Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Dallying in the Dahlia Garden

A bit more progress on "September's Morning Glory".
I've finished the squirrels, the owls, all the falling leaves and the sentiment.  Now I've begun stitching the morning glory blooms.  They are in purples (4 colors) and blues (4 colors) with rather complex shading. 

It's Tuesday and this week I thought I'd share my sister's Dahlia Garden as part of the Tuesday Garden Party

This has been the Year of the Bunny, so even though the garden is protected with a deer fence, my sister had to add an interior bunny fence to stop them from munching on her young plants. 

Dahlias come in different shapes.  I like collerattes.  This is David Lam.

Sean C. is a pretty two-toned collarette.

My sister planted 240 dahlias this year.

Clearview David has a lovely hint of lavender.

A nice stand of Haley's Dream.


Isn't Pam Howden a pretty dahlia?

With the prolonged hot weather we've had this summer, the dahlias are about 2 weeks ahead of a 'normal' year.  This means we're able to enjoy lots of color by mid-August. 

Camano Cloud

A trio of Crazy 4 Jessie

The garden moves from pale colors to 'hot' colors - oranges and reds.

Lakeview Glow will be the Flower of the Year at the Lane County Dahlia Society Show in September.

There are several kinds of bees hard at work in the garden and I've seen a hummingbird or two as well.

Chimicum Les C. and a pollinator.

Red Velvet - reds never are 'true' in photographs. This is a deeper, darker red. 

Kelsey Sunshine - this might be my favorite dahlia.

It's a big garden and lots of work. But I think the garden is well rewarded with the display of color. 

My sister is also growing a row of marigolds - Red Metamorph. They are just coming on and are going to be a long low hedge of color.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the Dahlia Garden.

One year ago today Mom and I spent our last day in London visiting the zoo.


13 comments:

Vickie said...

ooOoo! Love dahlias! Camano Cloud is my favorite for color you showed today. :) Those are cool marigolds.

Poppypatchwork said...

I love your sisters garden, she has so much space to grow, dahlias are a favourite of mine.

cucki said...

sweet stitches..
lovely flowers..hugs x

Wendy S. said...

Thanks you for sharing all the lovely pictures of the flowers! Love the stitching too!

linda said...

I had no idea there were so many varieties of dahlias! Thank you for sharing

Unknown said...

My grandparents used to grow dahlias but I've nerve given growing them a try. They are so beautiful. Thanks for linking up at the Tuesday Garden Party!

Barb said...

Your sister's garden is a sight to behold. I love dahlias and her garden is magnificent! I love your WIP. I almost wish I had done that series. After Word Play,I was finished with doing a monthly series for awhile. Again, way too warm up here. Maybe that's another reason I fell in love with your WIP!

Donna said...

That is quite a labor of love planting and maintaining 240 dahlias...lovely!

betty-NZ said...

I love dahlias! They attracted many monarchs in a former garden. Yours are just lovely.

Frances said...

Lovely stitching--anxious to see those morning glories and their colors!
The dahlias are so beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Melissa said...

What a beautiful dahlia garden! I love dahlias but I don't grow them like I should!

Andrea said...

Dahlias are such pretty flowers.

Cynthia said...

I'm ga-ga about Dahlias, and just had to hop over to see your post. Yours are beautiful, and I see a couple of varieties that I don't have. They've done famously this year for me, which is wonderful, after the disappointing Peony season (very few blossoms). Guess it was the long Winter we had.