Why I Oughta...

Last week, I posted about how there were a few Disneyland Roses that were still popping-off outside .  A couple days ago, I decided to cut them off and bring them inside to stick in a vase.  Who doesn't want Disneyland Roses for Thanksgiving, right?  I don't totally understand how (or why?) these are blooming, but I'm happy to take the flowers.  At the same time, I fear that these tender parts won't harden-off before *REAL* winter arrives.  But, in the end...does that really matter?  In the past, I've cut the canes down to under a foot in the Spring and the new growth comes out of those canes.   Here, below, are a couple photos of the Thanksgiving Disneyland Roses.  These are dark pink.  Darker than they are most of the growing season.   Here, below, is a look at some of the posts I've written about my experience with Disneyland Roses via this Google Search widget:

The season REALLY *is* winding down now.  And the colors of the Melina Fleur dahlias are changing color to be much more middle-pink with little yellow appearing aside from the center seed head.  These three went out the door to folks all at the same time.  They each have some Dusty Miller, Arkansas Bluestar and some fern fronds in them.  Each of them are in thrifted or recycled jars (mason or jelly).  My rough count shows that these are (around) the 40th arrangement of the season.  A few with roses, but mostly these ball, pompon and decorative dahlias.

While I haven't stopped 'deadheading' the dahlias, I *have* stopped cutting any blooms off the Disneyland Roses in the sideyard.  I'm hoping that they'll handle the frost and Winter, despite the late-season growth.   Like the dahlias, they're POP'ING OFF right now.  Here, below are some photos showing the blooms (in various stages) of our Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) on a few plants.  I last cut some of these about 10 days ago and put in a vase ( post here ).  Since then, I've left all the rose hips on the ends of the stems in an attempt to allow this plant to run its full growing cycle before the frost arrives. 

Yes, the season is ending soon.  And, yes, we still have plenty of flowers.  There's some thinking around 'letting your dahlias go to seed' and stop 'deadheading' them weeks before your first frost.  That way, they can finish up their growing cycle and begin to wind down and put energy back into their tubers.  But, I'm thinking....that's for professional growers.  People who are in the business of selling tubers.  Me?  I'm (apparently) in the business of cutting dahlias and putting them in mason jars along with some other bits of foliage from around the garden.  Here, below, are four recent arrangements.  All the same.  It is, for me, getting a little monotonous.  But, that's not the case for the recipients.  These four went to four different places - some on our block, some as gifts and others to my Mom and Sister.    Speaking of gifts....some good news:  I was able to get back about a half-dozen jars.  I'v...

Below is a photo showing one of the Zinnia blooms vs the ball dahlia Wizard of Oz (for comparison).  I think this might be a Zinnia Dreamland Coral from Northwind Perennial Farm, but I don't seem to have posted about it this year.  This Zinnia is tucked into the original IB2DWs bed and besides watering, I've mostly left it alone all season.   One of the things that I'm guilty of is cutting Zinnias 'too early'.  For these blooms, I opted to leave them on for longer (than I normally would) and this turned into a massive ball-shaped Zinnia bloom.

The blooms keep coming, but this time I'm back posting about the Disneyland Roses.  A few days back, I shared photos of all the blooms on the shrubs and then posted about the large growth some of the new ones experienced this year ( one of the Disneyland Roses is four-feet-tall and probably four-feet across ).  In the photo below, you can see some of the flowers that I 'farmed' (get it...flower farming??) and put in this weird, tall glass.  It has a pedestal and I wanted something long and skinny, so I fished this out of the cabinet and pressed it into service.   One of the big differences that I've begun to observe in cut flowers is how different flowers act differently once in the vase.  For the most part, Dahlias mostly stop changing, once they're cut and put in an arrangement.  But, these Disneyland Roses? They keep changing.  Opening up and becoming prettier every single day they are around.  Until...they start to drop their petals....

