Dahlias, darling

I'd be hard pushed to tell you what my favourite flower is, but dahlias would definitely be on the shortlist. I love their loud, overblown colourfulness and big, bold shapes. I've loved them for years, since the good old days when you could buy them cheap in the greengrocers for £1.50 a bunch. They've become more popular in recent years and so of course that means more expensive, but they're still lemonade pocket-friendly, and last a good long time.

On my way to work, I pass a garden packed to the rafters with huge, multi-coloured dahlias, and it never fails to cheer me up and shake me out of my morning stupour. I stopped this morning to try and take a pic - I was battling with the mist slightly, but hope you get the idea.

Inspired, I've looked in every greengrocers and flower shop this side of the Chilterns, and there's not a dahlia to be purchased anywhere - should've pinched some from this person's garden (I was tempted...). The garden centre have told me that it's easy to grow your own, so I've bagsied a patch of Popeye's allotment, and come spring, I'll don my wellies and get digging. x