The New Peony? Try Decorating With These Instead

A Note From Our Guest Editor*, Geraldine: Today, I hope to inspire you with one of my favourite flowers, the dahlia. I thought I’d share with you some of the interesting facts that I’ve learned about this colourful bloom, and show you how I have decorated with them in my home.

Did you know that they symbolise “yours forever”?

I quite like the thought of dahlias as an alternative to roses for Valentine’s Day. What do you think?

Dahlias come in different sizes.

I remembered seeing one on Instagram at nearly 20cm in diameter. It was stunning. I have been on the lookout for one like that ever since.

They come in a variety of colours too, from pinks, to purples, to oranges, whites, reds and yellows.

I bought these bright pink dahlias from Columbia Road flower market in East London.

I have been collecting colourful recycled tins for a while, too.

I wanted to use them as table decor for a “make your own tacos” party. Since dahlias originally came from Mexico, using them for a Mexican-themed party was the natural choice. I placed a small vase of water inside the tins for the flowers to prevent the metal from rusting.

As you may have gathered, we drank a lot of coffee so that I could get this beautiful tin. (…at least it was decaffeinated.)

Here’s a little workspace vignette:

The colours are so bright and beautiful, they just bring instant joy. I would love to have a colourful garden filled with dahlias. Can’t wait to plant them next spring. They are apparently easy to grow, but need a lot of winter protection. The latter may be tricky for me.

There are lots of other ways that you could decorate with dahlias. You could use them as cake toppers or even when they are dried out, use them to make an autumnal wreath.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the post. I would love to know how you would decorate your dahlias. Have a lovely day, all.

This post originally appeared on Geraldine’s blog, HERE. Stay tuned for more design-inspired posts to come from her later this month!

*The views and opinions expressed by Darling’s Guest Editors are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views or position of Darling Magazine.

Images via Geraldine Tan