Joseph Paxton began writing his definitive guide to the Dahlia* at a time when it was still popularly known at the Georgina (see posting-Dahlia or Georgina). He surmised that the name Georgina might have been given in honour of Lady Holland, who had been acclaimed as the first person to introduce the Dahlia into the country. There doesn’t seem to be any basis for his supposition, as her names were Elizabeth Vassall, although her best friend was the similarly named Georgiana, the (notorious) Duchess of Devonshire, and she did name one of her daughters Georgiana. Lady Holland had seen the plants in the botanical garden in Madrid in 1804 and sent them to Holland House, her estate in London. From there, they found their way to Kew Gardens, where, after they had flowered in 1805, William Hooker made illustrations of them (see above). The flowers are simple, singles, as were all Dahlias at that time. The yellow one, called Bidentifolia is described as having a mild scent, reminiscent of saffron- an unusual feature in a Dahlia, although our very own Margaret Denby Dahlia, created more than two centuries later, is also mildly scented. In 1824 Lord Holland wrote a verse for his wife: The Dahlia you brought to our Isle Your praises forever shall speak ‘Mid gardens as sweet as your smile And colour as bright as your cheek Lady Holland did much to popularise the dahlia, but Lord Holland was mistaken in believing that she was the first. That honour rests with another formidable horticulturalist- the Marchioness of Bute. The Marchioness happened to be in Madrid at the moment, in 1798, when the plant was brought from Mexico to Spain and through her friendship with the Director of the botanical garden there, arranged for some tubers to be sent to Kew Gardens. Unfortunately, the people at Kew made a hash of things and within a couple of years the plants were no more. An account of these two redoubtable Dahlia enthusiasts would not be complete without a mention of the keenest Dahlia lover of them all and the most powerful woman in the world at the time- The Empress Josephine. The Empress obtained her Dahlias from the same source as our Englishwomen- the Botanical Garden in Madrid and set about hybridising them so that soon she had more than 100 varieties, including the first doubles. It is said that she loved them so much that she wanted to keep them exclusive to her own garden and that when a Polish count bribed her Lady in Waiting and a gardener to steal 100 plants she was so angry that she ordered all her plants to be destroyed. This story must be apocryphal as she continued to grow Dahlias in her Malmaison gardens. Between them, these formidable three ladies ensured that before long the Dahlia was growing in every front garden. *A Practical Treatise on the Cultivation of The Dahlia (1838)
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