Dahlias - Summer's End/Storage 2014

Shoot Arlene. I thought you were really losing it. lol

That is a new development :/ Spanish

I speak fluent redneck but I may have a problem beyond that. lol

Dan, why am I not surprised. :) Hunting deer, fishing hundred of fish, eating batter fried food, grits and corn pon. Hmmmmm?

You forgot poke salad, turnip greens and black eyed peas. lol No thanks on the grits!

I KNEW you were going to say that!!! I threw it in gratuitously. smirk

for fish I raise my own tilapia and channel catfish, and I use their pond to grow tomatoes on, lol

After a high near 80 yesterday, the forecast is calling for highs this weekend of 51 and 53 degrees. There is a chance of rain from today through next Wednesday. Sounds like tuber digging weather is getting close. The dahlias are still producing a lot of buds and I had another Show 'n Tell and Ben Huston plant open. Zorro is still looking good but the stems are really weak and the blooms don't seem to last long before the petals start falling off. But hey .... it's Octubre and it's been a pretty good year. I won't complain.

1) Zorro
2) Duet
3) ?? I bought a 3-pack of Seawood Glory. If it is SG where's the other two? lol
4) Alpen Bill

Zorro is much lighter compared to what I recall. I do have Duet, thanks to a company error. The third one is a beauty regardless of the name. Alpen Bill has that nice light lavender touch that looks so nice. I have it with Victoria Ann and Vanquisher.

The rotten deer struck again and you can see at the very bottom of the photo how they just rip off stems and buds. They also yanked out many Louisiana irises I just transplanted and many sedums I had rooting.

Can rack of venison be far behind for Noviembre?

Now I am confused. Dan, didn't you say YOUR deer don't eat your dahlias. So why do Arlene's deer eat all her stuff. Can't be different deer. Or perhaps her dahlias are tastier?? No other provender in her area?? And I cannot believe you have 80F. that is amazing.

Don't you have to wait for the killing frost and then two weeks to dig? Heck, you will be digging at Christmas at this rate.

In eight years or so of growing dahlias, I've never had any eaten by deer. They have trampled a few plants. I've seen evidence of chewing on some short, young dahlia plants but I'm pretty sure it was by our neighborhood rabbit. I was chasing him out of the yard every morning when this was going on. There is a lot of other things in the area the deer would rather eat. It's useless to try and grow hosta around here. Maybe the other "goodies" in Arlene's yard are protected by fences and the dahlias are an easy meal.

Arlene, Zorro is actually a very dark red. As I've mentioned before, I have a hard time getting decent photos of some darker colors. Even the NOID in the third photo is a much darker purple than it looks. Some of the photos I take in bright sun are really washed out. I try to avoid that.

Depending on the weather, I may go to Virginia next week. I'm not sure if I'll hunt or not. My uncle has a huge garden and he loves to see hunters take out the deer. Probably the hunting I'll do is with my metal detector. I have so many license and tags for Ohio and Pa. I don't need any more. The snakes are still active, so I'll be packing "heat." lol

For the past few weeks we've had daily visits from two big does and two fawns. The past week I've only seen one fawn. I have seen a couple laying along the road after being hit by cars. Our local deer feeders who claim they love them, are luring them across busy highways only to have many killed. I'll give them the "credit" for many of the dead ones. Not to mention the possibility of injury to drivers and passengers.

Idiots

Forgot to say that I usually dig the tubers in mid-November. Last year I fell a little behind after digging the tubers and I was planting the rest of my daffs and a Lady Slipper after Thanksgiving. I had to rake back a couple inches of snow but fortunately the ground hadn't frozen yet. lol

This is the first year the dahlias outside the protection of The Park were attacked, Mary. They used to routinely eat my friend's dahlias just a mile from here. No hay or feed for the deer!

We only got to 70 degrees today but it was very nice working in the garden after three days of rain. I had to delete many astilbe but they came out easily enough. Very few weeds, and only the tiny clover, so the Preen and mulch are working exceedingly well.

I can't tell if the hostas here are appetizers for the deer and daylilies are the main course or not.

The lighter Zorro is very nice even though it's a camera "thing". Harsh sun does wash out so many colors.

I'd probably shoot my foot while aiming at a snake. No thanks.

The expense of repairing vehicles due to the deer is enormous. Our boating neighbors next door both got smashed by deer, in their own cars, within two weeks. One vehicle was totaled and the wife's car sustained $7,000. worth of damage. Both happened during the dark hours - one in the early morning and one in early evening. We both try not to travel if we'd need our lights.

Not the snow word already, Dan!

Mine were also dug around Thanksgiving, as usual.

Sounds like I should hold off at least two more weeks. As I mentioned the one I had to dig early looks pretty pathetic. Soft and shriveled and no discernible eyes. I don't want to take any chances on having that happen to the rest. And as I recall that is exactly what happened last year. I was lucky to get anything usable out of that mess.

By the time we get it all perfected nobody wants to hear us talk about it!

Must be nice to have 3 days of rain Pirl. It's been really dry here since the beginning of August.

That's true Arlene. Dan really drives me nuts!! ROTFL. I say that because he is so successful I could ..... well, I could just.... well, you know.

It gets boring, Jeff, and my to do list just grows. It's gloomy now with more rain due late today. I'm down to so few weeds that they are not a problem and five minutes could be the end of them thanks to all the Preen and mulch I've used.

If we didn't have Dan to rake snow in November, who else would make us chuckle?

Don't count yourself short Arlene. You are no slouch in that department. And I have the 'listening pleasure' of you two bouncing repartees off each other all winter long.....

It's raining, again, here today. It wasn't due until much later. Still, it's better than raking snow.

