Why are dahlias so popular? Is it because of its beautiful variety of colors? Or perhaps because of the striking shape of its flowers? Or maybe it could be because of its refreshing smell? We can’t really be sure, but one thing we do know is that we love to see them decorating any garden. Therefore, we will dedicate this short post to list the 5 most striking gardens where you can go to enjoy dahlias.
What are dahlias?
Before we dive into dahlia gardens, let’s learn a little more about these plants. Dahlias belong to the Compositae family. Native to the country of Mexico, this perennial has compound leaves and beautiful, large, double-folded flowers in a wide variety of colors.
The flowering cycle of dahlias is in summer and fall. Starting in the first days of summer and can extend until the end of it or the first days of autumn. Although it is characterized by growing well in hot climates, too much heat can cause a stop in flowering.
If you are a lover of floral plants for the garden, there is no doubt that you must love dahlias. Its flower not only has a special beauty, but it also floods any environment with its fragrance. In case you decide to grow it in your garden, you will have to take into account several points when caring for it, at least if what you want is to enjoy a good flowering.
Among the most important points that you should keep in mind is taking care of the lighting. He loves places with a lot of sun exposure, but in summer, where the sun is very intense, he may prefer a place with some shade. You must also take care that the place where it is located has good air circulation, otherwise various problems may appear during cultivation.
A good tip to improve the flowering of your dahlias is to apply a fertilizer low in nitrogen, and with a high percentage of phosphorus. A mix that can work very well is 5-10-10. You should apply it a couple of weeks before flowering begins.
1. The National Collection of Dahlia
The UK National Dahlia Collection has its dahlia growing fields at Varfell Farm, near Penzance in Cornwall. There are over 1,700 varieties of dahlia to see growing in this 1.5-acre display garden. The fields are open to the public in the Dalhia season and many of them are sold as cuttings.
2. The Salutation Gardens
The Salutation Gardens is a garden located in the UK, which in recent years has amassed the largest private collection of dark-leaved dahlias. It has more than 100 varieties of dahlias, among which you can find different shapes, color and height, being able to adapt to almost any situation, both to grow in the garden and in pots. This garden was designed in 1912 and is still freely accessible to this day.
3. Verheggen´s Garden
The Verheggen family created this garden about 50 years ago, designed by the owners themselves, this garden is divided into several parts, such as a four-color garden, a rosario, an English border garden, a shade garden and a collective garden. In recent years he has specialized in dahlias, where you can not only see them but you can also buy some of these beautiful plants.
4. RHS gardens
The RHS is the UK’s leading gardening charity, promoting gardening in many ways. Among them, one of the most important is that it has four gardens. Especially the garden in Wisley has a large number of varieties of dahlias, if you visit during the blooming season you will be delighted to see dahlias of all possible colors. 🙂
5. Aston Pottery Gardens
In the Aston Pottery gardens they have a dahlia garden, next to the parking lot, which looks spectacular in the fall, with 112 varieties of Dahlia. There you can not only enjoy nature and the beauty of the flowers, you can also have a good coffee, eat a cake or whatever you like to enjoy a good walk.
With the latter we end this short list of gardens where you can go and enjoy the beauty of dahlias. If you visit any of them, don’t forget to come back here and comment on how good you found it.
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