OK - so I'm not really talking about paint - I'm just thinking about how very LONNNNNNNNG it takes from the time the buds appear to the full opening of the bloom on my dahlias. I know I planted late, compared to other gardeners here in the valley, but other than Dahlietta Louise, the little border dahlia in my front flower bed, I have yet to enjoy the opening of a dahlia bloom in any one of my three garden spaces. Every day, I go out and notice buds that were not there yesterday, and I faithfully pop off the little side buds so the center bud can reign supreme. Then I wait.....and wait....and wait.....day after day, for the buds to burst open into full bloom. It takes ----- forever! I guess I am learning how patient I am NOT!
Among the plants with the most blooms are several of the seedlings that we planted this year from tubers that were produced last year. These are dahlias that did not actually bloom last year, due to a variety of factors. This year, one of these seedlings is emerging as one of the earliest and most hardy of the plants in the Russell Street Garden....However, there is still that little issue of buds that have not yet opened. I will go over there again this morning, to see if there has been any "action" since my last visit, but I'm not holding my breath. Another seedling that seems to be doing well is Cascade Autumn, which has a very nice bush and promising looking buds.
I've been practicing my macro shooting at the Tony DeRooy Memorial Garden on Emerson Street....I've gotten lots of pretty interesting shots of the numerous blooms that have emerged there in the past couple of weeks. The inside of a dahlia is almost as intriguing as the outside, and the macro shooting shows the centers, the grain and textures of the surfaces, the folds of each petal, and even those little insects that are usually too small or too hidden for the growers to notice. The colors are so much better this year, and the flowers at the Memorial Garden seem to be superior overall to what we had at this time last year. This is cause for optimism, as we approach the month of August, when so much growth takes place.
I think Ray has been having a little trouble with raccoons digging up his tubers. I haven't caught him at the garden when I have gone down there lately, but a few days ago, I noticed that there is a humane trap that wildlife officers use, right at the end of Ray's rows. I remember a few weeks ago that he had complained that someone had been digging up his tubers and leaving them next to the holes they had been buried in. It caused him to replant a large number of his dahlias, much later in the season than he would otherwise plant. I was puzzled, wondering why anyone would do that, and also why the rest of us had not had this happen in our rows. Then I remembered that Ray had planted his tubers very close to the surface, with the eyes almost poking above ground. I don't know if he was trying something different, or if this is something he always does, but maybe this method of planting would capture the attention of pesky critters like raccoons, thinking this might be something they would like to eat. Apparently the tubers were not as succulent as the little diggers thought they might be, because they just left them, as I said earlier, next to the holes. I will be interested when I go there today, to see if the cage is still there, or if it accomplished its purposes!
Meanwhile, I need to check my little buds to see if this is the day they will decide to actually flower....wish me luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment