Published earlier this month, Dahlias: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden is a captivating celebration of the dahlia combining Georgianna Lane’s sublime photography of single cultivars and mixed arrangements with Naomi Slade’s lyrical and engaging text. I’ve been looking forward to reading Dahlias since May, when Naomi mentioned the new book she’d been writing. Having been kindly sent a review copy a couple of weeks ago, the first half of August has been filled dahlia joy – watching the first flowers emerging in the garden and discovering new cultivars in the book.

Such variety of colour and form

The History and Botany section offers a fascinating insight into the Mexican origins of our garden dahlias and the history of dahlia breeding and classification. Recently, I’ve become interested in the physical manifestation of colour and the language used to describe it, so I particularly enjoyed the section on ‘Colour Magic’ where Naomi explores the relationship between optics, biological systems and our perception of colour. If you need help to distinguish your Balls from your Pompoms or to differentiate between a Collerette and a Waterlily dahlia, then Naomi’s explanation of dahlia classification is a good place to start.

Pompom and Ball dahlias are particular favourites of mine

Once I began reading about individual varieties, the temptation to compile a list longer than the depth of my pockets was overwhelming. Naomi explores different dahlia styles from ‘Romantic’, through ‘Fabulous and Funky’ and ‘Dramatic and Daring’ to ‘Classic and Elegant’ and it’s easy to see why there’s a dahlia for every border, container and flower arrangement. Details on each variety include height, spread, flower size, its suitability as a cut flower and practical advice about which other plants and colours make good combinations. There’s even a list of alternative varieties in case you can’t get a particular dahlia or if you wish to explore flowers with similar forms or colours.

Cafe au Lait is one of the best for soft arrangements

It’s almost impossible to pick favourites as Geogianna’s images capture the essence of each flower so beautifully and Naomi offers compelling reasons to grow each variety – even those which you wouldn’t normally choose. I might have considered Dahlia ‘Pooh’ a tad on the garish side with its ‘dark orange petals dipped in custard at the tips, and a handsome golden ruff in the centre’, but the three pages of images of ‘Pooh’ in a garden setting alongside the information that it has a RHS Award of Garden Merit and is a prolific flowerer with blooms that are ideal for cutting, had me reaching for the pen to add it to the list.

Cricket enjoying my blazing Dahlia ‘Firepot’

I was pleased to encounter old favourites like the refined ‘Twyning’s After Eight’, the cheerful Happy Single series and the sultry depths of ‘Thomas A. Edison’ and I fell for some new varieties too. ‘Jomanda’ is a delicate ball dahlia with petals that ‘wax and wane in size’ washed with sunset tones. It has an Award of Garden Merit and is a good cut flower. ‘Neon Splendour’ attracted my eye with its flamboyant decorative form and neon orange, apricot and gold petals. Described as ‘cheeky, riotous and slightly decadent’, I like the advice to ‘grow it with plants that are equally splendiferous – the smaller sunflowers, delphiniums, Amaranthus caudatus or Leycesteria formosa.‘ This type of pragmatic knowledge about how the plant performs in a real garden setting and as a cut flower helps to set each dahlia in context and, in this case, demonstrates the practical potential of showy ‘Neon Splendour’. 

‘Happy Single Date’ combines compact growth with deep chocolate maroon foliage

The dahlia at the top of my unfeasibly long list by the time I’d reluctantly reached the last page was the fresh, understated ‘Eveline’. The patterning on this small Decorative dahlia is exquisite and the mauve eye is surrounded by petals of the purest white. Naomi introduces ‘Eveline’ as ‘romantic and ethereal, this lavender-flushed bloom recalls milky dawn mists over a late summer meadow.’ It’s the combination of these evocative descriptions with the clarity and detail of the photographs that makes each new variety irresistible. Once you’ve read Dahlias there’s no return – it’s a one-way ticket to a lifelong obsession.