Elon feels like he's in Avitar.

Costco just got slammed with calls and shoppers after you posted.

Love Dahlias. But they aren't *quite* hardy here, so I only plant them once in a while as annuals. I don't have the time (or energy, these days) to dig and overwinter the roots.

By the way Ben, I haven't forgotten your fig cuttings. I just assumed you don't want them to arrive cooked/parbroiled/baked. The temps here are crazzzy, and twice as bad between here and there, lol. As soon as there's a break in the heatwave, I'll be in touch. I think about you every time I water my figs...which is twice a day, lately!

Ben,

In some rose circles even the mention of dahlias will cause a violent uproar of such enormous proportions that severed limbs lying about cannot be counted for their abundance.

"Those diabolical dahlias, as lovely as they are, carry the most incurable, super resistant spider mites that will destroy your roses." So says a horticultural expert known in the East.

I love dahlias, grew them a lot many years ago. Enjoyed them immensely. Audacious, bodacious, vivacious blooms, that look like Dr. Seuss created them, describes the big boys and girls among the dahlia clan.

Moses

Moses,

I was not happy to see your comments. This is my first year with dahlias and I hope I’m not introducing some new crud to my garden!!

Berrypie,

Elon is perhaps the only creature that has no interest in monster dahlias. I had to throw his toy cruller on a dahlia so he’d run there and I could take that pic.

John,

I agree dahlias are not so hardy, seems like they did not come back reliably when I lived in zone 8. Thanks for the update on this figs, and no hurry!

Oursteelers,

I agree, Moses and his diabolical spider mites can stay East! I dont think we have this problem in the West, Dahlias are pretty easy here.

Moses,

I do love how big and gaudy the dahlias get, especially in midsummer when everything else is burning from heat.

He's a toy connoisseur - Amara would rather fetch a monster edible cruller. If her KONG toy isn't treat stuffed , it's as interesting as a dahlia.

Berrypie,

I don’t think Amara would be able to resist Elon’s cruller…it is also a cat, it has pink frosting and sprinkles!

It also squeaks obnoxiously loud, so be thankful there’s not one at your house!

Moses, that’s hilarious, I never would have thought of dahlias as so controversal!

Oursteelers, I have grown dahlias with my roses, often practically right on top of each other, since my first Seattle garden 10 years ago and have never had an issue with them apart from the normal autumn powdery mildew that afflicts almost everything as the season runs down in late September and October. I suspect the spider mite issue is regional though I do overhand water periodically as a preventive.

While I don’t have a Costco membership this thread has inspired me to get over to my local nursery and see what they have, I have a few that overwintered in pots coming up and starting to bloom but I can always use more 😄

Ben, we Idahoans call that a donut, and I cannot resist a donut (stupid computer keeps telling me I've misspelled donut). So I would be more danger than Amara to Elon's cute donut. A kitty donut. What will they think of next? And I love kitties. Those dahlias are gorgeous. Diane

These overweight kitties, Finn and Barley, look like a couple of donuts.

I came for the dahlias and stayed for the pet pics! :P

Diane,

Irresistibly Fat , content and happy , that’s how your kitties look. You can’t be blamed wanting a pink cat shaped donut. And yes, cursed spell check, it’s donut, not doughnut. I must tell you I learned the word cruller in a article about one of your old customers, Tabitha King. They said that once Stephen King’s first novel became a success, Tabitha quit her job at the donut shop and stopped smelling like a giant cruller. That image never left me, so I like to use the word cruller.

So we have donut, doughnut, and cruller, are they also three different versions of the same thing? I better stop.

Ben, how did you know that Tabitha King was an old eBay customer of mine? You must have seen that story about my selling her an antique soapdish, and writing my review comment to her backwards. I'm sure she thought I was so clever. I thought a cruller was a donut with a fancified outline shape. I'll research that. Hahaha. Diane

Windowsill,

Furry friends are the best

Heather

Sometimes I find Home Depot has great dahlias too

Diane,

Ruoy ahtibaT ginK hsidpaos yrots si elbattegrofnu!!

Finn and Barley think a cat cruller squeaky toy for a dog is twisted.

but they wouldn't mind biting the head off and kicking the stuffing out of a catnip mouse.

Ben, you have a good memory. You like it darker. The typeface.

