My first Dahlia

Finally, my first, my very own, Dahlia is in full bloom.

You might have seen pictures of beautiful Dahlias from Scott's garden. Among other things, Scott is the Dahlia Master. This spring, Scott sent me a box of 20 dahlia tubers, so I can plant them in my garden. Unfortunately, my yard is very shady under tall tree's canopy and Dahlia loves full sun. I found a semi-sunny spot and plant 15 of them, only 10 sprout. Gave a way 2 to my friend and send 3 with my husband so he can grow behind the shop. They were eaten by the rabbit along with other flowers

In the box, came a page long instruction, a bag of slug bate and a bag of bone meal. I also got instruction via e-mail, something like the use of Vaseline and tie to the pole, ;), etc. It was a lot of work but something for me to do in the morning after getting out of bed before I go on with my daily routine.

By the time Scott was cutting his first bucket of Dahlia from his garden, I got my first, little, tiny bud. By the time Scott was cutting his third bucket, my first Dahlia is finally bloom. I told him about it and he said YEH! Scott's dahlias was about the size of dinner plate,about 6"to 8" to 12", mine is about a size of Barbie's dinner plate, about 2". I have about 25 buds waiting to open and I hope they bloom before winter.

I also got a lot of inspiration from pictures of the Dahlia that Scott sent me. Two years ago I was lucky enough to get a vase full of flowers from his garden when he came in town. They are so beautiful and so elegant. The form and color of each one are so seductive, I just want to grab a brush, paint, canvas and pretend that I was Georgia O'Keeffe and made those flowers came alive on my painting. Only in my dream.

I put a tutorial about how I made my EASY LEAF CANE on my other blog, and I will show how I make the flower cane later on. This is very funny because I used to swear that I will not make cane. I changed my mind then. LOL

I am in the process of putting those flowers and leaves into a necklace. Will show that later.

P.S. The Vaseline will help prevent some bugs to climb up the plant by rubbing it to the stem, and dahlia plants are tall and slender so they need to be tie to a pole or plant stake, especially when you have a big, giant flowers like Scott has.