There's nothing quite like the first dahlia coming into bloom. I've been growing them since my first home, got serious about them on the farm, and saw half of the dozen planted along our front path in the Emerald City never come up (the part-sun front garden I didn't take into consideration, it was definitely a changing sun/part-sun/shade situation in two-thirds of it!
So when we got up here, and saw a neighbor's garden at the end of the block bursting with them, I knew the spring meant giving it another try - and, fortunately, that'd be AFTER I knew where the sun was going to be at its best to ensure their survival. I planted about a dozen on the north side of the yard (getting all that southern exposure) and four more up higher along our path.
And I'm still learning...
Why? Because even though our dahlias have the sunniest spots to grow in, the drainage on the north side is not as great as it could be due to the clay soil and slight sloping of the property, meaning after I planted them in the spring, and we got some ass-kicking deluges of rain (yet, crazily, not a rainy spring - just when it rained, it often felt like you were in the South it came and went so quickly and heavily), so again - like our last place, thus far only about half of them have come up....all further up the slope.
But that's okay, we good. You know why? This flower right here. "Take Off" is an anemone-style dahlia they say, but to me? Reminds me a whole lot of our peony in the front garden that just bloomed for the first time this spring. It's been fun to watch from bud-to-full-bloom, for sure, as it started off looking super pink but now it seems more on the lavender side.
And the bees, oh the bees do love it. As for me? I love watching its progress from bud to bloom - talk about promise...
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