After a VERY long wait, Dahlia 'Iceberg' has produced its first blooms just as the other dahlias in my garden are finishing up. I pulled several dahlias out of my cutting garden on Saturday, dumping those I don't intend to store as tubers through the winter. I'm already late in planting the bulbs and sowing the seeds for my cool season flower garden and I need to free up space, especially as it now seems summer may have given up its hold on my part of the country.
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| The 'Iceberg' blooms, about 6 inches in diameter and not fully open, were so heavy I had to shorten their stems to allow the vase to support their weight |
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| Back view: My bush violets (Barleria obtusa) serve as the arrangement's main filler. The shrubs are only now beginning their annual bloom cycle. |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Angelonia 'Archangel White', Barleria obtusa, Dahlia 'Iceberg', Lavandula multifida, Myrtus communis 'Compacta', and Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata' |
My second arrangement couldn't be more different from the first, at least in terms of color. Dahlia 'Gitt's Crazy' is still pumping out a steady supply of flowers, eclipsing even 'Enchantress', which has dramatically slowed down with respect to its floral output over the past two weeks.
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| I have to admit I didn't envision combining Dahlia 'Gitt's Crazy' with wine-colored Zinnia until I placed the two up next to one another. As temperatures have gotten cooler, the gold tones of 'Gitt's Crazy' have become less prominent than the raspberry tones, making the match seem more reasonable. What do you think? Do I need my eyes examined? |
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| Back view: I hadn't planned on incorporating Dahlia 'Akita' in the arrangement either; however, its color is now less red and more pink than it was earlier in the season. 'Akita' has only one more partially open flower so this is probably its IAVOM swan song for the season. I intend to save tubers of both 'Gitt's Crazy' and 'Akita' to plant next year. |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Colenema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Dahlia 'Akita', D. 'Gitt's Crazy', Plectranthus scuttellariodes 'Dragon Heart' (coleus), Prunus caroliniana, and Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Wine' |
As I finish this post, the service I use to track local weather predicts a 100% chance of rain today. The trailing end of the extreme weather system that hit the northern part of the state, variously described as a "bomb cyclone" and an "atmospheric river," is expected to reach my part of Southern California by mid-day; however, it's not expected to pack the punch it unleashed on Northern California. We're projected to get just one-third of an inch of rain here. What I've read about the impact of climate change on California unfortunately seems to be bearing out: we'll continue to experience extended periods of severe drought, punctuated by periodic, potentially destructive, atmospheric rivers, creating flash floods and mudslides, especially in areas previously hit by wildfires.
For more IAVOM posts, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
