As a child I could never quite master the word dahlia, I always called them bdahlias, b’s and d’s were never a friend of mine.
My Dad grew lots of dahlias his favourites were spiky deep crimson varieties, they always remind me of him (and earwigs!). He used to insist each autumn on drying the tubers that he’d lifted from the flower bed (to protect them from frost) in the airing cupboard. My Mum was never impressed by this intrusion to her line dried laundry! I snapped these dahlias in the garden at Chatsworth House on Saturday, I nipped over just in time to capture the penultimate day of the Barry Flanagan sculpture exhibition. More photos to follow.
November 2, 2012 at 12:02 am
I like dahlias too but their care is quite demanding.
November 2, 2012 at 12:36 am
As soon as I read the title of your post, I thought of the amusing Amelia Bedelia books…Bedelia sounding very similar to your bdahlia. I can visualize the scene with your dad and mum from your great description of events. Yes, dahlias do seem to harbour earwigs, and I still give them a good upside down shake before bringing any in the house! You have captured the beauty of the crimson bdahlia, and lovely that seeing them brings back warm family memories.
Amelia Bedelia book link:
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/book.jsp?id=562
November 2, 2012 at 12:42 am
I can’t wait to see your photos of the Flanagan hares – presuming you post some. I’m besotted even by photos of them – can only imagine what they must look like in person, so to speak . . . lovely, comical things.
November 2, 2012 at 8:33 am
I like some dahlias, but not the really big ones. Sadly here frosts have killed off any that were flowering on the allotments. xx
November 3, 2012 at 1:11 am
I have a feeling I’ll be replaying this story whenever I see a bdahlia. In fact there are a whole lot of things I’d be glad to sweep out of my head in order to make room for that picture.