Snow Country dahlia

Dahlias Down

| Flower Roberts

I did not dig these dahlias last fall. Nor did I remove their tomato cages that were placed for support. These are on a hill that I have fallen on many times when I had the legs of a mountain goat. I will not be doing much gardening here.

Site of last year’s fall and face-planting.


So the dahlias have been on their own for two seasons now. They seem to thrive on neglect, except they do need staking. I hate seeing flowers face-plant. Better them than me!

Falling Snow Country dahlia

It  pains me to see Thomas Edison so down.

Thomas Edison with bowing blooms.

Snow Country is falling like snow. Firepot is a complete mess. All the dahlias need a good dead-heading, but since their care-giver has had two hip surgeries and one to go, they must hold their own another season.

Firepot needing some preening.

They may need tending, but I must say they look the healthiest I have seen them in years. That’s what I am working toward for myself. Healthy and strong despite the falling.



My dahlias may be down, but they are still thriving without any help from me. Hooray solitary survival!

Snow Country face for photo. Ignore the shadow.

FLOWER

I Did Not Dig Up My Dahlias

| Flower Roberts

I could not dig up my dahlias last fall. I was too busy falling down and going to the Emergency Room.

Here they are.

Firepot dahlia
Snow Country dahlia

They survived without my digging them, drying them, cleaning them and then storing them in shoeboxes with vermiculite.

What else have I been doing the hard way?


Sigh.


Do not answer that.

FLAW. I mean FLOW.

Today’s Fiasco

| Flower Roberts

I guess it is obvious to my followers that I am accident prone. My left hip is still bothersome after plummeting off the deck while holding a hose. My new right hip is great, but neither leg is strong yet. My mountain goat status has been put in jeopardy indefinately.

Well, today I got stuck on a bucket.
This is the type of thing I would call Sandra about to make her laugh. We loved the word fiasco.

All I wanted to do was cut some of the broken dahlias for a vase before they got ruined. I grabbed some scissors and headed down to dahlia row.

Upon closer inspection I realized that months of neglect had caused havoc among the dahlias. One Thomas A. Edison had never even been put in a fence ring.

Poor Thomas

I started trimming them up but got very tired after only a few minutes. The only possible thing I could use as a seat was a nearby five-gallon bucket.

When I finished pruning all the plants within reach, I realized I could not get up off the bucket. Luckily, for me not for him, Mr. Flower was down the hill picking up limbs from Helene’s wind.

I loudly announced that I could not get up. Then I had the idea that if I fell off the bucket uphill I could push myself up. By the time he got to me I was cussing and crying with my face in the four o’clocks.

He helped me up and went to find a more suitable seat for me to sit on. He brought back an old church chair that I had painted bluebird blue.

I told him to look up here once in a while to make sure I wasn’t lying on the ground. He said he was sure that if I fell again, he would hear me before he saw me.

This is wisdom after almost forty years of marriage. He knows me well. My response was a loving hand-gesture.

FLOW

It is Friday the Thirteenth

| Flower Roberts

My dahlia post that I published on the wrong blog in the middle of the night is now lost in cyberspace. Sometimes it is easier to start over than backtrack.

Many strange things have happened since my hip replacement. My head is still spinning. When I tell folks about the events they ask if I am still on pain medication. The answer is no. The craziness could be from the eight nights of insomnia. I am laying low today since it is Friday the 13th. I feel like the universe is messing with me!

I am stuck on my decks for a while longer until I am more stable and all the railing has been installed. My daughter fell up some steps last week. We live on a hill, so there are few flat spaces and steps are everywhere.

I have watched my dahlias from afar. No watering, weeding , deadheading or feeding.

Here they are. Their success is a testament to the soil prep and the staking I did in April before my right hip gave out and I jarred the whole left side of my body stumbling down some steps as I wrestled with a hose.

Firepot dahlia
Snow Country dahlia
Thomas A. Edison and Katydid

I hope this post makes it to you. Thanks Susan for letting me know that the booboo was worse than anticipated.

FLOWER is going back to bed. I am too tired to handle any more mischief.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Gran’s Green Vase

| Flower Roberts

There were a few things from my Gran’s house that I really wanted. One of the must-haves was this green vase. It sat on the window sill of her dining room. Sometimes it held a Magnolia bloom from the tree by the drive.

