It is no secrete that we are avid gardeners. 99.9% of the cultivated flower photographs I take is of our own flowers. The small 1% of the cultivated flower photographs I take that are not ours, I will say they are not grown organically by us.
Now the outside is Guys. This means, the outside is primarily Guy's domain. While I have the inside of the house. We are both rather protective of our areas, and frankly, Guy waters WAY to much!! For inside plants anyways, we live in the high desert and things grow here that do not grow over the cascade mountains, but things grow over there that do not grow here.
Guys chores are endless during most of the year the snow is not on the ground and it is not freezing. When the first frost hits, this is when the outside is pretty much done. The Dahlia seeds from our flower beds should have been collected and the bulbs/tubes should be dug up and brought inside soon.
The Dahlia is a interesting flower to gardeners like us. They come in so many different colors, sizes (blooms from several inches to a foot or so. They can be as short as a foot, or I read up to 6-8 feet. The tallest ours have gotten has been 5' or so),and many textures. These are native to Central America, Columbia and Mexico. They had been reported as far back as 1650 a author of a book while he was in Mexico mentioned it in his book when it was finally published.Though really, know one knows exactly. I have read this, and I have read that so.....
It has been reported the Dahlia was not commercially available until 1813. It took many years to stabilize the species. Mexico made it the national flower in 1963. What I think is really cool is that the Dahlia is a octoploid. It has eight times the haploid chromosome number. Now I am no expert, but this is pretty unique. Most plants have two, just two. Going back way back when I used to read such books for the heck of it , a chromosome is what makes whatever, what it is. The more chromosomes something has, the more diverse a species can be. Hence so many colors, heights, textures,peddle count etc.. I am sure someone out there can explain this way more in detail than I can haha!! I am just a curious person and find such things interesting.
The Dahlia does have a medical as well as a nutritional use, however I really would rather not get into such things as that. The beauty of the Dahlia is the only thing we keep them for. The Dahlia gives me so many photography opportunities. I like to photograph all flowers when they first open. The color is more bright, it has yet to be attacked by any insect. Some Dahlia flowers the peddles start to open but the center has yet to open. Others when they first open, wow do they open! Every day I am out there with my camera to see what has changed from the previous day.
You know, even in some parts of the world the Dahlia is known as the Georgina. So, if you are talking about your Dahlia and someone says it is a Georgina, it is because of a communication problem. There are so many different Dahlias I can see this happening!
We have several species of flowers that take on different looks out there in our gardens. The Dahlia we are really interested in what we are going to have from year to year! We let nature take it's course. We are more of the relaxed gardeners. We really just do it for relaxation and fun. I have ran into the more serious botanist, I am born and raised Oregonian so of course I am going to. Nothing wrong with that we just are not interested and I know how I can be if I did get into something like that. I forget to eat as it is haha!!
Well, I hope you liked my little write up and my photographs I put together of a dozen of our Dahlias. 
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