Delightful Dahlias and Raised Bed

Delightful Dahlias

My best dahlia performer this year is the red “Thompson” dahlia. It has been blooming for about 10 days now! I'm so pleased with these tubers as I have been growing them for 12 or 13 years now, since we lived in Thompson. It is so easy to just dig up the fat healthy tubers in the fall and keep them over winter in some peat moss in the launder room. The following spring they are sprouting and eager to grow for another season. 

Firebird Dahlia- Stackstone bed

The Firebird dahlia in my Stackstone bed is opening its gorgeous orange and yellow blossoms right now as well.  The clump in my yard tub next to the electrical pole is growing, but seems quite a bit further behind, probably due to the fact it gets less sun there.

Creeping pink baby's breath and red dahlias

I bought a new dahlia tuber in a bag of three this spring called Mystery Day. Eventually they should produce some pretty two tone blossoms. They are growing okay, but are nowhere near producing buds yet. One pot is in the greenhouse and two are on the deck.  Must remember to fertilize them with high potassium Miracle Grow and maybe they will set some buds then.

I love Morning Glory vines and this spring I started some Morning Glories from seed again. The first ones which I planted out in my Round “Angel” Bed have done nothing! They are just hanging in there, but not growing at all. Maybe they don’t appreciate the late afternoon/ early evening sun there.

The second batch of Morning Glories which I had planted in my Stack Stone bed face south east and they are growing tall along the trellis. Hopefully they will start blooming soon, too.

Raised bed

I’m really pleased with my new raised bed that my diligent, thoughtful husband built this June. We planted radishes and carrots in there and  we might actually get a nice crop for once! We had no luck at all growing radishes in the ground since our soil is too alkaline and radishes prefer more acidic soil. It doesn’t help that the sprinkler water from the well pump is high alkaline too. 

We also have some green bean plants, some peas, some onions and a big squash plant in the raised bed. The squashes are growing really long and are producing big yellow flowers, but the lazy bees aren’t doing their job of pollination so no fruit is growing yet. Diligent husband has been using cutips to help that process along, so we’ll see what happens... :)

Bearded irises (left and right) Miss Kim miniature lilac bush (centre back), Splendins Lychnis in centre

The Splendin Lychnis is struggling this year, and had few blooms, but that's likely because I had dug it up a few weeks ago to remove some of the encroaching perennial asters.  The continuous rain showers we had for much of June has caused the asters to grow tall and healthy.  The asters were so weak and tiny for about 3 years that at one point I was debating about composting the whole lot of them!  They will bloom some time in August when most other plants are done, so that's one nice benefit of being patient.

Beautiful rogue lily growing in rock garden

And the weeds, of course are also growing huge! Had to weed my Stackstone bed again this week, especially the shady east end.  And of course that's an ongoing process in all the rest of my flower beds, too. 

Happy gardening!

beautiful buds