No, sadly, I'm not referring to the weather. It's still uncomfortably hot and humid here. In this case, 'Good Day' alludes to my use of Dahlia 'Good Day' for this week's 'In a Vase on Monday' post. This dahlia, new to me this year, has produced more flowers than any single plant in this year's dahlia collection, yet I hadn't made an effort to show it off until now.
 |
| My dahlia's color is a muted red but that's reputed to change to a creamy orange later in the season |
 |
| Back view: I paired the dahlias with flowers of Grevillea 'Superb' and Tanacetum 'Aureum', as well as stems of Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' |
 |
| Overhead view |
 |
| Clockwise from the upper left are: Dahlia 'Good Day', Grevillea 'Superb', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', and Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum' |
There are a few other dahlias that have yet to receive much attention but I'm still waiting for them to shine. While all have bloomed, some have just brought out a single flower or two at a time. (I'm looking at you 'Enchantresss'!) Hopefully the stragglers will come through before the dahlia season ends. That doesn't usually happen until late September or early October but I failed to spray for mildew and, given the humidity this year, that was a serious omission on my part. Some of the dahlia foliage already looks sad.
My fingers are crossed that we that we get a bit of cooler weather this week. The power company has scheduled a planned outage midweek (in contrast to the three unplanned outages we've already endured this summer) and, as our emergency generator only runs a few appliances (which don't include any of our air conditioning units), a continuation of the 90F/32C temperatures would be far less tolerable than it's been thus far.
Check in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to discover what she and other IAVOM contributors have to share this week.
 |
| This week's arrangement in place in our front entry |
All material © 2012-2026 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
This vase, like the weather, is HOT! I love the color of this Dahlia and it has excellent companions. I grow a dahlia that changes its dark red bloom to a lighter color by the end of the season. I find it both peculiar and enchanting. Maybe we'll get a glimpse of "Good Day" in its orange shade later on. The red stems showing through the clear glass vase: very cool!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the power company will cut the power in this heat! It sounds horrific. How long will the outage last???
Chavli
The power outage is officially scheduled to start at 9:30AM and end by 4:30PM. I can only hope they'll complete the job earlier! Our temperature is sitting at 92F again today so I'm not feeling good about it dropping before the shutdown happens later this week...
DeleteI love how the dahlia blooms match their stems, Kris, and the leucadendron and grevillea both work brilliantly too
ReplyDeleteIt IS a very nice dahlia, Cathy!
DeleteGorgeous arrangement Kris! Fingers crossed for cooler weather.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, today's temperature isn't giving me any confidence that conditions will improve before the power shutdown occurs :(
DeleteGood Day lives up to its name. It would be a good day for me if I found some in my garden. Cooler weather soon all around, it is similarly miserable here! Amelia
ReplyDeleteYes, we could all use a reprieve from this summer's heat!
DeleteNow that is quite a beautiful dahlia. I love the colors and how you paired it with other foliage and flowers. Great corals. I had not thought of humidity affecting my dahlias given the high humidity we have here. I do hope more of yours blooms for you.
ReplyDeleteMy fingers are crossed that there will be more dahlias to come before the season's over, Donna. I've admittedly given a LOT of the flowers away this year (including 3 more bunches today at a lunch with friends) but I hope that'll promote more branching!
DeleteYour dahlias are quite beautiful, Kris. I wish I'd planted some. A few returned from last year but most haven't bloomed. Wishing you better weather.
ReplyDeleteCooler weather would be especially appreciated this week but it remains to be seen if we'll get it, Susie,
DeleteGorgeous vase. We’re supposed to see a 10° cooling trend starting Wednesday. You should be seeing something similar. It’s been pretty miserable in this valley.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine how hot it is out there given how miserable it's been here. I hope you're right about the cooling trend - a 7-hour power shutdown in 90+ degree heat won't be at all comfortable!
DeleteI'm all for cooler weather. I don't know what happened, but suddenly I find myself not being able to do much outdoors when it's hot out. I used to be able to push through, but now it's a real struggle. One of the side effects of aging, I guess. So far, no more dahlia virus?
ReplyDeleteI've had more of a reaction to the heat myself this year, Jerry. I've cut myself a lot of slack in terms of keeping up the garden and just hope I won't seriously regret that at summer's end when I face the music. I'm hoping that El Nino's arrival will help the garden's revival come fall...
DeleteA beautiful dahlia Kris. Well worth the wait. At least all your dahlias are not all blooming at once, which would be a shame. I have been enjoying seeing them in your vases over the last few weeks and look forward to more!
ReplyDeleteThe dahlias often enter a slump for a time following their first flushes of bloom and I hope I'll see a rebound from the current "crop" within the next couple of weeks - and that some of the stragglers finally step into gear!
DeleteWhoops, that last comment was me, Cathy at wordsandherbs.
ReplyDeleteThanks for popping back with the ID, Cathy!
DeleteBeautiful Kris. That is such a lovely dahlia and very much your signature colour!
ReplyDeleteIt is both pretty and abundant! Definitely a keeper.
DeleteOh no, I didn't realize they flipped the power off and 3 times! I hope it's cooling.
ReplyDeleteMost of the shutoffs are "unscheduled" and usually last an average of 4 hours. The this morning's is scheduled but expected to last up to 7 hours :( This is the only place I've ever lived with such frequent and unpredictable outages. More than half the neighbors have their own generators we can plug in for partial coverage so the food doesn't spoil!
Delete