Dahlias: Before it's over: a few last offerings, 1 by Poochella

Poochella wrote:
Ditto, not new, but a funny thing happened on the way to Mingus Erica. She was among the first to bloom a few years running now. Thanks to Grannymarsh for introducing it to me. It has historically been a monstrous, robust bush requiring two or three stakes, but this year it was slow, a bit skinny, and sluggish to bloom.

Aha: it was struggling behind Kasasagi blocking its light, so I finally decided to cut off half of the sun-blocking offender who has given me no less than 100 bright yellow and red poms this year. So I bit the bullet, pulled out the pruners and began lopping off Kasasagi. And then after happily hacking away for half the plant, I realized it was Puget Sparkle I had just amputated! Oh well. More of those nice reds of Puget Sparkle next year, more of Mingus Erica this year.