Why I Oughta...

Dahlias aren't the only thing 'popping off' in our garden right now .  Surprisingly (to me), I'm seeing some nice-shaped blooms on our Disneyland Roses that are planted in our sideyard.  Last year, we had six of these Disneyland Roses - but I lost all three in the front porch bed.  (I replaced them with Dahlias, which...I think worked out nicely...) But, the three on the sideyard are still around.  But, they struggled all year.  I published a post in June titled:  The Disneyland Roses are Struggling .  At that time, they were dealing with (what I'm pretty sure was) a double-trouble combo:  sawfly larvae and fungus.  I treated them a variety of ways - Neem Oil, insecticide dust, systemic combo treatment.  They seemed to 'rebound' by late June .  But, that might have been a response to fertilizer.  Then, they dropped all their leaves.  That had me REALLY worried. Articles like this one - talking about how roses drop their leaves when stressed - didn't pac

My first year of *really* growing dahlias in my beds has been a learning experience.  From pests to watering to starting them indoors, I've learned a bunch this growing season that I can apply next year.  I'm also learning about their bloom-time.  I last posted a photo of the Melina Fleur dahlias in our front porch bed two weeks ago - mid-September - when the plants were full of blooms .  Fast forward to today, the first of October, and they're (surprisingly...) EVEN MORE FULL TODAY.  Below are a few photos showing some of the dahlias (Melina Fleur, Orange Nugget, and something that was billed as Cornell Bronze, but is a purple pompon one) in our front porch bed and sideyard.   Before we go to the photos, I have to say...it is pretty fun to have something like these to enjoy on October First.   First up is Melina Fleur in front of our porch: Around the southside of our house are more Melina Fleur Dahlias.  This plant is NOT staked: Further towards the backyard are the Orang