Paris 2024 Olympic Dahlia: A Flower for the City’s Gardens
Hosting the Olympic Games is a major undertaking, and Paris also sought to leave its mark through the city’s green spaces. Flowers played a memorable role during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: a specially cultivated dahlia brightened the city, while the Algerian delegation paid a moving tribute on the Seine during the opening ceremony.
Tribute from the Algerian delegation
At the Paris 2024 opening ceremony on July 26, the delegations paraded aboard boats on the Seine River rather than inside a stadium. During the boat parade of the Algerian delegation , which also included representatives from Afghanistan, South Africa, Albania and Germany, the athletes threw roses into the Seine River to pay tribute to those who fell in the Paris Massacre , which took place on October 17, 1961.
The Algerian Olympic Committee through its official channels declared:
“In memory of our righteous martyrs, the Algerian delegation throws flowers at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on the Seine River, and specifically on the bridge where our righteous martyrs were martyred, may God have mercy on them.”
Creation of the Olympic Dahlia
For the 2024 Olympic Games, Paris planted a remarkable dahlia developed by its own horticultural team: the ‘Parc Floral de Paris’ variety. Bright red, this iconic flower is the embodiment of Olympic passion, which brightened Parisian gardens during the summer of 2024. A vibrant floral tribute to the sporting event of the year.
«The idea was to select a flower that we made with our own hands and that was different for us, something that you couldn’t find anywhere else»
David Lacroix, Head of Department of DEVE, Paris Department of Green Spaces and the Environment.
Paris’s Department of Green Spaces and the Environment (DEVE) maintains the city’s parks and gardens. Its horticultural team compared the dahlia’s vermilion color to the Olympic flame.
Created in 2016 by Christophe Kneblewski, the variety was originally named “Parc Floral de Paris” dahlia, in honor of the DEVE laboratory there, where it was grown in vitro. Although dahlia season is in full swing in late summer, this variety was chosen for its hardiness and early flowering. In this way it would be perfectly synchronized with the Games, from mid-July to the end of September.
The adventure of this exceptional variety began in the laboratories of the Paris Floral Park, where the Olympic Dahlia came to life in jars meticulously supervised by the flower’s creator, Christophe Kneblewski. Certainly, Its petals in the colors of the Olympic flame underline the emotional connection between the flower and the spirit of the Games.
This hybrid variety was developed by the horticultural team at the Parc Floral de Paris in the Bois de Vincennes. The City of Paris selected it as the emblematic bloom for its parks and gardens during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games; it was not an official flower designated by the International Olympic Committee.
In early 2024, the propagated tubers were planted en masse in municipally owned horticultural production fields in Rungis, south of Paris. They were then used for the city’s spring planting. “We were a little worried about the conditions this spring because it rained a lot and there wasn’t much heat or sun, but they did well,” Lacroix says.
In 2024, more than 50,000 of these dahlias were planted in 150 green spaces in the city. From larger parks like Trocadero to smaller, more secluded gardens, like Place Édouard-Vaillant in the 20th arrondissement or the Dosne Foundation garden. — Thiers in District 9. They stand out: their colorful ray florets spread outward and upward like fireworks over towering stems and dark foliage.
The variety was chosen for its resistance and early flowering, in sync with the Games, from mid-July to the end of September © Frédéric Combeau/Ville de Paris.
“We have set the bar high for the summer of 2024 so that all our gardens are the most beautiful and welcoming, to the great pleasure of Parisians and visitors,” says Lacroix.
The Lacroix team grows many of their own plants and even trees for the city’s green spaces. This work formed part of the municipal greening program promoted during Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s administration. In addition to planting new landscaping, the team is adding greenery along streets, avenues and in front of schools. “There is a huge program to green the city, including diversifying tree and plant species,” he said.
Creating new varieties, like this dahlia, is less common. Yet it is a passion, Lacroix says, for Kneblewski, who is a dahlia expert and enthusiast. He is responsible for the Parc Floral dahlia garden and the collection of 420 varieties.
Every autumn, the Parc Floral holds an international dahlia competition. The Olympic variety did not enter the 2024 contest and was not used in bouquets presented to athletes. Beyond the parks and gardens, it appeared in floral displays at municipal venues, including the Hôtel de Ville. It became part of the city’s horticultural identity during the Games.
The Olympic dahlia showed how horticulture can transform public spaces during a major sporting event.
If you want to know more about dahlias, I invite you to read the article
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