Dahlia Bishops Children Mix

Grown from the seed of the famous ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ and inheriting most of what makes it good: near-black bronze foliage, and open single or semi-double daisies in scarlet, tangerine, apricot and deep pink that look lit up against it.

The economics are the argument. A named dahlia tuber costs the better part of ten pounds and gives you one plant. A packet of ‘Bishop’s Children’ gives you a bed of them for less than that, at around a metre tall, flowering from midsummer to the frosts. At the end of the season you can lift the tubers, store them dry and frost-free, and replant bigger plants next spring, so the packet is a one-off cost.

Being seedlings, they vary. Most come with the dark foliage, but a proportion will be greener, and the flower colours are a lottery within the warm range. If you want uniformity, buy a tuber. What you get here instead is a bed of individuals. The open centres are worth noting too: bees and butterflies can actually use these, which is more than can be said for the densely packed show dahlias.