Berry, Finn doesn't play around with toys. He bites the heads off real mice (and eats them; just the heads). Diane

I love all of the animals here, but Finn has a special place in my heart for his rodenticide capabilities, particularly gophers :-D

Susan, actually, he's hell on voles which are the really bad guys in my garden. They killed four of my roses a couple of years ago. Mice are a sideline, and gophers have been driven out. Right now, we have a coyote problem in our back yard. This coyote is a loner that keeps coming into our yard and was heading for the patio yesterday morning. We have to keep Finn inside all the time when that happens. Finn is the sweetest, quietest kitty, and is afraid of everything--except rodents. We never let him stay outside after 5:30. Barley is strictly indoors because he wants to wander off and then get disoriented, I guess. He's enormous and nice, but devilish. Diane

Diane, when I wrote "gophers" about Finn, I had a feeling that it was something similar, but I couldn't remember specifically, so I went with gophers. I did remember about your recent loss of roses, which coincided with my gopher resurgence. Fingers crossed and not wanting to jinx it, but my gophers appear to have moved on for the past 6 months or so :-D

First -- love those dahlias. Maybe I'll head over to Costco after church for a very different sort of religious experience. I felt like I won the jackpot at local nursery (Terra Sol, Susan, not our usual spot) when I found huge dahlias crammed into tiny pots (which means less expensive!). I bought two. Now, where to put them? My only problem with dahlias...well, my own TWO problems are these: 1) SNAILS!!! Because we've had two very wet winters/springs in a row, the snail population (and slug, but esp. snail) has become a horror show. And they really go for the dahlias. And I think I may have poisoned the crows because I think they've started eating sluggo which is billed as nontoxic and safe for animals -- but I think the sugar they use to coat the iron phosphate appeals to rats and crows. My friend had a rat chew through the container to eat all the sluggo. And then I noticed the crows eating things out of my pots with dahlias -- and the only thing I can think they're eating is the sluggo... Back to beer traps, I guess.

the second problem -- the dahlias I've planted from tubers have been a challenge. Some are mis-labeled, and some never grow. Right next to my lovely Eustacia Vye I have this monster dahlia that has some red flowers and some that are alternating red/white. They don't look right in that very peachy/pastel section. Ugh.

Now -- onto the other important topics you've raised here. First, Elon is just so cute I can't stand it!!! So much personality -- you can tell even in a still photo. Second, my favorite donuts are spudnuts, as a brand. My favorite kind of donut is a French cruller. They are made differently with a different machine. That apparently breaks down at some places, which makes them more challenging to get. Also, apropos only of donuts, we tried Mochi donuts last weekend. that was an experience. Wait in line for 30 minutes, choose some donuts (limit of 12 per customer/family), then they call your name and give you your donuts. They were good. Expensive, but good. Very novel for us. I still love spudnuts and French crullers.

Thanks for the tip, Ben!

@DDinSB (Z10b Coastal CA) Deborah, so you went to that place in the Turnpike Center? I've read about it in Noozhawk and The Restaurant Guy, and wondered how they could make it work with the wait and the price, not to mention opening so late! Sounds more like a posh Montecito thing :-D

My all-time fave donuts were Winchell's on Milpas, but now we're good with Eller's on Hollister near Modoc. (Profound apologies to folks who don't live in Santa Barbara for my very local comments to Deborah)

Susan -- it's a great place to people watch in line -- and there is a cute fountain there. But I don't need to make a habit of it! Winchell's on Milpas does sell French Crullers! :-) There's an Ellers on Milpas, also, but I prefer the Spudnuts on Upper State or Hollister (closer to you).

Sure are some beauties in there I'd snap up for myself if only I could! Yesterday, had come across a glorious double orange on compact dark foliage, would have loved to bring it home with me, though at $24.00 it was more than a bit pricey, I picked up a hardy hydrangea for just ten bucks more.

DD and Susan, I wonder what happened to all the Winchell's we had all over this area at one time. I liked them a lot, but years ago, they all pulled out. I'll tell you that the Spudnut name really brought back some memories. I think they started in Idaho, and in the 1950s, there was one in Boise. I lived in a little town about 25 miles away from Boise, and once a week my parents and I went to the big city (Boise) to shop. And for a while, we went to Spudnuts for donuts. My dad got in long conversations with the shop owner. Not sure if he started the whole Spudnut thing, but what was supposed to be so special was that Spudnuts were made with Idaho potatoes. Spudnuts left Boise before you guys were born, and now I find that California has the darn things. OK. Back to Dahlias or at least Stephen King's wife. Diane

This rose is a continuous bloomer in our hideous ongoing heat. It's a Meilland Romantica called Abbaye de Cluny, and it's huge, carefree and a wonderful rose, as far as I'm concerned.

