Why I Oughta...

The past few days, I've posted photos of the individual blooms that I've been snip'ing off the dahlia plants that are tucked into every available space in our garden.  That has lead to my first-of-the-season piecemeal cut flower arrangement.  On our kitchen counter.  [Countertop Flowers]. Yesterday, I showed a Blue Wish, Saint Martin and a random pink Cactus dahlia .  Day before was Burlesca, Wizard of Oz, Creme de Cognac and a "Rip City ".   Put those all together and you get a cacophony of color and texture and type.   Below is flower arrangement #1 for the 2026 growing season. With no fillers aside from one small Lacy Blue Didiscus.   Mixed Dahlia Cut Flower Arrangement Have to get to Goodwill to find some jars because bloomin' season is upon us.  

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of my first (real) flush of dahlia blooms that I cut off the plants in the various spots around our garden .  Those included some "known" varieties including Wizard of Oz, Creme de Cognac, Burlesca and Blue Wish.  I said "known" because there was also a semi-cactus dark maroon dahlia that came labeled as Rip City, but is clearly NOT Rip City. Today, I'm posting some photos of some additional dahlia blooms that I cut the following day.  These, too, include mostly "known" dahlias.  And...one unknown. First...the "known".   The biggest of the bunch is Blue Wish.  And, I'll say that I might have a new favorite dahlia?  This looks like it is painted with a watercolor set.  Pale purples and whites.  Perfectly shaped. Next up is a Saint Martin Dahlia.  This one came in a combo pack from Longfield Gardens via Costco (photo of the bag below).  And, was a new-to-me variety, but the 30" height (other...

I previously posted a photo and details of our first Wizard of Oz Pompon dahlia bloom from our backyard and talked about how it signaled the coming bloom season.   With mid-July arriving, a bunch of the dahlias are beginning to really pop-off.  This post is going up in mid-July, but these photos are from July 6th.   First up is Burlesca.  One of the Burlesca dahlias planted in the "South Sun Wall" (also known as the sideyard garden) has the first few blooms fully opened .  Despite my hesitancy, I keep trying to 'cut deeply' the first few flowers to try to compel the plant to put out taller stems.  In this case, the first two came as a set.  See below.   These are hard to describe color-wise.  They are pink.  Sort-of.  They're also purple.  And a little peach down the sides.  Longfield says : " This adorable little dahlia may look pink at first glance, but what makes Burlesca so special is the way it also pu...

I went and picked up more dahlia tubers.  These would be (I think) 25 + 7 + 2 = 33rd and 34th new tuber for the season .    Here is my initial order from Bonny Blooms .  Then, a few more from Longfield Gardens .    Then, I bought some more from Longfield from Costco .  And, most recently these seven from Menards .   I also wrote this post showing some of the other tubers Menards carries and mentioned a few that jumped out to me.  The first one in that post is named Blue Wish.  And... I said : "This is one that I will buy if I go back." Bad news for dahlia haters.  I went back. And bought a package of two Blue Wish Tubers. They are waterlily dahlias.  That stay under 36" tall.   I'll find a home for them, I'm sure.   Here's what Breck's says about it : An elegant, colour-changing, water lily-type dahlia. A true spectacle in the garden, this dahlia's 4½" blooms transform from delicate white petals ...