Another day, another dahlia cut flower arrangement.  The usual suspects:  Melina Fleur, Wizard of Oz, Avanetti, Mystery Fox.  Along with some Autumn Fern fronds, Garden Ghost Artemesia and a Lucky Charm Anemone stem.  All tucked into a white Milk Glass vase.  This one was put together very quickly and sent out the door to Nat's good friend for her birthday.  

Yesterday, I posted some photos of our Disneyland Roses in bloom and mentioned that one of the Floribunda roses had gotten very big.  Below is a photo showing the largest one.  It is newly planted earlier this year.  And, the tallest sections are at least four-feet tall.  And the whole thing is wider than four-feet wide across the center.  I've had knee-high Disneyland Roses in the past and the product listing from Jackson and Perkins describes these as 3-feet-tall plants.  So, either they're happy and well-fed.  Or, there's something else going on like the root-stock pushing the plant taller.   This size poses a over-wintering challenge.  I can't do what I've done previously and top this with leaf litter.  It is too big.  This one may just have to survive winter on its own.

The newly planted (this season) Disneyland Roses are really popping off these days, too.  Blooms on top of blooms.  I was pretty good about feeding these monthly and treating them with multiple ways for pests and fungus:  systemic as well as topical spraying.  I also was deliberate in deadheading them and removing the rose nips.  The result are the largest, most productive Disneyland Roses I've ever grown.  They also have the longest stems of any Floribunda Rose that I've ever grown.   Below are a few shots showing the current state of these roses.  I'm going to stop deadheading them and hope that there won't be much new growth being put on in the final weeks before frost.

I let the various Zinnias that are in the vertical garden (Greenstalk) go for a bit longer than I likely should have in terms of cutting and ended up with dozens of them all at the same time.  The mass of stems is as thick as a Big Gulp from 7-11, so I ended up using a large, wide-base ceramic vase to hold them all and keep it from tipping over.  Besides bringing in some hydrangeas, I'd say that this is the largest arrangement of the 2025 growing season. 

Two days ago, I posted a photo of a number of Pooh Collarette Dahlias in a bud vase that I had cut and brought in from the garden.  Today...there's another small vase that is full of even more Pooh Dahlias.  They are below in the photo.  About a week ago, I posted another photo of even more Pooh Dahlias in an arrangement and talked about how I'm cutting seven-to-ten(ish) blooms at a time (off of the two plants).   Some of the stems in this set are longer and some shorter: In that same post from a week ago , I showed a few other Collarette Dahlia varieties that I might try to buy (the tubers) this off season.  I'd like to have some that *work better* with the colors of the decorative and ball dahlias that I grow (purples, pinks, salmons, peaches).  

Here are a couple of dahlia-bloom-heavy arrangements that I brought over to Oakbrook Terrace this past weekend.  Both are filled with various dahlia types including pompon, ball and decorative.  Ivanetti and Mystery Fox are looking pretty good with their ombre looks.  And, the pinks of Wizard of Oz highlight the bright tones of Melina Fleur decorative dahlias.  There was one more that I cut and put-together at the same time, but I didn't get photos of it before it went off to its final home.  Both of these are in re-used jars.  A small yogurt jar on the left and a mason jar on the right.   These are different than the one I posted yesterday (two photos) and it is clear that dahlia bloom season is upon us.  

Another day, another mixed dahlia arrangement .  This one (below) includes some larger blooms from the Melina Fleur plants, a bunch of Ivanetti dark purple blooms and some smaller Wizard of Oz ball dahlias along with a little bit of eucalyptus, some rosemary, Dusty Miller and the Lucky Charm Anemones that are thriving right now in the back garden. The tags that show off the full catalog of dahlia arrangements include [ countertop flowers ], [ dahlia arrangement ] and [ arrangement ].  

