Why I Oughta...

Two days ago, I described the Saint Martin Waterlily Dahlia plants as my most productive dahlias of the season .  Today, I'm showing an update on my LEAST productive dahlia:  Cafe au Lait.   I didn't intend to grow Cafe au Lait this year.  Some of the tubers that I ordered from Longfield Gardens weren't viable, so they send a pair of Cafe au Lait tubers as a replacement.   They arrived three weeks after every other dahlia tuber was started (and had produced new growth), so these started behind from the beginning. I planted two.  One in the Pizza Oven West bed.  And one in the sideyard.  The Pizza Oven West dahlia died.  Suddenly.  One of those things. The one in the sideyard started slow.  And, kept growing slowly.  All Summer.   I was knee-high in August.   Now, a the beginning of October, it still hasn't bloomed.  But, it has put on a bunch of foliage in the past few weeks.   Cafe...

A few of the tubers that I ordered turned out to be not viable.  And, they were sold out of a like-for-like variety, so they offered up a replacement based on their current, in-stock inventory.  I went with something I've never grown, but is pretty well-known:  Cafe Au Lait dahlias.  See below for the tuber and the package that they arrived in recently: I haven't (in the past few seasons) grown any Dinnerplate Dahlias, so this will be a new (to me) experience in terms of size and staking.  Here's what Longfield Gardens says about C-A-L : Cafe au Lait is the variety that launched today's dahlia mania. These big, romantic blooms are must-have for anyone who loves flowers. Cafe au Lait's blossoms are wonderfully variable in hue depending on weather conditions and time of year. You can expect flowers ranging from creamy yellow and bone through blush pink and rose. They are a fabulous cut flower, and like peonies, it takes just a few stems to make an impressive arran...