Dahlia Flower Blooming in the High Desert
Meet the Dahlia Flower! So many colors, sizes,shapes of the Dahlia! This post will be many photographs of the Dahlia Flowers we have grown.
Most of our Dahlia Flowers have been grown by tubers, though we have grown them by seed as well! 2014 was a interesting year in general! Guy had been hurt at work, so unable to do much of the gardening. I did my best to handle everything on my own and I just like to say, I sure did not understand how much work the garden is for one person HAHA!!
We have been growing the Dahlia organically for some years. Organically means without the use of chemicals. Growing this way has been my way of growing things all my life! I think this is due to where I grew up and was taught by elders how to grow things? Eugene Oregon had/has some of the best teachers when I was young for such things! Or those folks who taught me from the schools I attended to those folks who I would ask if I could work for them just to learn.
Some of the issues we personally have ran into.
Earwigs, nasty things!! The earwigs will get into your blooms and eat away!! We are the High Desert. Meaning when it is spring and summer we get HOT. We joke about how Guy is a water king! He loves to water. Which here in the High Desert one needs to water. Guy is a stickler about this! Guy checks the soil often to see how far down the water has gotten, what six inches is what he says under his breath. This determines how we both water here. Watering also brings in such insects as the earwigs. I have grown up calling earwigs, "pincher bugs".
Since we are a livestock area, we get fresh livestock dung. In this dung comes a host of things such as these tiny worm type insect which eats tubers , bulbs underground! I just ran into more of these the other day while working one of the flower beds. I was not impressed!
Snails and slugs. Again nasty things and birds and the frogs help us with controlling these. Though being in the garden as much as we are, we do our best. I almost went so far as getting chemicals to kill these, however did not go through with it..... keeping in mind birds and the frogs will still eat these chemically lased bugs, which of course go into their system and may make them sick or even kill the birds and the frogs!
Lets see what else? These are the things that come to my mind right now as I am writing this. Aphids I hear folks have issues with these and their Dahlias, however on our Dahlias (knock on wood), we do not have to big of a issue with the Aphids. Nor the Spider Mites again knock on wood!!
Mildew we have a issue with that nasty mildew however again not on our Dahlias or that I can recall at this time.
We are working at this time of getting one of the beds ready for just Dahlias. We will have a couple other things in there as well, but it will be set up just for Dahlias in 2015. Guy's hand is usable at this time finally!! So he will be jumping back into his chores he was unable to do with one hand the entire year of 2014 growing season.
Some of the information I gathered for a post back in 2012 I will add here, plus the bottom photograph I will place the link of that post about the Dahlia for you to read if you so wish.
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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."
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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.. "
We actually have tubers that survived the winter!! We have had a pretty mild winter so far! Earlier in the year we had gosh a foot or more of snow and what -14 at one time. Though that was it for us! The weather has been funky I think for us all in the USA.
Like I mentioned in 2015 we will be having one bed just for the Dahlias. Guy brought this up and I am good with the idea! Taking out the Hollyhocks, well their might be a few left on the boarder? I also took out many of the Bachelor Button flowers leaving a controllable amount to care for. I do not want to take away all the flowers that the pollinators like of course!
The Dahlia does attract many of the pollinators, such as all kinds of bee's!!
Well from here I am going to stop chatting and you can see the different Dahlia Flowers we have grown.
Some of these photographs you may have seen before? Or bought the photographs, or products with the photograph accenting the item?
I made the above poster in 2012ish? The photograph is also the link to the post, "
Many Faces of The Dahlia by Coralie", which is also the name I gave that. Publishing that in 2012. I myself find it entertaining and interesting re reading such things as my old posts just because I write in the here and now. I also notice how much more I pay attention to our chores these days!
As many of you know I am disabled with issues that effect my memory and some other issues. I am fact based. Fact this and fact that, and growing things, attracting wildlife etc. is not real fact based anything haha. Other then my joking around which I call my coping mechanizm I blame on my father hahaha! That is all his fault hahahahahha, just joking!
Thank you for coming by and checking out my photography of our Dahlia Flowers we have grown. 2015 is exciting for I bought some Dahlias from a established, old Dahlia farm right here in Oregon for this year!! See what those and the ones we have here all look like in the flower bed we are preparing just for the Dahlias!
