Dahlia Molly Raven

The 'Molly Raven' Decorative Dahlia is named after Sarah Raven's daughter, a famous gardener, writer, and cook across the Channel. This dahlia comes from her own garden in Perch Hill, Sussex. It features rich dark pink stripes and marbling on a base of petals ranging from magenta to brown and light pink. Its foliage and sturdy stems in dark purple-green intensify the contrast already present on the flower. Quite tall and majestic, its stunning flowers are small in size. For abundant and prolonged flowering, from July until the first frost.

Dahlias are tuberous plants from the large family of Asteraceae, originally native to the high plateaus of Mexico. At present, the thousands of horticultural varieties created by humans have invaded, to our great pleasure, gardens all over the world. Dahlias are classified according to the shape of their flowers. 'Molly Raven' is classified in the category of Decorative Dahlias. In this group, the colourful ligules of the head are arranged regularly in a spiral, they can be curved towards the stem or even fringed. In this variety, the heads measure 11cm (4in) in diameter and the ligules are oval and slightly raised. The flowering takes place from July to October-November. The plant reaches a height of about 1.20m (4ft) and a width of 60cm (24in), with an upright habit. The very branched stems are hollow and the leaves are opposite, pinnatisect, meaning they are divided into 3 or 5 leaflets, which form very denticulate lobes. The leaves are dark purple-green and the stems are tinged with purple.

If you take care to remove faded flowers, you will benefit from a prolonged flowering period. Even more enjoyable, create beautiful full bouquets with the generous dahlias by combining various varieties. Lighten the silhouette of decorative dahlias by pairing them with more airy flowers such as Gauras, salvias or Echinaceas. Fine-foliaged plants like grasses play the same role and add beautiful golden spikes. Place 'Molly Raven' in the middle of a bed of shrubs and lower perennials. Shrubs with purple foliage like Loropetalum form a beautiful backdrop for this pink variety.

As the star plant of cottage gardens, Dahlias are undoubtedly beautiful flowers. They are perfect in flower beds, but can also enhance the vegetable garden. In Mexico, this tuberous plant was initially cultivated as a root vegetable for consumption. Its poor taste quickly relegated it to the status of an ornamental plant. Since then, the interest in their beautiful exuberance has never waned.