Why I Oughta...

I recently cut that pair of purple flowers off a dahlia plant in our backyard and brought it inside to put in a vase in the kitchen.  These were the second round of blooms that I pulled from this plant this growing season.   Back in July, I posted a roundup of some dahlia blooms that I had cut and brought inside including Burlesca, Blue Wish (Waterlily), Wizard of Oz, Creme de Cognac and a couple of 'mis-marked' dahlias that were sold/labeled as one thing, but once they bloomed were wrong including Rip City and what I called at the time a 'single dahlia'.   It was this purple-flowered dahlia.   Turns out.... I don't think it is a "single dahlia" after all.  (or maybe it is and I'm wrong in the case I lay out below.  That *could be*, because I'm still learning....) I was poking around the Longfield Gardens site and came across a class of Dahlias called " Peony-Flowered Dahlias ".  Longfield has two listings .   One of those lis...

Another day and even more dahlias cut off their stems.  And, these are cut deeply as the experts suggest one does early (is it still early in the dahlia-growing season??) for more prolific-blooming plants later in the year.  *Cue the Sheryl Crow* This mixed dahlia arrangement (below) includes Ivanetti, Wizard of Oz, my first Great Silence (decorative) dahlia and the two semi-cactus/cactus "surprise" dahlias.  A dark one and a bubble gum pink one.  This is (maybe?) my tallest set of dahlia cut flowers in a vase since I've grown them.  There are also a significant number of buds that came with those long stems. Here, below, is a closer look at the first Great Silence Decorative Dahlia .  This one is mostly uniform in color with a pink/peach hue.   I bought two Great Silence tubers back in November of last year.   And, put them through my usual Spring dahlia program (starting them indoors in pots, moving them outoors) and planted two Great Silen...

I think I was in a dahlia-tuber-induced fog when I bought Mero Star dahlias because I never posted about them in my garden diary here and I have been listing them in my on-going tuber diary as "Metro Star dahlias".  They're NOT Metro Star.  They're Mero Star. And they're, well....huge.  (or"yuuuge", if you prefer.)  Here, below is a look at one of them: Mero Star Dahlia Bloom - big and spectacular. I mean...they're big.  And real.  And....As Sidra once said: That first photo at the top doesn't really tell the story of size.  But, have a look at the photo below showing this first Mero Star Dinnerplate Dahlia in amongst some others like Blue Wish.  This bloom is huge.  The individual petals are huge.  Bigger than anything else I've grown.   I mentioned that I must have been in a fog when I bought these because I don't remember them.  Here, below, is the front of the package of Mero Star tubers.  The packaging shows whi...

All the way back in August of 2024, I posted a "Getting to Know" post about a number of dahlias that I had come across in that growing season that jumped out to me.  Enough, at least, to write that post about.  One of those varieties in that post was Burlesca.  I'm growing those this year.   And another one was Jowey Winnie.   I bought two tubers of Jowey Winnie from Longfield Gardens this past Winter and have put them through my normal dahlia tuber program of starting indoors, moving outdoors and planting in the beds.  One of them IB2DWs and one of them in the Pizza Oven West bed.  The one in front was a dud and didn't grow.  The one in the back by the pizza oven is throwing off its first bloom.   But, is it Jowey Winnie?  Here is the bloom on *my* Jowey Winnie Dahlia before I cut it: As for why I'm questioning if this is, indeed, a Jowey Winne, let me turn to the seller, Longfield Gardens, and their product page ....

One of the new (to me) dahlias this season is blooming:  Peaches-N-Cream.  I bought two tubers from Bonny Blooms in November and they arrived this Spring.  (Note:  they arrived what I consider to be 'late' and they were...well...small.  They *were* tubers, but single tubers.  Which, I think is totally normal.  But, most of the tubers I've bought were larger.  And...perhaps less desirable.) One of the Peaches-n-Cream dahlias is planted IB2DWs.  Down closer to the sidewalk.   Because of that (previously mentioned) late arrival, I don't think that I pinched this one back like I have done with most of the other tubers.  Or, maybe because the tuber was 'small' is the reason why this isn't very "bush-y" of a plant.  Either way...I opted to cut deeply on this first bloom.  Hoping to stimulate some lower branching and growth.   Below are a couple of photos showing this beauty.  Pinks and oranges.  I proba...

Dahlia cut flower season 1 rolls on with my first (ever) white dahlia bloom.  A first (for me) Tsuki Yori No Shisha (Semi-Cactus) Dahlia white bloom that I cut on long stems.  This is planted IB2DWs, sort-of under the Bald Cypress tree along the driveway.   See below for the flower and a couple of secondary buds that I cut-off when I took this bloom.  (I hate this part of the dahlia cut flower season when I end up sacrificing so many flowers in service of seeking longer stems.) Below shows the two sacrificial buds on either side of the big bloom.  My experience says that dahlias don't *REALLY* open up once they are cut, so those two will stay semi-closed buds.   Tsuki Yori No Shisha (Semi-Cactus) Dahlia Bloom Longfield Gardens has a listing up that includes this description : This stunning semi-cactus dahlia was bred in Japan and introduced in 1953. Its delicately fringed, snowy white petals give the big, 6 to 7" flowers a frilly look that w...

