Thursday 2nd September 2010
The Gay Mother, 86, doesn’t like her dahlias – or some of them. ‘The size of dinner plates,’ she says. Bought by accident locally. Not ordered from a specialist nursery. ‘What could I have been thinking! I ought to know what “large-flowered, double” means.’
She’s despondent about her garden generally. The deer have sat on it, or eaten it; the late annuals have hardly grown for lack of warmth. But really it’s marvellous and the colours much better than in a well-known nearby hortus (that’s Latin for garden, because I didn’t want to put ‘garden’ again) done by a jumped-up professional.
You just can’t have orange and crimson and a terrible sort of chemical electric pink together – with pale blue agapanthus for punctuation – and conifers!
I forgot to tell you that in July when I was with her, the Gay Mother appeared in my bedroom first thing saying, ‘I know there’s a recipe in Jane Grigson for a blackcurrant sauce to have with duck. But I can’t find it.’ She’d been up since six. Her blackcurrant bushes were at that time abundant. She was determined to range beyond puree. We found the Grigson sauce, jettisoned her cassis and vinegar (ugh!) and put red wine. It was a success.
Gay Mothers are where it all started. They are to be followed as well as outdone. As in the matter of the crusts – see graph below
The Gay Mother's Dinner Plate Dahlias
Dinner Plate Dahlias in the Gay Mother's Garden. See Normal Size Next To..
These Colours Together in Well-Known Nearby Garden
Chemical Electric Pink Dahlia in Nearby Well-known Garden
The Gay Mother's Aga-done Rusk-Crust - a Drinks' Time Snack Suggestion
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Surely dahlias can never be polite? Like certain PLRGs often mentioned here, they are supposed to be large and loud and colourful, elbowing their way to the front of any assembly.
I’m afraid I like both the Gay Mother’s dinner-plate ones (beautifully grown, incidentally) and the rich colour combinations of her neighbour (though not of course his conifers, mercifully excluded from the photos).
Dear Adrian Edge
When you say that you had forgotten to tell us about the Gay Mother blackcurrant incident, you may have forgotten that you had indeed told us (3 August). Forgetfulness about one’s mother’s forgetfulness is terribly poignant.
N Taudevin
Solange is thrilled to have this note on cooking. She has struggled the entire summer to create something wonderful with blackcurrants. Now we have the answer.
She has also been on at me to get in a man to help with the garden. I have been suspicious of her motives and now I see what your mother has achieved – exceptional beauty – I will tell her to pull herself together. She will manage on her own.
I do find, like RN, that a little rudery in the bushes can always be a pleasure.
Who knows what you might find among the dahlias
But did I give the duck sauce recipe or indeed mention the duck incident?
Unfort my graphs don’t catch the true horror. Do drop by and see for yourself. Yes, I think you’re right about dahlias. The very large ones do droop though.
D) Babylon Bronze Dinner Plate Dahlia (2), Award winning dahlia in stunning complex shades of orange, with apricot and rust highlights. Mother of the Bride Dresses