Dahlia Season continues with pinks, purples, salmons and yellow centers.  Wizard of Oz, Melina Fleur, Mystery Fox and what I (now) think is Ivanetti dahlia blooms .   The Melina Fluers are coming into their own, but the Sweet Nathalie Dahlias continue to be VERY shy and unproductive.   I'm out of containers, so we either need to start to eat pickles (Claussen's, of course) and salsa, or I need to get to the Goodwill to see if they have any 99 cent narrow-mouth vases on the shelves.   Here is this morning's cut:

There is a season for every bloom and with our small drift of Lucky Charm Anemone, that season is "late Summer".  Here it is (below) in very late August when the first blooms are just coming on and opening up.  This will be an explosion of color for the next month - all the way right up until the first frost.  I'm not sure which I like more:  the open blooms or the closed, grey/purple-grey closed ball-like buds before they open up.   

Cut flower season continues with Zinnias of all colors and shapes and sizes.  I grew these from seed and grew (what I thought) was three varieties:  Envy, State Fair and Cut and Come Again.  And planted them up in my vertical garden .  These are growing on long stems and look good in a vase. Mixed in, amongst the straight varieties appears to be a variegated one.  Earlier this year, I bought Candy Cane Zinnia seeds , but opted to not grow them (based on what I read).  But, did one of those seeds slip into one of my other seed packages?  I think it might have: Cut flower summer continues.  

Planted in our backyard, in the new pizza oven bed is a dahlia that is new (to me):  Mystery Fox .  It is a Ball Dahlia and it is moving ahead of most of the other dahlias in our garden with the first few blooms opened up and more on their way.   Below is a look at the blooms in stages - closer to being cut vs just opening up.   The bottom photo shows the full plant - staked and filled with yellow-ish buds.  These were part of the Winter order this past off-season and this is the first time I'm growing them.  I've planted two sets of tubers - one in front and one in back.   The 'early blooming' is a (nice) surprise to me, but it shouldn't have been. The description of these dahlias lays it out : Each plant produces blossoms in a range of hues, from terracotta to coral and dusky rose. The 3 to 4" ball-style flowers are incredibly long lasting on the plant as well as in a vase. Zundert Mystery Fox starts blooming early in the season and ...

The Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias are popping off right now.  And, the earliest dahlia - Wizard of Oz - has a few open flowers.  And, the Limelight Hydrangeas are still not-quite-ready to open up their panicles.   Along with a couple of wisps of Garden Ghost Artemesia from the front yard Island Bed, we have another cut flower arrangement.   Below are a couple of photos showing this arrangement off from the front and side.  The Oklahoma Salmon Zinnias are showing up more as 'orange' right now, so do they work with the pink of the Wizard of Oz Dahlia ?  Technically...I'm unsure.  But, for me?  They work together just fine.   Around the edges are a couple of tips from the Limelight Hydrangeas in our garden: Feels like the first of many more to come this Summer.  

A few days ago, I showed the first cut flower from the set of Pablo Gallery Border dahlias that I put in the garden this year (in the backyard near the patio) and talked about how there were more blooms approaching.   There are five border dahlia tubers in this corner bed that wrap around the corner.  They are sitting on the 'other side' of a trio of Karl Foerster Grasses.    Below is a look at the current state of these five border dahlias.  Four of them have buds with one being a little bit further behind.  Three of them are home to opened-up multi-color dahlias.  These are coral-colored with some reds and yellows in them: The blooms are good-sized.  Below is a photo showing one of them with my hand as a reference for size: Pablo Gallery has won the the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit - so it is a proven and prolific bloomer.  I'm going to keep dead-heading these to see if we can get a bumper crop.  Based on...

A few days ago, I posted some photos showing the big peony arrangement that I successfully stored in the fridge for about a month and talked about how peony blooming season is so short.  In addition to cutting and storing some peonies for later this Summer, I also cut and put out on the counter a couple of vases full of peonies when they were blooming.   I've been working on the Disneyland Roses a bit more this early Summer, too.  Paying attention to them water-wise.  And, spraying them with both an insecticide and fungicide as often as I remember to do out there.  That's produced Floribunda rose stems that are *knock wood* holding more leaves and having less pests than last year.   One of my 2025 goals was to continue to have countertop arrangements with cut flowers .  Here's a round-up of a number of cut flowers we've had on our counter the past six weeks or so. We have white double 'Duchesse de Nemours' peonies in the back .  And some...