This is the fourth dahlia tuber posting this year.  First 17.  Then 15 more.  Then six to get to 38 .  Today, I'm showing the location of four other ones (three that are new and one was a replacement for a dud) to get my total up to 42 dahlias. This post is going up in mid-June, but back in late May, I added four more dahlias to three spots in the garden. Three (in purple) went in the Pizza Oven East.  One went IB2DWs down by the sidewalk (also in purple): 42 Tubers in:  27 new (to me) with 15 legacy dahlias (Melina Fleur x 5, Ivanetti x 2, Mystery Fox x 2, Ivanetti x 2, Wizard of Oz x 2, Sweet Nathalie, Pooh). Now with 38 tubers in the ground, here's the latest recap:   28 new (to me) or trialing with 10 legacy dahlias (Melina Fluer x 5, Ivanetti x 2, Sweet Nathalie, Wizard of Oz, Pooh). I have now planted a number of multiples:   5:  (1) Melina Fleur 4:  N/A (0) 3:  (2) Burlesca , Great Silence 2:  (12) Crichton Hon...

I posted two different sets of photos and details of the dahlia tubers that I've stuck in the garden in various spots.  First was 17 tubers.  Then, a post showing 15 additional ones .  That made my total:  32 dahlias in the ground.  25 new (to me) or trialing with 7 legacy dahlias (Melina Fluer x 3, Ivanetti x 2, Sweet Nathalie and Wizard of Oz). This post is going up in mid-June, but back in late May, I added six more dahlias to three spots in the garden. These six, plus the previous 32 = 38 dahlias in the ground.  So far.  Here's an annotated plot of the locations with the latest ones in green:   South Sun Wall 33. Pooh This is a spot that I've grown Melina Fleur each of the past two seasons.  Last year, these Pooh dahlias got pretty tall, so being close to the fence might give me more support options. Under The Elm 34. Blue Wish This was the largest of the dahlia plants left in my home nursery (my patio), so in it went.  Without rabbi...

I started planting dahlias in May and posted the first seventeen a few days ago.  In that post, I showed the locations and talked about how most of them (14 of the 17) were new to me varieties with just three legacy dahlias (Melina Fleur, Ivanetti and Sweet Nathalie).   Today, I'm showing the next round of dahlias that went in the ground.  These were planted in the second to last week of May - the day after the first seventeen went in. I planted them in three spots:  Pizza Oven West, IB2DWs and the back of the Island Bed.  Here's the updated planting map with the latest 15 tubers in blue. Here is a breakdown of what is planted in each of the three beds: Pizza Oven West 18.  Burlesca 19.  St. Martin 20.  Wizard of Oz 21.  Rip City 22.  Creme de Casis 23.  Melina Fleur Below is a look at these six.  The Melina Fleur is still in the container.  But, all of them are protected by rabbit cages.  For now.   I...

Dahlia season has begun here.  With the initial planting of seventeen dahlias.  That was day one of planting the tubers that I started out in the garden.  I made this annotated map to show (mostly myself) where everything is planted because I'm growing many new (to me) varieties for the first time and have a much more diverse lineup than in previous seasons.  Note:  this post is going live in early June, but I planted these on May 20th.  Last year, I planted them in the first week of June , so this is almost three weeks earlier.  Here, below is that map.  So far, I've put six in the "Pizza Oven West" bed, seven along the side of the house in the "South Sun Wall" bed and four "Under the Elm".  You can see them numbered in red: Pizza Oven East 1.  Crichton Honey 2.  Cafe Au Lait 3.  Creme de Cognac 4.  Blue Wish 5.  Milena Fleur 6.  Jowie Winnie Here (below) is a photo below of these plantings.  Note that I pu...

In mid-April, I began unwrapping, dividing and potting-up my dahlia tubers .  And, I ended up with more than 90 one-gallon nursery pots of tubers.  Were all of them viable?  I wasn't sure.  But, today, I am feeling a higher-degree of confidence in what the viability-rate looks like.  By early May, many of them were sprouting, but some still lagged behind and didn't get started.  I tried to get a good division that included a body, a neck and some portion of the crown.  Turns out, I didn't get it perfect, but did pretty well. I recently moved the tubers up out of the basement window wells to the screened porch.  Below is a look at the layout showing more than 80 viable dahlias.  #6 on my 2026 to-do list was to "Go even Bigger on Dahlias" .  I'd say that I can cross that one off my list: Some are barely moving like this one below with a tiny bit of green foliage tipping through the potting mix: While others are more than a foot tall like t...