Why I Oughta...

At the hardware store this past weekend, I came across their racks of Spring flowering bulbs that had the usual assortment of lilies, gladiolas, peonies and....the star(s) of the show:  dahlia tubers.  A huge number of them are Dinnerplate varieties, which I'm (for now) staying away from in favor of the smaller types like ball, decorative, pompon and even collarettes.   But, that doesn't mean the tuber selection isn't worth a once-over.  And, even a little bit of guided education on what they have and don't have for sale this season.   Here, below are a couple of photos showing a portion of their Spring bulbs - with a focus mostly on the non-dinnerplate dahlias.  (although...a few Dinnerplates snuck in here).   I'm still a beginner when it comes to growing dahlias, so everyone of these is new (to me).  I thought it might be a good learning experience to research a few of these to see what I can learn.  After searching for detai...

Below are a pair of photos showing one over-stuffed dahlia arrangement that is full of decorative (Melina Fleur), Ball (Mystery Fox,  Ivanetti) and Pompon (Wizard of Oz) blooms that range from (almost) white to very pale pink to bubble-gum pink to Salmon with yellow centers contrasting with some shades close to dark velvet.   I crammed all the stems into a narrow-mouth vase because I wanted it to fit into a car cup holder for ease of transport as this one was headed to Elmhurst for my sister. 

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:

In the post that I shared yesterday showing off a handful of dahlia stems that I cut from the garden, I included a photo that showed off my first (real) Sweet Nathalie Decorative Dahlia bloom.  I mentioned a few days ago that Sweet Nathalie has been a slow-to-bloom grower for me this year and that my first bloom was somehow 'nipped' off at the bud .  But, the second bloom was quick to follow and you can see it in the photo below: