Love dahlias but craving something with a bit more drama than your average cheery tuber? It’s time to come over to the dark side
It all started with ‘Bishop of Llandaff’. Raised on a Cardiff nursery in 1924, this dramatic dahlia was picked out by the Bishop, a friend of its grower, and named for him. It went down a storm, and in 1936 The Spectator magazine reported: “the most popular flower of the moment in many parts of England in any test is the dahlia known as ‘Bishop of Llandaff’.”
the combination of elegantly dissected bronze foliage and vivid scarlet semi-double flowers fired the imagination of gardeners UK-wide, and spawned a number of imitations. Other dark-leaved varieties with different flower colours and forms also became popular, particularly among those responsible for town and seaside parks.
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