Even rational individuals can go crazy about plants. Well, even empresses could behave in a way we might find a little odd or very odd. That was the case of Empress Josephine and her flower garden at Malmaison where she kept her collection of dahlias. She was totally head over heels in love with her beloved plants. Unfortunately, it was a poor case of blind love. She was so jealous of her plants that she had not let anyone look after them (which was very wise on the other hand, because taking care of any plant in the garden is a very healthy physical activity). But the reason was different, Josephine did not want anyone to possess any of the precious tubers whose price was comparable to the price of diamonds. Of course, some of the tubers "leaked out" and Josephine having learned that had the whole collection destroyed. Today it would meant a lot of work as there are more than 20 thousand cultivars of this Mexican beauty and the number is growing.
Dahlias grow in Mexico and became part of European collections thanks to multiple visits Spanish "curious" people paid to that country in the past. They were the first, followed by other more peaceful botanists and the career of dahlia was launched. But as a source of food. Actually, the dahlia tubers look like potatoes but they do not taste the same. They contain a polysaccharide called inulin, slightly sweet in taste. Those who first ate them in Europe did not like them at all. Apparently they did not know anything about healthy dieting. That lack of knowledge saved dahlias from oblivion as more beauty than food concerned people looked at its flowers and forgot about the tubers. And the process of breeding new varieties started including side-effects like plotting, jealousy, bribery and all sorts of craziness hard to imagine today.
Dahlias are precious beyond description. Summer garden without dahlias is like - paraphrasing the words of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin- a beautiful women without an eye (the original words were about a dinner without soup). But there is no beauty without effort and dahlias require quite a lot of it. First of all, the famous and problematic tubers cannot be left in the garden for winter because they are very frost-sensitive. They must be dug out and stored in cool and dray place which is another nuisance. Than we must protect them from mice which do not mind the sweet taste of the tubers, just the opposite. Next, we have to secure a good site in the garden protected from strong winds, especially if we want to look after those tall cultivars with gigantic flower heads. We plant the tubers when the danger of spring frost spell is over, and we cannot forget about watering, supporting, controlling the diseases and so on. But it all means virtually nothing or even less than nothing the moment we see the magnificent flowers open and... we start to understand Empress Josephine or hatch a plot that might trigger emotional roller-coaster. With dahlias everything is excused!
Dahlias are precious beyond description. Summer garden without dahlias is like - paraphrasing the words of Anthelme Brillat-Savarin- a beautiful women without an eye (the original words were about a dinner without soup). But there is no beauty without effort and dahlias require quite a lot of it. First of all, the famous and problematic tubers cannot be left in the garden for winter because they are very frost-sensitive. They must be dug out and stored in cool and dray place which is another nuisance. Than we must protect them from mice which do not mind the sweet taste of the tubers, just the opposite. Next, we have to secure a good site in the garden protected from strong winds, especially if we want to look after those tall cultivars with gigantic flower heads. We plant the tubers when the danger of spring frost spell is over, and we cannot forget about watering, supporting, controlling the diseases and so on. But it all means virtually nothing or even less than nothing the moment we see the magnificent flowers open and... we start to understand Empress Josephine or hatch a plot that might trigger emotional roller-coaster. With dahlias everything is excused!
Jarek
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