Autumn dahlias in the Sofiero castle garden

The summer of 2011 was mostly rainy and windy in the Øresund region. However, the first official autumn days have been rather nice. I spent a pleasant afternoon in the Sofiero castle garden enjoying the colour symphony of the autumn dahlias:

Click for larger images

I do not know very much about garden plants, but here is some information on dahlias from Wikipedia:

Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, some like D. imperialis up to 10 metres tall. Dahlia hybrids are commonly grown as garden plants. The Aztecs gathered and cultivated the dahlia for food, ceremonies, as well as decorative purposes,^[4] and the long woody stem of one variety was used for small pipes.
Dahlias are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Angle Shades, Common Swift, Ghost Moth and Large Yellow Underwing.

The dahlia is named after Swedish 18th-century botanist Anders Dahl

Since 1813, commercial plant breeders have been breeding dahlias to produce thousands of cultivars, usually chosen for their stunning and brightly coloured waxy flowers.

PS

I could not resist adding this pic with a butterfly on a leaf in the Sofiero castle garden: