Dahlia inspiration - Sarah Raven's garden

I used to be dead set against dahlias. I thought they were old fashioned and a bit naff. That's until I visited UK gardener Sarah Raven's garden in East Sussex, where she has half a garden dedicated to these zesty little bloomers. My opinion has been changed and I can see that they bring much needed colour and brightness to the world, just as most summer flowers are beginning to wilt and fade and the keen gardener is facing winter stuck inside right in the face. I have grown four varieties of dahlias myself this year, but before getting onto that I thought I would share some of my favourites.

I now know what I like in a dahlia, I like it bright, and ideally I like it pinky-coral. Its not until now as I am sorting through the pictures that I realise that most of the ones I took a picture of, because I particularly liked them, are basically coral-coloured. I have also decided I prefer single-flowered or collarette types, rather than the big 3D balls of the pompom dahlias. Annoyingly I did not choose to make a note of any of the varieties which is just daft because I couldn't now buy them even if I wanted to. Maybe they weren't labelled? I can't remember. Some are for sale raven's website, and some I will have to hunt down on the internet.

The combination of totally tangerine and panicum elegans is a winner
in my book, the grass picks up the pink hues of the dahlia, its textural.
Its almost too much

First up is the only one that does have a name and the one that pretty much sums up what I appreciate in a dahlia. Totally tangerine is a single flower whose petals are pink at the tips and bleed to yellow near the centre. The middle of the flower is a frilly mass in bright orange. And I love it. Simple but bright and uplifting. What really made these is the fact they were buried in a cloud of panicum elegans which is a pink tinged grass. After seeing this combo I ran out and bought the grass, but not the dahlia bizzarely. Straight on the shopping list it goes.

Love this waltzing mathilda, its fun and I love a bit of coral

Next up and continuing the coral theme is this sock-it-to-you number. From her website it seems most likely to be 'waltzing mathilda.' Talk about highlighter bright. I love everything about this, the slight twist to each of the petals, the vividness. So pretty. This would liven up anybody's day.

Bright eyes is the most vivid shocking pink set against yellow. Think we know where the inspiration for the name came from

Moving more to the pink side of the spectrum, I thought this one was rather lovely. Some investigation skills on Raven's website reveals this one to be 'bright eyes'. Such a deep bright pink set off by the vivid yellow. I appreciate the simpleness of this. I thought the second photo showed the same dahlia, but I actually think it is 'tahoma moonshot'. What a way to flower! It doesn't appear the petals ever fully unfurl, but it adds a bit of variety.

This tahoma moonshot is a bit different. Like a starfish with too many legs.
In shocking pink

On the orange side I photographed this orange ball. I like the colour of 'happy halloween', a bit of zesty orange never goes amiss in the garden, but im not actually such a fan of this shape in a single monotomous colour like this. I just think its a little boring.

No offence to happy halloween, but other than resembling a pumpkin,
I just think its a little dull

Similarly this one, potentially 'wizard of oz', now im at home looking at the photos im not sure why I felt the need to particualarly capture it. I think the baby pink colour is a little insipid and overly feminine, but not in a good way. I don't know, maybe the picture hasn't captured it in its best light. Its a bit bridal for me as well.

Similarly wizard of oz is a bit of a bland insipid pink

What I much prefer are these bicolour pompom types. I think the way this one has white petals with a thick outline in dark pink really makes the most of the fact it is 3D, unlike the single-coloured ones which are just a bit dense. Maybe it just depends on the colour. Im not even that taken with the actual colours, but the overall effect is more pleasing.

Not sure what this one is, and its not my favourite by far, but I do prefer pompom style dahlias coloured like this

This one however, is most definitely my favourite. The combination of orange and baby pink - a winner in any colour scheme - is incredible and the way it seems back to front to me - orange suddenly transitioning out to baby pink - is really effective. I love it. It pains me this one is not on her website for sale. Im going to have to make it a top priority to track down what this is and buy it.

My favourite! So snazzy

Rather than make this post 3 miles long with twenty photos I will save part two of my dahlia inspiration for another day, before moving on to what I have grown this year. Clearly dahlias are not as naff and boring as I initially thought!