The Cuttings Garden has reached its peak and will hopefully continue to pump out flowers for a few more months. Dahlias, zinnias, asters and gladioli have brought a riot of colour to the beds that can only exist in an autumn garden.
Today it was the perfect flowers of the dahlias that captured my heart. After the intense sunshine of the last few days, the rain came this morning refreshing and intensifying the vibrant colours of my many dahlia varieties. Time for a walk with my camera to try and capture the beauty of these fabulous flowers.
Every year in March I wonder if it is worth the greenhouse space and use of time to set the lumpy uninspiring dahlia tubers going. In autumn, however, I cannot imagine a garden without these stunning flowers that come in so many shapes and colours and ask so little of my time, yet produce so much.
I love Dahlias too, but this year they have been ravaged by slugs and earwigs, so it is a fight to cut them before they are eaten! Still manage to harvest enough, though 🙂
Hi Mandy,
I am really sorry to hear you have had problems with your dahlias – the dry summer in East Anglia has meant that I have had very few problems with slugs. I agree that the earwigs can be annoying, but a good shake seems to dislodge most of them. I have read that upturned terracotta flower pots stuffed with straw and balanced on bamboo canes will attract the earwigs but I have never had enough of a problem to try this out. I usually leave the flowers in water in an outhouse for 24 hours before bringing them into the house, which seems to get rid of the bugs.
It was nice too hear from you!
Julie
Gorgeous Dahlias!
It has been a fantastic year for dahlias in my garden – thank you for commenting!
Julie