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Happy Fibonacci Day and Happy Thanksgiving!
Huh, you say? Indulge me for a minute while I geek out on a date that is pertinent to the dahlia and also happens to lands on the upcoming holiday. November 23 is celebrated as Fibonacci Day because when the date is written in the mm/dd format (11/23), the digits in the date form a Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3.
Naomi Slade, author of Dahlias, Beautiful Varieties for the Home and Garden, explains in her gorgeous book that the pattern of cell division in a classic Ball dahlia follows the Fibonacci sequence: each number is the sum of the two that precede it, so you get 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. Here are two fun YouTube videos that explain the sequence.
What is the Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio?
Fibonacci Sequence in Nature
Fibonacci (c. 1170 – c. 1240–50) was considered to be the most talented Western mathematician of the Middle Ages. Often called ‘Nature’s Universal Rule’, he invented a sequence of numbers that shows up constantly in nature, physics, and design. The Fibonacci sequence, also known as the golden ratio or divine proportion, is said to be a mathematical connection between two aspects of an object. It can be found across all of nature: plants, animals, weather structures, human anatomy, waves, star systems, dahlias – it is ever-present in the universe. Because the human eye can process it faster, the sequence can cause our brain to feel satisfied or pleased because of the simplicity and orderliness. For dahlia growers it is an indication how we value the regular pattern of Fibonacci in blooms.
Ball dahlias…”are a joy to an ordered mind. The tight twist of petals emerges from the center in an expanding spiral, reflexing ever backwards to disappear towards the stem. Their show-bench heritage is clear and as a group, they are still popular with exhibitors, while florists find their erect stems and strong shape useful in arrangements.” Naomi Slade
Cat Haglund from the Montana Natural History Center explains the benefit of this distinctive pattern in her blog, Flowers & the Fibonacci Sequence. “Well, by packing as many petals, leaves, and seeds into the available space, plants maximize their exposure to the sun. But plants can’t arrange their parts the way we’d pack a box of fruit, starting at one corner and working in rows, left to right. They grow outward from a central point, a tiny cluster of cells at the tip of each growing shoot called the meristem. To complicate matters, the meristem can’t expand in all directions at once. Instead it produces new cells one at a time in a spiral pattern. The new cells grow radially away from the meristem as the meristem grows upward.”
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