In A Vase On Monday – Summer ShiftEach Monday Cathy from Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase assembled from materials collected in our gardens.
Summer is in full swing. It has been hot. Grass is browning. Cicadas sing. All week rain clouds threaten but evaporate before release, while all around us heavy storms cause flooding and wind damage. Sunday, the skies finally spill.
In A Vase On Monday – Summer ShiftAfter admiring dahlias from many gardens the past few years I decided to take them more seriously. I’ve picked up a few tubers here and there before but without much success. A pass-along from garden club friend Libby did really well for a few years but failed to survive the 2018 winter, so I took action this spring and ordered a few. Many tubers did not grow, but I have high hopes for those that survived.
Fringed, snowy white Dahlia Semi Cactus ‘Tsuku Yori No Shisha’ was the starting point of this arrangement. Nowhere near the reputed 6-7″ span, it still promises to be a nice addition to the garden.
Dahlia Semi Cactus ‘Tsuku Yori No Shisha’Dahlia Border Decorative ‘Gallery Art Deco’ advertises a “sunset blend of coral pink, apricot and red.” These are barely open, but are small compared to the 4-5″ I hope they will aspire to.
Dahlia ‘Gallery Art Deco’ With ZinniaI expected “cream and pale pink” Dahlia Dinnerplate ‘Cafe Au Lait’ from the plant that produced the flower on the right front. Hope ‘Cafe Au Lait’ will materialize elsewhere because this one is not my vision. The large pink bloom became the focal point of today’s design, edging out the cactus dahlia.
[The last dahilia in my order, Dahlia ‘David Howard,’ has lovely foliage but no blooms have opened yet. I just mention it here to help me with some record keeping. It is described as having “dark foliage and glowing, golden-apricot blossoms.”]
Zinnias have been slow to arrive this year. I planted seeds from a handful of different packets, but now am unsure of varieties. Most have not bloomed yet but the first to open reseeded from last year and I included several stems to fill out today’s arrangement. I also added a few lavender spikes of Liriope muscari.
Dinnerplate Dahlia and ZinniaMaterials
Flowers
Dahlia Border Decorative ‘Gallery Art Deco’
Dahlia Dinnerplate ‘Cafe Au Lait’
Dahlia Semi Cactus ‘Tsuku Yori No Shisha’
Gladiolus (white)
Liriope muscari
Zinnia
Foliage
Container
Porcelain Ikebana vase, Georgetown Pottery, Maine. Rectangle Blue Zen (6.75L x 3.75W x 2H inches)
In A Vase On Monday – Summer ShiftWith gratitude to Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for hosting and giving us an opportunity to share flower designs across the world. Visit her to discover what she and others found to place In A Vase On Monday.
pbmGarden 
I’m glad the dahlias grew for you. That is another flower that will not grow in my area and I’m happy to enjoy yours.
Thanks, I’m happy to be able to share some dahlias. I hope vases can feature them many more times.
Dahlias are a stalwart if my cutting beds. Some are not doing so well this year though I think they might be a bit congested because I don’t lift them. I love how you have combined all the strong elements but still created a very elegant light vase.
Looking forward to enjoying lots of dahlias this summer from your and others. The water level in this vase got low and I lost a few of the blooms. Honestly it looks better–less crowded. I try to find restraint, but guess there’s always room for more!
I am so pleased you have had some dahlia success that you are able to share with us. Cafe au Lait and David Howard are well-loved dahlias in the UK so I hope they grow well for you. I have found most of mine start with smaller flowers before reaching full size blooms. The shades of colour in your final choice of blooms work well together, and I am pleased your liriope stood up to the task, unlike my statice!
Looking forward to lots of dahlias this summer. The liriope looks better than in many years due to the plentiful rainfall in spring I guess. It’s become dry here now though.
I am so glad I was finally converted to dahlias – what a bounty they can provide! Hope yours survive the anticipated heat and are bountiful too
Your arrangement is absolutely delicious! Hopefully, a Cafe au Lait will appear in all its glory. My own Dahlia experiences have been dreadful – and the Zinnias just roasted down here. I am enjoying yours from afar.
I’ll be disappointed if I can’t show you a Cafe au Lait before summer’s end, but so far am happy with the blooms I’ve had. Zinnias were painfully slow this year, just now picking up. I never found cactus zinnias last year and only found a mix that promised to include a few.
Hmm, I am looking forward to Cafe au Lait. I wonder if there is a perfect Zinnia grow time? I think Floret Farms sells the Cactus Zinnias that just croaked over in my garden!
It’s a lovely arrangement even if the dahlias aren’t yet meeting your expectations, Susie. Do you lift your dahlia tubers when the season is over? I’ve seen what too much water at the wrong time can do to a dahlia tuber and I’m wondering if your heavier rainfall may be an issue. Although lifting them in the late fall isn’t required in my dry climate, I do it anyway because I irrigate my raised planters year-round and I’ve rotted a few too many already.
Thanks Kris. I’ve never lifted dahlia tubers but you’re probably right that they should be. I had one return for 2-3 years but I thought it was cold that finished off that one–good point about the rain.
I was also wondering if you lift your tubers in the fall. The pink really is a wonderful shade!
Chris, I haven’t lifted dahlias in the past so perhaps I’ll try that this year, especially if they perfom well this summer.
Beautiful Monday morning to you too! Lovely arrangement. A friend gave me four tubers this year, and they are all growing. I have to dig them up in this climate and sometimes they don’t survive being stored. I’ll try again this fall and see if I can do better. 🙂
Thanks Judy. Nice to have a friend like that–glad the tubers are off to a good start.
I love to see dahlias in arrangements, but my own just get devastated by big slugs when I try them. I can see why you started with ‘Tsuku Yori No Shisha’. The liriope works wonders with the other colours too.
Slugs are not usually a problem here but after our wet winter and spring I noticed lots of damage from them.
Bright and summery, I love zinnias and dahlias. How disappointing the your ‘Cafe au Lait’ was mislabeled, but the rogue one isn’t half bad in itself. My dahlias tubers disappeared in storage over winter (I think ‘someone’ mistakenly threw them out thinking they were trash), so sadly, there won’t be any in my vases this summer, but I’ll enjoy them IAVOM.
Oh, a shame about your dahlia tubers, especially since you went to the trouble to lift them. The verdict is still out on Cafe au Lait, i have several other dahlias I’m hoping will turn out to be it.
Your dahlias are early, mine are only just giving foliage and even the ones I grow at work are only just budding. At home I have to lift the tubers as my heavy soil will rot the tubers. At work the free draining chalk enables me to leave them in the ground under protection of a mound of mulch. Anyway yours are looking good and I hope cafe au lait appears soon for you.
Thanks for the tip about lifting the tubers. I had thought perhaps they could survive our winter temps but hadn’t considered the wet heavy soil. Watching for Cafe au Lait…hope to share one soon.
Cafe au Lait sometimes seems to be different from what is expected. Did you grow it last year?
Very summery for sure!