Tagged With: Dahlia

Dahlia ‘Dracula’

Dark Angel Dahlia ‘Dracula’

Dark Angel Dahlia ‘Dracula’

This dahlia is one of two that Cathy has growing in containers at the top of our driveway. It is one of seven dahlias in the Dark Angel line from the Dutch company Verwer-Dahlias. The seven cultivars in the Dark Angel series are named for what they consider to be edgy films and in addition to ‘Dracula’ are ‘American Pie’, ‘Braveheart’, ‘Pretty Woman’, ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Taxi Driver’. I’m not sure those are the edgiest films you could come up with, but the flower themselves are quite beautiful. Of course they have other series, as well, such as Karma, Meloda, Happy Days, and Gallery.

Dahlias are, in general, a bit more work than some flowers, but they sure are beautiful when grown well. The genus name Dahlia is in honor of Dr. Anders Dahl (1751-1789), a Swedish botanist and pupil of Linnaeus.

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Dahlia ‘Dracula’

Dark Angel Dahlia 'Dracula'

Dark Angel Dahlia ‘Dracula’

I posted a picture of this same dahlia on Monday, September 18, 2017, so you’ll have to excuse the repetition. Although it’s not particularly large for a dahlia flower, it’s very pretty. Also, the plant has very dark purple, not-quite-black foliage. It’s lovely overall and we definitely need to dig up the tuber and try to keep it for next year. We’ve never actually done that before and I’m not sure how successful we’ll be. They are supposed to be stored in a damp place all winter in temperatures that are between 45°F and 50°F, which is a pretty narrow range and not something we have naturally in our house. Our basement is cool but not that cool and we do our best to make it dry, not humid (it’s currently at 38% relative humidity). So, we’ll see what we can do.

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Laciniated, Bi-color Dahlia

Laciniated, Bi-color Dahlia

Laciniated, Bi-color Dahlia

Cathy and I went to the Dahlia garden at the county’s Agricultural Farm Park this afternoon. I think I’ve found my absolute favorite dahlia of all time. I love dahlias in all their forms and wouldn’t really disparage any of them. That being said, I’ve always been more drawn to the single and mignon classes of dahlias more than the huge dinner plate or cactus classes. This one, however, I really, really like. It’s a laciniated or fimbriated dahlia, characterized by having petals that are split at the end into two or more divisions. Added to that, this one has petals that are a different shade on the front from the back. I particularly like the color combination of orange on the front and almost red on the back. It’s a pretty large bloom, as well and the flowers are absolutely lovely. So, for now, it’s my favorite.

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Dahlia ‘Pam Howden’

Dahlia ‘Pam Howden’

Dahlia ‘Pam Howden’

After church today we decided to go to the Agricultural Farm Park and look at the dahlias. While were were there, a woman told us that there were dahlias being displayed and judged over near the farm house. This is one of my favorites of those that were displayed. It’s a dahlia called ‘Pam Howden’ and was hybridised by Gar Davidson. It’s a really lovely waterlily type dahlia with really amazing color. I was able to ask about a dahlia that I photographed last year (see Saturday, September 26, 2020). While I thought it was really amazing, apparently it didn’t make the grade because it didn’t produce enough blooms. Pity.

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Dahlia ‘Bloomquist Jean’

Dahlia ‘Bloomquist Jean’

Dahlia ‘Bloomquist Jean’

We took a walk on the upper Rock Creek late this morning. It had been threatening rain all morning and it started to come down just as we got out of the car. Because we were in the woods most of our walk, it wasn’t really all that noticeable but we did end up fairly damp. Still, it was good to be out. The spicebush (Lindera benzoin) plants are covered with berries and many of the American Hornbeams (Carpinus caroliniana) are decorated with their winged fruit. After our walk we stopped briefly at the dahlia garden. I particularly like this flower, called ‘Bloomquist Jean’.

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Dahlias

Dahlias

Dahlias

We were at Anna’s house for another worship night and I took some photos of everyone singing but I sort of feel those are for private use. I took a few photos of the dahlias on the mantle, though, so I figure I can share those. The colors aren’t as vibrant in this as they were in real life, with the natural lighting, which is a little harsh, but dahlias are so nice I thought you might like them anyway. I certainly do. Thank you, Anna, for sharing a box of dahlia tubers with us this spring. We have them blooming in our back yard for the first time, and that’s really a treat.

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Dahlias

Dahlias

Dahlias

This is my first year growing dahlias. I’ve admired them for a long time but never made the plunge or spent the time getting and planting the tubers. This spring our friend Anna gave us a box of extra tubers that she had. I planted about a dozen of them and also gave some to a neighbor who said he loved dahlias. Years ago I created a small vegetable garden with a fence around it. In more recent years I had some oregano there and it took over the entire plot. So, in the spring I dug out the oregano in a little over half of the bed and put the dahlias there. They did much better than I reasonably expected. The one thing I needed to differently was tie them up in some way because they mostly flopped over. Next year I’ll do that. Most of the plants that I grew have orange blooms, although there were a few purple, as well, but all the remaining flowers are orange, as seen here. Soon I’ll need to dig up the tubers and save them for next year’s planting. I’m definitely hooked.

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Dahlia Puzzle

Dahlia Puzzle

Dahlia Puzzle

Cathy, Dorothy, and I have been putting together puzzles lately. The first one we’ve done recently was started at the beach over the summer but wasn’t completed. We rolled it up then and it’s been in that state since then. We finished that a while back and put out this as our next. I was pretty challenging. Nevertheless, we made continual progress on it and finally finished it this evening. It’s a 1,000 piece puzzle.

Our family is in the “you don’t look at the box” camp. Yes, that makes the puzzle somewhat harder (and sometimes considerably harder). But it also gives more satisfaction and gratification when the puzzle is eventually completed. I know we were all pretty pleased with ourselves when we finished this one. We have put it away and put out our next one, which promises to be at least as hard. It’s also larger, with 1,500 pieces.

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