Dahlias

Lyon and the Rhone Alpes region were a true nursery of dahlia creators. The Tete d’Or Park and the Botanical Garden contributed to some discoveries such as collarette dahlias, which would be born spontaneously in the early 1900’s, in Pr Gerard’s cultures – Pr Gerard was the director of the cultivation service at the City of Lyon..

Here are some varieties created at the Tete d’Or Park and the Botanical Garden, others surely exist but we have lost their trace.

Perle de la Tete d’Or
Cactus dahlia, obtained in 1893 by Jules Chretien (chief of the Tete d’Or Park’s cultures), white, from 175 to 200 cm high

Beauté Lyonnaise
Cactus dahlia, obtained in 1893 by Jules Chretien, the middle and the extremity of each petal is white and the boarder is red

Mme René Gerard
Simple dahlia, obtained in 1898 at the Botanical Garden, currant red with white stains that blend progressively

Mme Faucheron
Anemone dahlia, obtained by Mr Gaffiat (chief gardener at the Tete d’Or Park), purple, 40 cm high

Mme Canal
Decorative dahlia, obtained by Joseph Goujon (chief of the Tete d’Or Park’s cultures), this dahlia is dedicated by Pr. Gerard to the wife of Mr the prefect of the Rhone. Dahlia with a pure lemon yellow colour at the bottom changing to peach flower pink then purplish lilac on the extremities

Mme Daniel Gerard
Colossal dahlia, obtained in 1913 at the Tete d’Or Park, bright yellow coloured

Mme Curtelin
Colossal dahlia, obtained at the Tete d’Or Park, bright red coloured

Mme Herriot
Colossal white dahlia, obtained in 1907 at the Tete d’Or Park

Monsieur Vermillon
Colossal dahlia, obtained in 1907 at the Tete d’Or Park, pale red coloured

Jupiter
Collarette dahlia, obtained in 1908 at the Tete d’Or Park, bright yellow with carmine red stripes, collarette bright yellow coloured

Pluton
Collarette dahlia, obtained in 1900 at the Tete d’Or Park, golden yellow strongly washed of red, collarette bright yellow coloured

Joseph Goujon
Vermilion collarette dahlia, obtained in 1900 at the Tete d’Or Park, yellow with vermilion stripes collarette

Pan
Madder red collarette dahlia obtained in 1908 at the Tete d’Or Park, amber yellow collarette

President Viger
Dark red collarette dahlia obtained in 1900 at the Botanical Garden, white collarette tainted with red

Mme Charles Guernier
Decorative dahlia obtained in 1931 at the Botanical Garden, dark apricot coloured in the middle, the bottom of the petals is chromed yellow going paler, red striped and pale purplish scraps, 130 cm high.

Jules Chretien
Simple dahlia, obtained by Jules Chretien at the Tete d’Or Park, bright red, 80 cm high.

That’s why we have developed a dahlia collection that we settled in 2002. Regarding all the existing varieties we chose to show 5 kinds of decorative and cactus dahlias :

• Varieties created before 1960 whoever are their creators
• Varieties created until 1970 or later if they are rare for french creators
• Rarities
• All the collections of Mr Louis Laurent (french creator from Indre who created many cultivars between 70’s and 90’s) whatever the dahlia is
• All the varieties obtained in the Tete d’Or Park or the Lyonese region when we manage to find them