Why I Oughta...

Can we take a moment to reflect on the current state of the University of Illinois Fighting Illini Athletic Programs - specifically...the big two:  Football and Hoops.  What a week.  We beat that baby tyrant Shane Beamer and his "shoulda been in the playoffs" South Carolina Gamecocks in a game where we ran the Barge formation multiple times (love that).  Followed by a late night (last night) road win for Men's hoops at #9 Oregon - where the Illini won by 32 points - the largest ever road victory against a Top-10 opponent. When they ask me about the Salad Days...I'll tell them about this week.  These are the Salad Days for my Illini.  

Back in mid-December, I posted the details of my own Dahlia tuber order from Longfield Gardens that included some Maarn Ball Dahlias, Sweet Nathalie Decorative Dahlias and a bulk oder of Pablo Decorative Border Dahlias.   I say 'my own' Dahlia order because below are the details of a gift order that I was given for Christmas.  So...this is a 'gift order' of tubers and it includes one duplicate and a couple of new-to-me ones. Below is a screenshot of the order showing the tuber varieties:  I'll now be receiving some Wizard of Oz tubers, a few more Sweet Nathalies, some Zundert Mystery Fox Ball tubers and my first set of Collerette dahlias - this one named Pooh.  How can we not love a Winnie the Pooh themed Dahlia flower, right? This means I'll have (at least): 2 Ball varieties (Maarn and Mystery Fox) 1 Pompon variety (Wizard of Oz) 1 decorative variety (Sweet Nathalie) 1 collerette variety (Pooh) 1 decorative gallery variety (Pablo) Next job is to plan on where ...

We grew two Amaryllis bulbs this Christmas season - an Exotic Star Amaryllis and a Double Dream Amaryllis .  Both were 'nice' bulbs from the garden center - not a big box store kit-type bulb.  I don't seem to have posted about these in December, but one of them - the Exotic Star - took off.  While the other one (Double Dream) stayed dormant.  That has held true all the way until today - early January. The Double Dream is still dormant.  But, the Exotic Star is in full bloom with three flowers opening up and showing their stripes.   See below for a what the Exotic Star looks like currently.  Note those bottom (and side) petals being a tad LONGER than the one sticking up at the top.  That's part of the 'design' of Exotic Star Amaryllis .  So, too are the red stripes on white petals and the 'green apple' highlights.   Once the stalk(s) started to get a couple inches from the bulb, I started to water this one with the diluted alco...