Another very warm weekend with bouts of wind caused more dahlias to keel over, and the prospects for seeing dahlias through the end of the month have grown dimmer. There were plenty to fill vases this week, though.
My first arrangement was put together on Thursday. My appointment with a tree service was set for 8am that morning and a pretty pink Lycoris was directly below one of the trees to be trimmed. I cut it to keep it out of harm's way and decided to combine it with some dahlias in a vase.
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Lycoris springeri was accompanied by the cheerful blooms of Dahlia 'Breakout'
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I filled in the back view with stems of Dahlia 'Romantique'
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Breakout', D. 'Romantique', Lycoris springeri, Prunus ilicifoilia, pale pink variety of Zinnia elegans 'Candy Mix', and another noID pink Zinnia
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The rest of my flowers were cut on Sunday. I've ignored Dahlia 'Belle of Barmera' for awhile so I focused my attention on those flowers. The choices were thinner than I'd expected as the wind had taken out many of the taller flowers and others are now showing signs of the same deformities that have afflicted many of my 'Fairway Spur' Dahlias. I ended up with a shorter, squatter arrangement than I'd envisioned.
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I used a clear rectangular vase to hold the short-stemmed dahlias
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Although I designated the other side of the vase (shown above) as the front, I think I like this one a little better. I placed it on our dining room table where it's visible from both sides so it doesn't much matter.
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Cuphea 'Honeybells', Dahlia 'Belle of Barmera', 2 mutant flowers of D. 'Fairway Spur', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Salmon Rose', and Z. e. 'Queen Lime Orange'
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At long last Dahlia 'Iceberg' made an appearance last week so I wanted to use its flowers this week. I'd originally planned to pair it with Dahlia 'Enchantress', which hasn't received the attention it deserves this season; however, only one flower proved to be suitable for inclusion in a vase so Dahlias 'Lavender Ruffles' and 'Mikayla Miranda' were called upon as substitutes.
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I lost 2 buds when I cut the stems containing 2 'Iceberg' Dahlia blooms for this arrangement and I'm not sure I'll get any more before it comes time to pull up my tubers to make way for the bulbs, plugs, and seeds I plan to grow during our cool season. The mildew on the dahlias' foliage also gets worse with every passing day.
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I'd originally tucked one 'Enchantress' Dahlia bloom below the flowers of 'Lavender Ruffles' but it looked crowded so I removed it. It's in a tiny vase in the kitchen window (not shown).
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Iceberg', D. 'Lavender Ruffles', D. 'Mikayla Miranda', noID vine, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', and Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Purple'. The noID vine resembles the foliage of the Pandorea jasminoides several feel away so it may be a seedling.
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Dahlia 'Lady Darlene' had three flowers in full bloom so I cut those for a small vase to fill the spot on the kitchen island.
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The blooms were just too pretty to allow to wither in the heat. The Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' foliage was recycled from one of last week's vases.
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Our forecast shows an ongoing warm trend until the coming weekend when temperatures should drop back down into the more comfortable mid-to-low 70sF (23C) again. Hopefully, they'll stay there. Whether cooler temperatures will give the dahlias a late season boost or hurry their decline along remains to be seen.
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
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material © 2012-2023
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
