The woman who couldn’t stop growing dahlias

A single pink dahlia has grown into something far larger: Anna May’s ever-expanding dahlia collection is what can happen when a hobby meets passion and persistence

A galanthophilist is the term for a snowdrop collector, xerophiles for succulent lovers and an orchidist is a cultivator of orchids – but it seems there’s no official name for those devoted to dahlias.
‘Perhaps a dahliaholic?’ says Anna May, who has been growing them in her West Dorset garden for 12 years. One glance at the rows of them in her growing field in high summer and it’s clear this is no casual dalliance with the South American flowers.
Her giddy enthusiasm is infectious. As she talks, her energy mirrors the flowers themselves – generous, colourful and impossible to ignore.
It all began with a single plant. At a small horticultural sale in Beaminster Square, Anna spotted a dahlia and ‘just had to have it’.
She can’t remember the variety now, only that it bloomed into the most stunning pink.
‘I was completely smitten,’ she says. ‘I just had to get more.’
The following year she bought seven, the next year it was 30 … then a few hundred.
She became fascinated by the extraordinary geometry of the petals – from the drama of spiky cactus dahlias to the perfect symmetry of ball dahlias with their neat, layered forms.

Dahlia takeover
Anna’s passion rapidly usurped the family home. ‘The most I’ve ever potted up is just over a thousand,’ Anna says. ‘They were everywhere. The dining table was so full no one could sit at it and I even hijacked my children’s playroom.’
But 1,000 potted up corms leads to even more hard work. That spring, every single pot had to be ferried in and out of the house to harden off before planting out. ‘It was ridiculous – so much effort it nearly finished me off,’ she says. ‘And my family, too.’
Despite the scale of what she’s created, Anna has no formal horticultural training and would never describe herself as green-fingered. Her background was in the City, before a move to Dorset changed her pace of life. Alongside growing flowers, she’s an accomplished cookery writer with a successful food blog, also working as a judge and co-ordinator for the prestigious worldwide Great Taste Awards.
Other than the ‘arduous’ task of tasting hundreds of delicious products, her year is dedicated to dahlias. Spring sees boxes of new tubers from UK suppliers, feeding her self-confessed dahliaholic tendencies. Her existing tubers are meticulously checked, trimmed and split to create yet more plants. ‘They’re so generous,’ Anna says. ‘You buy one plant and it gives you three or four more. I keep telling my husband Gerald that’s such good value for money!’

A field of colour
Gerald is drafted in to help dig the beds, while Anna hand-weeds the rows ready for planting tubers directly into the ground instead of the traditional method of potting on first: ‘I tried this way for the first time last year and it worked well,’ she says. ‘But you must be so careful about late frosts. I live on my weather apps.’
What was once a ‘tame and manageable’ garden project has now spread into an adjoining field: seven rows, each 25 metres long, plus nine beds in the vegetable garden and an overflow area in her back garden. Last year saw a feature on BBC Gardener’s World and coverage in national press.
Planting days happen in June and are one of her favourite times. ‘It’s so exciting,’ she says, though she admits to ‘being rather precious.’ Dahlias are carefully staked to rein-in undisciplined growth and varieties are arranged into colour co-ordinated rows graduating from gentle pastels to vibrant statements. ‘If a rogue colour appears – a yellow among the pinks – I do remove it,’ she says.
That attention to detail isn’t solely for her own pleasure. Florists and brides travel from across the county to select flowers directly from the field. ‘It means I can take them straight to the colours on their wedding scheme,’ Anna explains.

Cut and talk
Dorset Dahlias is largely a one-woman operation. During peak wedding season, Anna cuts the flowers herself, heading out at dawn or dusk to snip up to 300 stems at a time. ‘I certainly get my steps in,’ she says. ‘Dahlias have hollow stems, so as soon as they’re cut, they need to go straight into water in a cool place. That means me repeatedly walking back to the water buckets at the ends of each row.’
Much like King Charles, she also believes in talking to her plants. ‘I’m always chattering away to them,’ she admits. ‘Telling them they’re doing well … or that they need to try harder, or else!’
Flowers bloom from late July until November, weather permitting. A September frost, which has struck over the past two years, is her constant fear. ‘I panic, covering everything with fleece,’ she says. ‘September is one of the most popular wedding months and I’m committed to many orders. My caveat to all brides is that I can’t control the weather … but I will do everything I can to find a solution.’
There’s little time for summer holidays. ‘I’m happy to be here,’ Anna says. ‘It’s a lovely place, even if my own garden gets neglected’. Even when she wanders over to the dahlia field with a glass of wine in the evening, dogs Tom and Billy at her heels, she finds it hard to switch off. ‘I’ll start deadheading or tidying’, she says.

Anna admits there was never a grand plan for Dorset Dahlias. ‘I just like the flowers. I’ll keep growing dahlias for as long as I enjoy it,’ she says. November brings the least glamorous job of all – the backbreaking task of lifting hundreds of tubers in the cold and wet.
‘It’s hideous! And you’re exhausted because it’s the end of the season. That’s the time I always say I’m never doing this again!’
But, of course, she does. Once those tubers are laid out or Anna catches sight of a new beauty at another horticultural show, she’s entrapped again.
‘They’re just so beautiful and generous. It’s so hard to say no!’
Get in touch with Anna via dorsetdahlias.co.uk and look for her as @dorsetdahlias on socials

Quickfire questions for Anna May:

Favourite dahlia?
Gosh, it would be easier to choose a favourite child!
I’ll plump for Linda’s Baby, a peach ball with extraordinary geometry.

Five must-have dahlias?
Labyrinth – soft and shaggy
Gerrie Hoek – spectacular soft pink flowers
Linda’s Baby – my absolute favourite
Cornel Brons – brilliant ball-shaped variety
Chat Noir – rich, velvety and goes with everything
Books by your bedside?
Gardening and cookbooks!
Actually I listen to audiobooks when I’m in the field, I love spy and detective stories. I adore the Strike novels by Robert Galbraith.

A-list dinner party?
Elvis, Ian Fleming, my grandparents Jock and Eileen who lived in Ryme Intrinseca. Both were keen gardeners, they’d be surprised to see me growing dahlias! Nelson Mandela, whom I’ve met, and our late Queen. Imagine seeing the Queen sitting next to the King of Rock and Roll!

Interview by Tracie Beardsley