Dahlias!

Fresh picked this morning

I caught the dahlia bug this year.  Well actually last fall when I was in Monet's garden.  So I ordered tubers in early May, 16 of them, from Swan Island Dahlias, a collection.  They were super easy to plant and I planted them outside the side kitchen window strategically in front of the central air units there on the ground so they would eventually block those. (they did).  These 16 tubers will multiply every year; you lift them after a hard frost, separate each new tuber that has an eye on it, and put them in boxes filled with peat moss and perlite in a place like your basement where they will stay very cool but not freeze and then you plant them again in the spring.  After we have a hard frost, which doesn't look like it's going to happen here for another 10 days, couple weeks, I will show you how I lift them, cut the tubers, and store them.  And we'll see how many new ones have been created.  But I'm not stopping there; I ordered about 50 more tubers which will arrive next spring.  I did this after I visited my daughter in Spokane in early September and saw the amazing dahlia gardens at a park near her house.  I was so blown away.  And then I visited more dahlia gardens while in Rhode Island in late September.  I almost cried in that garden.  My friend Julie did.

Spokane WA

Rhode Island - and I ordered this variety

Dahlias are incredible.  They grow quietly all summer, you stake them once since many grow very tall, but really, that's all you do for them and starting in August they start to bloom and then keep growing as they bloom and in the fall they just go crazy with color and number of buds.  I have had vases of dahlias everyday all of September and October.  I picked a bunch today because I know that a freeze is soon to come and I want all the dahlias in the house that I can while still leaving some on the plants outside my window to enjoy.  The plants are vibrant and fresh all autumn while every other flower plant, annual or perennial (except the hydrangeas) is tired and worn out.  I plan on interspersing the new tubers throughout all my flower beds and borders next spring so there will be tons of color everywhere and vases full in the house.

Today's pickings

I follow a woman on Instagram named Frances Palmer.  She's a pretty well known potter; her vases are unusual and usually white.  I've seen her featured in several magazines and blogs.  She is obsessed with dahlias too and everyday she posts pictures of them, often in her gorgeous vases.  When she and her husband bought their house in Connecticut, they turned an old tennis court into a huge dahlia bed and area for raised vegetable gardens.  It's glorious.  She opens it to visitors one day each fall so next year I plan to go.  I meant to this year but it conflicted with our Rhode Island trip - bummer.

Frances Palmer's garden

On another note, today I cleared the third quadrant from the Yellow House back yard.  I had one moment where I thought of all the dahlias I could plant in these freshly vacated quadrants.  I got a bit excited about it but then I came back to my senses and shot that idea down.  And took a picture of the maple next to the barn there.  Lovely.