Knowing that a hard frost was on its way last night I made the most of the final hours of the Cutting Garden yesterday to gather in the last of the usable dahlias. Having finally made myself cut some flowers for the house I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden again after a long break from joining in with her challenge to find something from the garden to bring inside every week of the year.
The dahlias have been outstanding this year – they have been flowering non stop since early July and would have carried on for a few weeks yet if last nights frost had not hit them.
The dahlias I used in this arrangement included the ubiquitous Cafe Au Lait – loved by brides and florists the world over it seems and Henrietta, a Sarah Raven purchase which was new to me this year. Similar in colour to Cafe Au Lait, Henrietta has smaller flowers and has been a prolific producer since July (in contrast to Cafe Au Lait which has very large blooms and can be shy to flower). Also similar to Cafe Au Lait with a little more pink in the petals is Ice Cube – right at the back of the photo below. Another prolific flowerer, dahlia Ice Cube is not very tall so stands well in the wind and rain. I will have to check what the pink dahlias at the front are – it is too dark to pop outside now and search for a label.
The base of this arrangement was made with autumn foliage – I choose the leaves for their pink tint which worked well with the dahlias. I have added a bit of amaranthus Hot Biscuits which is still looking good and is on my list as a must have seed for next year and a few stems of verbena bonariensis.
There are also a couple of sweet peas that I could not leave to the frost! I cut a long length of stem with the sweet peas attached – this is a good way to make sweet peas usable later in the season when their stem length has reduced.
It is always sad to get to the end of the season in the Cutting Garden and say good bye to all the lovely flowers that have brightened my days since spring. November is the month for bulb planting and tidying in the Cutting Garden though, so I will be using any fine weather to get outside, give the beds a good weed and tidy and plant tulip bulbs and biennials to look forward to next spring. I should mention that I have a rather unconventional treatment for my dahlias – I neither dig them up nor cut them back – I just leave the top growth to protect the tubers over the winter and keep my fingers crossed that some new growth will appear in May – on the whole I find this approach very successful.
Although the Cutting Garden is at the end of its productive days for 2017 all is not quiet in the rest of the garden. The greenhouse is full of chrysanthemums and my first planting of narcissi Paperwhite are looking like they will flower later this month. My winter flowering sweet peas have germinated and I have plenty of trays of hardy annual seedlings to look after through the winter. The first snowdrops are already flowering (they are a very early variety!) and have had their heads chopped off – by a rabbit I expect! The winter flowering jasmine nudiflorum is in flower, I have plenty of cyclamen to enjoy and it will not be long before the hellebore season is under way!
The joy of gardening for me is the changing seasons – there is always something to look forward to!
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I love reading about all the ongoing blooms you have outside and inside the greenhouse….another beautiful display with dahlias and other plant material so cleverly mixed in!
Amaranthus ‘Hot Biscuits’! That looks a pretty unique bloom – might check seeds out myself. I have already added a more upright amaranthus to my seed list for next year. The pale pink dahlias are really pretty and blend subtly with Cafe au Lait. Interesting to read your approach to overwintering them – which I shan’t risk trying, even though our winters are probably milder than yours. Good to hear from you and to share some of your blooms
Such beautiful dahlias!! We still have not had a frost: in fact, nothing close to it. Somehow it’s just not right..although I am really enjoying the mild autumn and now almost winter. Yes, I must get to my tulip planting!!!
I’m with Cathy on the ‘Hot Biscuits’! What a beautifully elegant vase – loved the autumn foliage and (like the rest of the world!) Cafe au Lait! My dahlias were knocked back by frost last week. I have noticed that if I miss a bit of tuber they come back, but of course it gets much colder here than it does with you. Maybe I’ll try leaving the ones I’m not mad about in the ground and lifting the others! What a good idea, so thanks for that as well!
Oh I hope that you return with the name of the pink dahlias Julie 🙂 A most subtle, tranquil and pleasing to the eye arrangement. I also leave my dahlias at the allotment in the ground to overwinter but cut the spent stalks off and then add a top dressing of mulch to give the tubers some protection. It seems to work although I did have one loss this spring.
This is very beautiful. I love the soft colours and the pairing with the leaves. You’ve got me thinking about my dahlias now. I usually lift them but some are rather large now and difficult to dig up and then to re-pot in the spring. I feel any new growth would probably be eaten but I might try one or two and see how they go. Do you have a name for the pink one?
Julie, your dahlia arrangement is festive, yet nostalgic. This time of the season is nice for assessing and planning and remembering the loveliness of recent flowers. Have a great week. Sounds like you have much planned.
Hi Julie, your pastel coloured dahlias are gorgeous. Tried Café au lait as well this year but I find the flowers too big and they did tend to bend over. As for the other dahlias, it’s true, it was a stunning year and mine have only now stopped to produce flowers. I think the fact that I left the tubers in the ground contributed a lot to their great performance. Hope you’re well. Happy autumn days 🙂