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Empress Josephine Introduced Dahlias

Empress Josephine introduced dahlias.

It is spring and time to think about planting dahlia tubers.

Down in my basement I have containers of dahlias that I stored there right after last Thanksgiving. They now sit, wrapped in newspapers, in large plastic containers

Within the next few weeks I will take them outdoors, inspect each, and plant them for that unbeatable fall color that dahlias provide in the garden.

From its home in Mexico the dahlia has been on a long journey to become a gardener’s favorite.

In the early 1800s Empress Josephine introduced the French to dahlias.

English garden writer Penelope Hobhouse says in her book Plants in Garden History, “Josephine was one of the earliest to develop dahlias (already by 1789 cultivated as varieties in the botanic garden in Madrid), obtaining new seeds of species through the botanical explorers Aim Bonpland and Friedrich Humbolt direct from Mexico.”

Josephine cultivated her dahlias in the gardens at Malmaison, her summer palace.

Napoleon liked the formal garden style that one could enjoy at the grand garden of Versailles.  Malmaison, however, took on the design that Josephine preferred, the more natural look of the English garden, with its lawns and scattered trees. [below

View of the Park at Malmaison [Artist, Auguste Simon Garneray]
Josephine loved gardening, and developed her garden as plant collections, including roses, begonias, cape heaths, and dahlias, according to English garden writer David Stuart’s book The Plants that Shaped our Gardens.

Dahlia historian Martin Krahl agrees.

He writes in his fascinating study called Of Dahlia Myths and Aztec Mythology: The Dahlia in History  “The Empress was single-handedly responsible for introducing many exotic plants to Europe.”

After Josephine received some of the earliest dahlia seeds in France, her love of dahlias would spread.

Around the same time that she was growing dahlias in her garden, England and other European countries, then America, also adopted the dahlia.

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