Delightful Dahlias..

I don’t know why or even how it happened one day I just decided I wanted to try to grow dahlias.  I bought some bulbs and planted them in the ground.  They grew, nice green leaves, healthy stalks and they grew and grew, but they never bloomed.  When the time arrived I dug the tubers up and brought them in to overwinter. Sometime before spring arrived I stumbled across an article on dahlias and how if I wanted them to bloom in Maryland, I should plant them in pots.  The article talked about how they are easy plants to grow in pots as long as you keep the tubers from getting too wet.
So when spring rolled around I potted them up and placed them on the deck and I waited rather impatiently to see what would happen.  Only one of the original dahlias that I’d bought survived the overwintering process, Honka but it bloomed and did so with gusto all summer and into the early fall! Those bright yellow flowers were just stunning all season long!

That was all it took and I was hooked on growing these beautiful and varied flowers!  So last fall I ordered a few different dahlias and when they arrived this spring into pots on my deck they went.  I also grabbed a couple from local nurseries when I saw them on sale.

This knockout is Lady Darlene and she is a tall beauty!  She’s on a stem about 4’ tall, the flower is so heavy that I had to stake her up, but wow is she ever a show stopper!
This is Wheels and it’s just the happiest most cheerful little flower!  It’s been blooming nonstop since early spring, which makes it one of my favorites, I like plants that really put on a show!

This one is called Sights of Summer and the color reminds me of a sunset, you know that yummy color the sky takes on sometimes.  It was the same color I tried to capture when I was younger, I wanted my bedroom to be the color of this flower, I just didn’t know it!

I have a few others that aren’t blooming yet, Pooh which is supposed to be much like that lovable bear and Star Child which is a bright white dahlia with pointy petals like a star.  The funny thing is that until I got the notion to grow them I didn’t know how many types of dahlia’s there were!  I only knew about the ones that look like pom poms and they’ve never appealed to me in the least.  These though, with their quirky names and wide array of colors and petals, they appeal to me very, very much.  Heck I can envision my whole deck covered with nothing but dahlias!!!