Diane, Winchell's used to be ubiquitous in southern California from the time I grew up (1950s). Even when I moved to Santa Barbara in 1987, there were at least 4 or 5 of them here. Now there's only the one I mentioned to Deborah. I remember when Spudnuts first came here, I thought they were the best ever. I think they use potato flour, IIRC. But the one nearest our house doesn't make the best donuts. But that could be because my DH used to go there at 5 am... I always suspected we got yesterday's leftovers! Deborah, my test of a donut place is a plain raised glazed donut... it needs to be really fluffy with a slightly crisp outside. I think a lot of places don't use enough yeast to make them fluffy :-D

In the 70's I worked a block away from a Seattle branch of Winchell's. One day for lunch I bought 4 donuts, wolfed them down watching out for anyone that might have seen it, and went back to work feeling awful. That was my last donut binge.

I love bagels now. Hey Elon, there are bagel with cream cheese squeaky toys.

Berrypie,

I think Elon and all dogs will like that bagel because because of the fur, they will think a bagel made out of squirrels is such a great idea. It’s a good human deterrent, too!

I remember when Winchells first got started on the West coast, they tasted like cakes and everyone had to try them.

I always got the cake type donut at Winchell's, but now my fav is chocolate frosted raised, and believe it or not, the Albertson's store bakery has the best. Spudnut's is no longer a chain with franchises, I read, but the shops are individually owned. So quality can vary depending on the shop.

I just realized that was a furry bagel, Berry. Sort of gross, but yes, dogs would like it. A cat would want the real thing, and not the bagel part. This thread is one big meandering who ha. Stephen King would like it darker. Diane

Love your abbye, Diane! We are finally getting some heat around here. So will help foliage. We will see about blooms. Oh! I’ve been smelling skunk all morning, and a big turkey vulture just landed by the big rock.. to be cont

Okay, here’s the darker turn, Diane! 4 vultures feasting on, I believe, a dead skunk. I’m not going out to check.

Back to donuts - Susan - that’s the best test for sure. When hubby tastes donuts (he’s a connoisseur), he tries to get the raised glaze as the baseline. I have fond memories of donuts - though can’t say I’ve binged on them to be sick of them! Heading out to Costco today. Is there another dahlia in my future?

I love it darker and that book is in my stack. Go vultures, a necessary part of the circle of life for sure. Great photos, Deborah. When I lived in the next county over, major ag area, skunk scent was a constant as they were hit by cars all the time. My garage would reek as I was forced to drive through the stench and bring it home. I don't remember any Turkey vultures during those years, but we surely needed them. Now we have the World's Center for Birds of Prey near Boise, and I'm sure the falcons there would like them some skunk, only live. So, donuts, skunks and turkey vultures. My kind of thread. Diane

PS, DD, I hope you get a beautiful dahlia.

Back to Dahlias -- no dahlias at my Costco (but they did have lots of citrus). I don't know where I would have planted them, anyway. And I don't know how I would have planted them. About 9 weeks ago I sprinted to beat the trash truck so I could put the dog poop bags in the trash before they got to my house. Since then, I've had a very painful heel, esp. when going up/down hills/stairs. Finally saw specialist last week who told me to NOT WALK AT ALL for 30 days to let the achilles heal. No barefeet. No sandals. This is really interfering with my ability to garden, de-stress, etc. Anyway -- I have about 12 plants I'd bought before that diagnosis. Maybe I should buy bigger pots for them and just stick them in the bigger pots for now? Ugh.

I got one to match my Celestial Night, but it fried with our record 114 degrees days.

It has some little buds coming up but we're supposed to get another Heatwave soon so...

Carla in Sac

I went to Costco today, and they had the citrus trees that Deborah mentioned, but what I really was impressed by were the blooming 15 gallon Crape Myrtle trees for $69.99. I didn't get one, but that seemed like a good price (?)

Lol@ all the skunk talk. It brought a memory of when we lived in the midwest and would sometimes drive from Nebraska to Minnesota. Once we got to South Dakota, all we would smell is skunk. No matter if we had the windows closed up tight and the air vents shut, we could smell super strong skunk scent. Then a local told me that Coronado Cherry car air freshener will cover that skunk smell. So we started carrying a can whenever we traveled or went camping etc and the kids would crack it open the first sign of skunk.

It worked but now every one of us, to this day, will smell skunk everytime we smell Coronado Cherry air freshener or anything similar to it lol. Crazy association.

Costco has followed up the monster dahlias with monster lilies! They are very fragrant, too.

Now I wish I was close to Costco. Lillies! I want some.

Oh wow ! i always seem to miss the plants at coscto . and spend 300$ on random things plus one or two dinner items lol maybe ill go tomorrow and see what fhey have !