Cute four footer. I saw this one on this forum last year for the first time... Steve, perhaps?

A variegated dahlia

Amazing color on this one. Fades a bit, though.

Love Pink Petticoat and the faded bloom of Kenora Fantastic! Lol. Yes I love the softer colors. Judy

Lots of great garden dahlias get overlooked at shows for things like fading, flat backs, tendency to go open-centered. Here's one that is a flower-producing powerhouse... It is supposed to be a wild joker variety, each bloom unique in coloration, but it has stayed pretty consistent for me, and looks great in a vase.

A great dahlia for new growers. Tubers keep extremely well, and plant is very reliable with tons of blooms.

The variety on the right is Skipley Bonanza, which grew seven feet for me, covered with blooms since July 24th.

I managed to stop at a Dahlia show garden on my way to an appointment, the farmer started this season and grows his stuff organically.

He keeps it simple, growing them in rows, every thing labeled, and his Dahlia list is so long it makes your head spin, 500 + cultivars.

To my great delight he also offers new cultivars from Swan Island or European collegues. I am afraid that I will place a not so small order with him, improving my personal collection, for cut flowers mainly.

Bye, Lin

I noticed that I prefer to arrange my bouquets with with warm reds, yellows oranges,

and I have this on my wish list for next year:

a bright red water lily, Angels of 7A

Lin, he's new to dahlias, and already has 500 varieties? Now that is insanity (but in a good way)!

Looks like he's using the netting trellis for support... Did you see how many layers? Does he wrap the outside of the rows with twine?

Sadly, the season has come to an end in my garden.

Hi CC, yea, slightly crazy.

He didn't start completely unprepared, has grown cutflowers with Dahlias among them for some years.

And he inherited a collection of a fellow geek who wanted to cut back his work load at 75+ and got about 150 cultivars, if I remember correctly from an article.

They are still learning, I reckon, had used netting but did not move it up with the Dahlias growing ( isn't that the point?), and put in a second layer of twine. I heard that they were slightly overwhelmed by the workload and have struggled to keep their show garden permanently in good condition, cutting off spent flowers.

But I hope that they stick to it, it is so difficult for farmers to make a living and I think it is very smart to grow something else then not-too-well-paid-for crops.

And personally I think it is great that he tries to offer such a wide range of cultivars, some not even listed in THE German Dahlia list,

Well fingers crossed.

The last days were rainy, but no frost yet, so my plants keep churning out flowers, such a great time of year. I cut flowers as often as I can feeling that I need to soak up the color for those winter months to come.

Good sorting and storing,

Bye, Lin