Packed with 64 chromosomes and a long pedigree, dahlias should please just about anyone’s taste. ‘Dahlias come in 18 different forms and 10 different sizes, from one inch to 16 inches,’ says dahlia expert Robert Papp, who will share his expertise and enthusiasm with members and friends of the Palisades Garden Club on Monday, October 6, 7:30 p.m., at the Palisades Woman’s Club, 901 Haverford. The national flower of Mexico, the dahlia has found its way to North America after a trip through Europe, originating in Spain, where the tubers were thought to be tasty, like potatoes, but were not’not even to animals. In the 1800s, the English fancied the ‘dinner plate’-size blooms while the French preferred the cactus type. The flower is named for Swedish botanist Andreas Dahl, who was a friend of Carolus Linnaeus. Linnaeus originated the modern scientific classification of plants and animals. Papp, a confessed dahlia nut, grows 260 plants in his Long Beach garden’no more grass. Dahlias grow from tubers, which sprout in the spring and flower in the summer. The tree dahlias, which can reach heights of 30 feet, are the last to bloom, coming into their own as late as November. In his talk, Papp will show just a sampling of the more than 60,000 variety of dahlia and discuss the growing requirements and potential problems related to the flower.
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