Milena Fleur Dahlias In Bloom - September 2024

2024 continues to be (for me) the Summer of the Dahlia.  Specifically....the Milena Fleur Decorative Dahlia.  Last Fall/Winter, I ordered six Milena Fleur Dahlia tubers - my first mail order dahlia tubers.  I also bought a couple Cornell Bronze Dahlia tubers at the same time, but based on what I was seeing/reading from Erin the Impatient Gardener on her Instagram, I bought MORE Milena Fleur dahlias than anything else.  

There was A LOT to like about these:  they're 'compact' - meaning they stay short and don't require staking.  As a beginning Dahlia grower, that was important.  But, also...the color.  These are billed by White Flower Farm as "blossoms that blend tropical shades of coral pink, papaya, and gold."

My journey started earlier this Spring when I potted up the six Melina Fleurs in one-gallon nursery pots - indoors.   At the very beginning of May this year.   After they sprouted, I started to bring them up and outside for hardening off - a little bit at a time.  Once the threat of frost had passed - about three weeks later - I moved them outside and planted them in our garden.  Three in the sideyard.  Three up front - under the Triumph Elm (where my three Disneyland Roses that died were planted).  

Six-or-seven weeks later - in mid-July...I had my FIRST Melina Fleur dahlia bloom.   Now...it was small and on a SUPER short stalk.  It still was the first peek at what was to come.

The blooms were slow - but steady - from mid-July until they started to get more prolific by late August.  Here's the first Dahlia cut flower arrangement in Late August.   At the end of August, I posted a few photos showing what the plants looked like:  mid-sized with a handful of blooms emerging.  

Since then - for the past two-plus-weeks - we've been IN BLOOM.  Here's another countertop arrangement.   

Then...the pests arrived.  Those little green lady-bug-looking things.  And the earwigs, of course.  But, also something new to me:  budworms.  And fuzzy caterpillars.  I pinched those off and have kept an eye on the one infested dahlia plant.  So far, so good.  (*knock wood*).  

And, now - in mid-to-late September, we're ROLLING with blooms.   See below for a look at the three Melina Fleur Dahlias planted in our front porch bed - right under the Triumph Elm.  

This is THREE tubers, but one of them has been unproductive.  It is JUST NOW starting to put out some of its first blooms - the small ones.  The other two are ranging with blooms.  

I did a 'getting to know' some other dahlias post a few weeks back where I educated myself on a few new (to me) varieties of dahlias.  Next year I'll certainly try to grow others.  But...Melina Fleur dahlias?  I'll grow them again.  100%.