Dahlia David Howard, among grasses and late flowering salvias, catching the November sun..
The dahlias are almost over – the inevitable frosts are heading our way, to blacken the foliage and signal the time to lift and protect the tubers until next spring. This particular variety, compact and with already dark leaves and small, beautifully formed orange flowers, has been a star right through the season, mixing well with crocosmias and kniphofia, agapanthus, grasses (like here), similarly dark-leaved alstroemerias (Indian Summer, I am thinking), the sultry dark reds of Lobelia cardinalis… I’ll be using it myself again next year and have a few months to think up new partnerships. With the low slant of November sunshine, planted as here at Kew, it is unbeatable!
A link here for The National Dahlia Society – reading a plenty…http://www.dahlia-nds.co.uk/about_dahlias/Dahlia_Cultivation.htm
The Teddington Gardener 