The Dahlia

Of course, I’d love to write about the daffodil, but I also need to stay on track and try to get you, my dear newsletter reader, excited about the dahlia.

I have to admit that over the past few years, I’ve fallen quite a bit in love with the dahlia. Of course, the daffodil remains my favorite bulb, but the sheer splendor of the dahlia’s summer blooms is truly unparalleled. A round of applause for the dahlia.

(By the way, “Applause for the Dahlia” is a really fun and cheerfully written book by Marie Mul. Google it—it’s a must-have for any dahlia lover.)

Years ago, I would have looked at you in amazement if you’d told me that I’d one day be completely smitten with dahlias. I wouldn’t have said anything, but I’m sure I would have thought, “That sweet person is a little crazy.” All that commotion in the garden caused by those flashy, colorful flowers—I really don’t need that. 

Dahlia Strawberry Ice

But then again, when you start an online flower bulb shop, your customers are bound to ask if you sell summer-blooming bulbs. So I decided to head over to the Dahlia show garden to see what was available. I wasn’t disappointed at all; not all the dahlias lived up to the hype I’d expected them to create. In fact, there were some truly beautiful ones with delicate flowers on lovely, healthy plants—I really enjoyed them. But the big surprise came two weeks later; it turned out they were even more beautiful. And two weeks after that, they were still just as beautiful—it seemed as though the dahlias would never stop blooming. After a few visits to the dahlia show garden, I was sold.

De Dahlia tuin bij De Tulperij

Let me explain what the Dahlia Show Garden is. Every year, the dahlia growers jointly plant a garden where they display all their varieties. They do this primarily to show flower bulb traders what’s currently in stock. In recent years, they’ve been doing this on a small field next to De Tulperij at Oude Herenweg 16B in Voorhout, near Lisse. I’m including this address on purpose because, as a dahlia lover, you’re also more than welcome to come and enjoy the dahlias. If you happen to be near Lisse in August or September, you really should stop by. The managers of De Tulperij, Anja and Daan Jansze, will even treat you to a nice cup of coffee.

Dahlia Mikayla Miranda

And another great thing about being interested in a particular plant is that you end up reading and talking more about it. You’ll discover that there’s a whole world behind the dahlia; there are summer flower parades featuring dahlias, dahlia clubs, and even Keukenhof has a beautiful dahlia garden surrounding Keukenhof Castle during the summer months—definitely worth a visit for dahlia lovers.

Dahlia Twynings White Chocolate

What struck me is that botanists have classified the dahlia, just like the daffodil, into various different groups. Based on the shape of the dahlia’s flower, it is classified into a specific group. For example, there is a group for single-flowered dahlias, anemone-flowered dahlias, water lily dahlias, decorative dahlias, pompom dahlias, cactus dahlias, fimbriata dahlias… and I could go on to list as many as 14 different groups of dahlias.

Dahlia Thomas A. Edison

In the Fluwel online store, I don’t make any of these distinctions; it’s all just a bit too complicated for me, and I suspect that most gardening enthusiasts just want beautiful dahlia flowers and won’t care whether a particular dahlia belongs to the Cactus Dahlia group or the Semi-Cactus Dahlia group.

Dahlia Bishop of York

In my experience with daffodils, I’ve found that gardeners generally don’t feel the need for that kind of information. I’ve also noticed that those who are interested have already done a lot more research on daffodils or dahlias. They’re often the people I turn to when I want to know something.

Dahlia Karma Serena in de tuin bij Kasteel Keukenhof

But all of this is just background information that the dahlia you’re about to plant in your garden probably couldn’t care less about. It won’t pay any attention to any of this and will simply bloom beautifully in your garden.
Seriously, if you haven’t had any experience with dahlias yet, give them a try—who knows, you might end up loving them just as much as I do.

Just keep an eye out for snails after planting.

Bulbocodium daffodil ‘China Jewel,’ one of the new varieties at our nursery.

I just can't resist ending with a beautiful daffodil—after all, it is spring.

Best regards,

Carlos van der Veek.