance, and travel best. J- 



the round 



