It’s Dahlia Season! So far, only three of my dahlias are blooming (I got 2 of the tubers in very very late) but they suggest to me that what I am developing is a garden that is full of bloom in June with our ‘famous’ Rose Walk and rose collection, the peony border and a few other spring perennials, and then not too much bloom until the fall. This is a concept I will try and build on. Patty Cake, above, is a very pretty pinky-apricot that has been producing flowers for the house for about three weeks.
Funny Face has gotten lots of comments for the brilliant color and splotching.
I really do love the pink-cream-yellow combination of Foxy Lady. Those colors are the reason why I love the Abraham Darby rose. Here Foxy Lady is growing slightly tangled up with a purple aster and a pink yarrow. All my dahlias are from Swan Island Dahlias.
Of course, it is aster season and who could live without the dependable and beautiful Alma Potschke? I think it will be time to divide her in the spring, but the big clump is so beautiful and artless.
This is the circle garden in the middle of the lawn, on an axis (kind of) with the wide path that separates the two Lawn Beds. It is there because there is a big boulder in the middle of the lawn that is a problem for lawn mowers. I keep adding compost every year so it does grow flowers without too much trouble. I’ve done different things, but I really like the circle of zinnias this year. I think I will make the circle a little bigger next year and do zinnias again. As I said, building on the idea of late summer/autumn bloom. The bird bath in the center was a gift, as was the metal sculpture of the praying mantis. I don’t have too many ornaments in the garden, but these were perfect additions to the zinnias.
I can’t really take credit for these plants, blooming when I put them in the new bed, but I’m happy to have them as place holders. The small plant between the yellow mum and purple aster is a caryopteris. I am visualizing the way it will look next year, more abundance and more late summer blue.
Other plants in bloom right now include an annual salvia, and a perennial salvia, chelone, autumn clematis, potentilla, cranesbill and even a few stray rose blossoms: Betty Prior, Double Knockout Red, and a red and a white Meideland landscape rose.
Squash blossoms still. Do they count? What about the the marigolds in the vegetable garden? And I mustn’t forget – a few sweet peas are still blooming on the vegetable garden fence.
Hi Pat! Still lots of color in the CommonWeeder garden, I see. You’ve convinced me that I really need to try more dahlias next year – especially ‘Funny Face’.
Hi Pat, thanks for bringing me here. I love the colors on Funny Face also. Your birdbath bed is great, zinnias are so good at attracting butterflies and they photograph beautifully. Of course you need to make that circle bigger, much bigger! LOL
Frances at Fairegarden
http://fairegarden.wordpress.com/
Nan, I really love the dahlias, and I don’t worry anymore if I don’t carry the tubers successfully (or at all) through the winter. I have chosen the least expensive varieties and they are hardly more expensive with at least as much show as a flat of annuals.
Frances, I’m so glad you think the circle should be bigger. Much bigger! Just wait.
The Patty Cake dahlia is looking good. It is a pretty colour, and I like the way the colour intensifies from the centre out to the tips of the petals.
A new bed to plan and plant is fun.