When a magnolia was out of season, it held a plastic waterlily bloom with leaves. (It is being washed as I type. It was covered in dust.)

I was happy to have a Snow Country Dahlia bloom to fit the vase today. Rose and I brought in many flowers, herbs, tomatoes and peppers. I cannot predict when I will have time to harvest before the freeze, so we did most of that today. Drying herbs blog will follow.

I hope my family sees this blog and remembers the lovely home of our precious grandparents.

The object is treasured for the memories it holds.

FLOW

Neglected Green Babies

| Flower Roberts

I have tried to explain to people that a plant acquistition is an adoption with responsibilities. I am serious about this. Plants know things and communicate in their own way with posture and color just like humans, only more subtle.

My neglected dahlias are falling over with heavy blooms.

I let Mr. Flower use their tomato cages for his garden, thinking I would get more later. The Dahlia row looks like a junk yard of fences, sticks and stakes that I have haphazardly added to the unsupported bloomers. Bless them!

My beautiful, messy life!

This mess is a visual representation of my present life. A gorgeous ghetto of growing problems, half-ass solutions and sincere love. I would prefer neat and tidy. I won’t hold my breath waiting for that.

Thomas A. Edison dahlia

I will go out into the garden in my pajamas and enjoy my floppy Dahlias this morning before I take off again to take care of needs elsewhere.

Cafe’ au Lait dahlia

My apologies to my flowers and friends. Family comes first.

FLOWER

Dahlia Disaster

| Flower Roberts

I try really hard to be a good ‘plant mama’ but I fall short each spring and summer. This year it was the dahlias that took a hit.

The dahlia ‘Nonette’ got left in the bag until I discovered it in June when I almost threw it away. It could not be revived.

The lovely ‘Kelvin Floodlight’ got a disease again this year. My overzealous treatment killed it. I will miss its giant yellow blooms.

I had two batches of ‘Thomas Edison’ dahlia. My usual potting soil messed up the mix this year. It was too wet. Many of my plants rotted including one pot of ‘Thomas Edison.’

‘Cafe Au Lait’ is spindly and floppy with no blooms. I keep propping it up, hoping for improvements. The weather has cooled so there is hope for it.

I know this row looks lovely from afar. I know how it could look. That’s my problem. Gardener’s Guilt is real!

The “glass is half empty” and the row is half empty. I am extra grateful for ‘Firepot’ and ‘Snow Country.’

They have survived the many mishaps and are happily blooming.

FLOW

Dahlia Row

| Flower Roberts

There are some new beauties in the line-up this year.

These were introduced to me last fall by the famous pianist, Harold Brown of Bramwell.

The three new faces are Nonette, Cafe’ au lait and Kelvin Floodlight.

I ordered these from Old House Gardens. https://oldhousegardens.com/

The Kelvin Floodlight photo does not do it justice.

Kelvin Floodlight Dahlia

Cafe’ au Lait is even more gorgeous than I expected.

Cafe’ au lait dahlia

Nonette needed some extra water to make bigger flowers, but did not disappoint.

Nonette Dahlia

My heart still belongs to my three favorites Thomas Edison, Firepot and Snow Country.

Thomas A Edison Dahlia

Firepot Dahlia

Snow Country Dahlia

Dahlia Row has taken a lot of feeding, composting and watering BUT these blooms are worth it.

Dahlias

Flower

Cool Dahlias

| Flower Roberts

Dahlias need four things to thrive.

First, they need rich soil. I enrich mine with homemade compost and mushroom compost.

Second, they need a lot of water to grow. Mine are at the bottom of a hill with a berm.

Third, they must be supported. I have been negligent in this so excuse the messy stake job.

The fourth thing that MUST happen is cool weather. Dahlias struggle until it cools down.

Then they show off with giant, heavy blooms.

These are my three favorites, Thomas A Edison, Snow Country and Firepot.

Thomas A. Edison Dahlia
Snow Country Dahlia
Firepot Dahlia

I love the cool weather, also.  I have wilted and withered all summer. Hooray fall!

FLOW