I'd hoped to hang onto my dahlias for a few weeks more but they had other ideas. Blooms are opening rapidly and fading fast. As we're experiencing another bout with Santa Ana winds this week, accompanied by summer-like temperatures, I decided to let most of them go. After all, I need to clear space in my cutting garden soon anyway to make room for the seeds and bulbs I've stockpiled to get my cool-season garden going.
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| The bees weren't happy when I pilfered the best of the remaining blooms Dahlia 'Enchantress' had to offer |
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| I added one last bloom of Dahlia 'Hollyhill Karen Lee' and dark pink Zinnias to flesh out the arrangement |
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| Top view: I took all my photos again this week in our unfinished kitchen, currently covered in drop cloths as the remodel crew has been painting that half of the house |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Enchantress', Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Zinnia elegans in dark pink tones (probably 'Benary's Giant Wine'), and Tanacetum parthenium (I neglected to take a close-up photo of Dahlia 'Hollyhill Karen Lee') |
After looking at the latest blooms on
Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill', I decided it was time for him to go too. The increasingly slender stems can't hold up
'Otto's' heavy head.
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| Dahlia 'Labyrinth' wanted to be part of this last hurrah as well |
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| I also used Zinnias to fill out this vase |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill', Coprosma 'Fireburst', C. 'Plum Hussey', Dahlia 'Labyrinth', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', and more Zinnia elegans |
If it doesn't get too hot, I'll dig up the dahlia tubers this week. As Dahlia
'Punkin Spice' is still producing big beautiful blooms, she gets a temporary reprieve but the rest will either be prepped for storage or jettisoned into the compost bin.
'Enchantress' is definitely a keeper, as are
'Otto's Thrill''Terracotta', and
'Hollyhill Karen Lee' (as well as
'Punkin Spice' when she's ready to go).
'Labyrinth' and
'Diva' may get added if I can find the storage space.
'Labyrinth' isn't the color I expected and
'Diva', while gorgeous, had a very short season.
'Bluetiful' and
'Citron du Cap' are pretty but both were poor producers so I'll give the space they occupied to new tubers next year.
For other Monday vases, created from materials on hand as contributing gardeners transition from one season to another,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
