Still life in red tones

GEORGINA (DAHLIA) - named after the Finnish botanist Andreas Dahl. The Russian name was given in honor of the Petersburg botanist, geographer and ethnographer I. Georgi. The first tubers were brought to Europe at the end of the 18th century - they were sent to Madrid from Mexico by Spanish settlers. Andreas Dahl (hence the Latin name) considered them a vegetable, not a garden flower, but when the first large-flowered double dahlia varieties were bred in Belgium in 1815, interest in edible tubers switched to flowers - and the madness began. In just a few years, all the colors that we admire to this day have appeared. In those days, spherical and small decorative dahlias enjoyed special love, today the affection of gardeners has shifted to large decorative and cactus varieties.