Why I Oughta...

The overnights are cooler.  And, as I've posted about recently, that seems to mean that the dahlias are happy.  Warm, sunny days.  And cool(er) nights = blooms popping off.  And, it also means that the dahlias begin to change colors.   That's one of the things that I've been learning over the years is that dahlias don't stay the same color over the full season from start-to-finish.  They shift and change how the colors appear.  Some get darker.  Some get lighter.  And, they change as they mature on the stems over time, too. One of the new (to me) dahlias this year is Peaches 'N Cream.  I bought two tubers from Bonny Blooms of this variety after seeing them show up on so many cut flower creators/influencers 'must grow' lists at the end of last year.  Here's my post from November 2025 where I showed a small roundup of what I was seeing in those kind of lists .   When my tubers arrived from Bonny Blooms, a few things we...

So far, so good with the Disneyland Roses.  In an attempt to 'do better' than last year with the Floribunda roses, I've been paying a little closer attention to them - with watering, feeding and treating them - proactively. That started a month ago with the first application of a systemic all-in-one "rose care" granular that includes fertilizer, pesticide and fungicide .  It also means spraying them with fungicide and Neem Oil every-few-weeks.  And, being deliberate to water the crowns, not the foliage. With the calendar turning to June, it was time to apply the second monthly feeding.  I put down the same all-in-one granular at the crowns of each of the five Disneyland Roses.  See below for that feeding:  These Disneyland Roses produce blooms in successive 'flushes' - with blooms appearing about a month-or-so apart from each other.  The first flush of blooms is arriving this past week and we're seeing some blooms on all five plants (the three old ones...

2024 continues to be (for me) the Summer of the Dahlia.  Specifically....the Milena Fleur Decorative Dahlia.  Last Fall/Winter, I ordered six Milena Fleur Dahlia tubers - my first mail order dahlia tubers.  I also bought a couple Cornell Bronze Dahlia tubers at the same time , but based on what I was seeing/reading from Erin the Impatient Gardener on her Instagram, I bought MORE Milena Fleur dahlias than anything else.   There was A LOT to like about these:  they're 'compact' - meaning they stay short and don't require staking.  As a beginning Dahlia grower, that was important.  But, also...the color.   These are billed by White Flower Farm as "blossoms that blend tropical shades of coral pink, papaya, and gold." My journey started earlier this Spring when I potted up the six Melina Fleurs in one-gallon nursery pots - indoors .   At the very beginning of May this year.   After they sprouted, I started to bring them u...