The deer forgot to rip out sedums rooting and Louisiana irises as well as dahlias last night. I'll have to leave them a Post It message on the deer fencing to remind them.

:)

Pirl, I have sent you that rain so I can have a beutiful day, for cleaning the yard, cutting grass and trimming hedges. I have found that my new dahlia Jitterbug is blooming, all tangled up with the rest of the flowers in the back. I noticed that my dog likes to roll in the lantana bushess, they do stinck when you touch them. She also like to roll around on the new grass, I enjoy watching her . She is getting up there with age, but still spunky at age 10. Etelka

At least the dog can enjoy the grass without all the work connected to it, like mowing. I'm so glad the sod did so well for you, Etelka, and that you continued to water it so it would prosper.

That dahlia is a pretty one!
https://www.google.com/search?q=image+dahlia+Jitterbug&biw=1242&bih=545&tbm=isch&imgil=AYy2mJx2BO0ujM%253A%253BZVrhmgHiIJCksM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fdavesgarden.com%25252Fguides%25252Fpf%25252Fshowimage%25252F124119%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=AYy2mJx2BO0ujM%253A%252CZVrhmgHiIJCksM%252C_&usg=__jje9_Mmf0b-3hnOERGmDUTiJze0%3D&ved=0CDUQyjc&ei=TF8wVPLTGNCeyAScwYLABQ#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=4TKvg6_kWdW5gM%253A%3B6is2XVwYOPa5mM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fimg1.sunset.timeinc.net%252Fsites%252Fdefault%252Ffiles%252Fimage%252F2013%252F04%252Fdahlia-jitterbug-0413-l.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sunset.com%252Fgarden%252Fflowers-plants%252Fgorgeous-dahlias%252Fgorgeous-dahlias_39%3B400%3B400

I had to dig up four more dahlia tubers to make way for peonies and lilies. Iceberg, Rebecca's World, Taylor Swift, Ferncliff Inspiration. Several had eyes easy to see. Not so much on RW but I have two other plants of that. One other of TS and Iceberg. I have washed them and turned them upside down on grid bottom plant flats to dry. I am not digging any more for several more days. Particularly as I have no room in the garage. I am working as fast as I can cleaning up the beds, spreading mulch, tearing down dead plants etc. If it snows I may just shoot myself. I just noted that I have about five more lilies (in 3's) coming.

I'm glad you're finding eyes!

'Tis the season to be busier than we'd like. I spent six hours deadheading some dahlias, tying up others for the 4th and 5th times! They grew so much in the last month.

The bed is so appealing after days like this one.

Mais oui !! Now I just have to hope that in addition to eyes they dry nicely. I guess it will tell me how long I have to wait for the others.

We always end up being concerned about some aspect of saving the tubers. At least we're not giving up on them!

Ladies you make me tired just reading this! My dahlias are still blooming like crazy. So digging is still a ways off for me.
But I spent a couple of hours bringing in Tropical plants and tender perennials. We had frost Saturday night, so it's a good thing I got that chore over with.

Good reminder! I have to bring in the 33 amaryllises. No frost here, thankfully. We'll get it in mid November.

33 amaryllises.. my heavens. I love them but haven't had much luck growing them. Oh, I can get a pot from the store and tried holding them over for a year but the next year it grew but no flowers. So you set yours outside? Never tried that. I read you have to store them over winter in a dark place or they won't grow the next year.

I posted the first photo a few days ago as a NOID. I had listed it on my chart as Wyn's Bewitched. I didn't believe it was since every picture of WB I've seen showed a big red bloom. I checked a Wynne's Dahlias website to look at it again. Under the photo of the red bloom was a caption that said, "A really dark rich purple. The digital cameras can't get the color even close." Aha! ... so my camera isn't the only one not getting certain colors right. The second photo was made in sunlight and is the same "red" I see in all the photos. I think this closes the case and it really is WB. Many photos you see in catalogs don't show the true colors. Many are greatly enhanced. I like to look at several photos to get a better idea of what I'm getting. In this case it probably wouldn't have mattered because every photo I saw showed a red bloom.

I dead-headed a lot of blooms this morning and cut off a lot that had broken in the high winds this weekend. Still getting quite a few new buds. Mary might recognize the bloom in the first photo.

1) LaLuna. Still going strong.
2) Ferncliff Illusion.
3) Nick Sr. I think this one gets bigger every day.

Mary - amaryllises do get a period of rest during August and September but need all the sun they can get in winter, or artificial lighting. Mine bloom beautifully. I always bring them out in late May so they can enjoy the summer heat.

Dan - cameras do play tricks on us with colors. I also compare photos on different sites to guess at what I'll end up with and, like you, I hate when colors are enhanced just for sales. I do trust Accent Dahlias totally for the truth of colors but not a lot (any?) other places.

Nick Sr. was on my list for next year but it's too close in looks to Bodacious.

Deadheading yesterday was a nightmare - so many broken flower stems but only two stalks ripped off stems. I ended up with two huge bags of yard waste. I must have the prettiest waste in town with all those dahlia blooms! Still hundreds or maybe a thousand are in bloom.

Dan's Alpen Pearl gets the WOW award for the year! KFL was second.

I drool over your photos knowing you both have the real thing there in your yards. Here follows pictures of my dahlia beds, tubers and the last ones I cut to bring in.

Last flowers.

The end will come for us, too, Mary.

Such a pretty display of the last flowers!

Just planted 32 little tulips, out of deer range.

I only planted a few gregii tulips. They are supposed to last many years longer than the others. Every time I dig into the front beds I come up with a clump of crocus corms. They multiply like bunnies. So I break them up and spread them out. Can't really hurt them. They all have little stems? growth? on them. I guess that lasts all winter. The cold must encourage them to wake up.