In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

32 Replies

In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

Each Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase of materials gathered from our gardens.

I was confused about the name of a dahlia last week—I had misremembered planting ‘Fairway Spur’ in its location.. But after a second flower opened Thursday with more distinctive coloring I checked my records and was able to identify it as Dahlia ‘Break Out’.  It matches the description used by the vendor in comparing it to D. ‘Café au Lait’, “Break Out’s petals are more pink than cream, and the center of the blossom has a golden glow. The flowers are also looser and more informal, with thick, velvety petals.”  I think it’s a lovely flower and planned to feature it solo for today’s Monday vase, using this photo.

Dahlia ‘Break Out’

But after our rains mid-week all the dahlias perked up a bit and I was able to cut a  good number of stems. I have been waiting all summer for these plants to produce and wanted to share the bounty with you today. While conditioning them in water I enjoyed the luxury of seeing each flower. I was particularly happy with ‘Totally Tangerine’, which until now had produced only one or two flowers at a time, malformed ones at that after suffering the drought and heat of summer. (Click an image for larger view.)

I considered arranging the flowers in the same vases as I had used to condition them, but as many of the stems were rather short, I decided to use floral foam so I could better control each placement.

I began with D. ‘Totally Tangerine’. The seller describes them this way: “flowers have a cluster of short and frilly orange petals in the center, surrounded by larger, daisy-like petals that may be flamingo pink, pale yellow or apricot, depending on the weather and time of year.” These flowers are brighter outdoors in sunlight and paler as they age. Mine feel almost coppery at times—I’m quite taken with them.

Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’

Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’

Not quite open fully – Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’

The arrangement went together fairly quickly but I soon ran out of the featured dahlia and enlisted the help of others in the same color range.

Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’ with Dahlia ‘David Howard’

Dahlia ‘Gallery Pablo’

Dahlia ‘Gallery Art Deco’

In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

At this point the arranging was finished but I had yet to settle on a vase. I tried two versions and both worked fine. The first vase I tested, a green pedestal, seemed a bit too tall, but I came back to it in the end.

Vase 1A – In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

The second vase is a few inches shorter and makes the design seem fuller. The creamy color picks up the white flowers and makes them stand out more.

Vase 1B – In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

The foliage drapes easier around the neck of the second vase. I used gardenia as foliage. A few stems had buds so the bouquet is slightly fragrant.

Foliage: Lavender, Gardenia, Everlasting sweet pea with white Dahlia ‘Petra’s Wedding’

Materials
Flowers
Dahlia sp. (cactus, overwintered, prolific bloomer, no-ID)
Dahlia ‘Break Out’ (Dinnerplate)
Dahlia ‘Cafe Au Lait’
Dahlia ‘David Howard’
Dahlia ‘Gallery Art Deco’
Dahlia ‘Gallery Pablo’ (Border Decorative)
Dahlia ‘Petra’s Wedding’ (Ball)
Dahlia ‘Totally Tangerine’ (Anemone)
Dahlia ‘Tsuku Yori No Shisha’
Zinnia
Foliage
Gardenia jasminoides ‘August Beauty’
Lathyrus latifolius (Everlasting sweet pea)
Lavandula x intermedia ‘Dutch’ (Dutch Lavender)
Container
floral foam; plastic 6-inch Lomey dish
Ceramic Urn Stamped “Vintage 4”, 5-inches tall
Green Paper Mache Pedestal Urn, 8-inches tall

I have gone on too long but don’t you wonder what happened to the other flowers? I prepared them in a similar fashion, first arranging them into a small plastic dish and trying them with the two vases. Dahlia ‘Break Out’ is the focal point, supported by the purple no-ID cactus dahlias.

In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

The green vase is too stark for these soft floral colors, so I settled on the creamy vase for this arrangement.

Vase 2A – In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

Vase 2 B – In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias

Dahlia ‘Tsuku Yori No Shisha’

Thanks for your patience and as always thanks to our host Cathy at Rambling In The Garden for providing this opportunity to to share our vases. Visit her to discover what garden surprises she and others are offering this week.

32 thoughts on “In A Vase On Monday – Mixed Dahlias”

  3. Cathy

    Oh this was really interesting Susie, and it was a revelation seeing how different the blooms looked in the two different vases – thanks for taking the time both to do this and to share the results with us. I really like Totally Tangerine and interestingly I have a similar type of dahlia, but a different colour, Blue Bayou, and have had relatively few perfect flowers over the season.

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  4. swesely

    It’s interesting to see the impact of the vase on the arrangement. Thanks for showing us how important the selection of vase is!

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  5. Kris P

    The combination of dahlia blooms is fabulous, Susie. I’m committed to selecting more tubers that will be pleasing in combination next year as few of mine look great together. FYI, my Dahlia ‘Break Out’ shifted from that creamy pale pink to a much deeper pink essentially overnight, which was quite a surprise. Perhaps the sudden decline in temperature here made a difference.

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    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Interesting ‘Break Out’ turned pinker. The description from where I bought mine describes it as more pink. I bought a lot of varieties of dahlias this year but many didn’t make it, so I did not get the subtley of color range I was hoping for. Like you, I’m looking ahead to next year though.

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  6. Judy@NewEnglandGardenAndThread

    Your dahlias are beautiful. I have two shades and type of red that a friend gave me. They survive winter storage. Last year, I bought five beauties from a dahlia store in WA state and none of them made it. I look at yours and think I need some other colors, and then I think I really don’t need more to store in the winter. 🙂

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    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Thanks so much Judy. Disappointing none of your purchases survived. It seems wasteful as I write it but I don’t dig these dahlias. A few will overwinter in the ground but not many came back this year. I added a lot of new dahlias this year but similar to your experience, not many made it.

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    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Thanks! Just looked it up: Mirror embroidery. Dahlias are unpredictable but when they work out they’re wonderful. Mine have been disappointing this year.

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  8. Beth@PlantPostings

    So jealous of your beautiful Dahlias. I had no luck with them this year–too much foliage to early this summer, so they didn’t get enough sun to form buds and bloom. They are just gorgeous when they bloom, though!

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    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Beth, that’s dsappointing not to get flowers. I had some small border dahlias that were almost all foliage too. Should we have cut away the foliage to open them up or feed them some nutrient? I didn’t know why that happened.

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  13. tonytomeo

    ‘Cafe au Lait’? I do not understand the allure. We got one here by accident, just because it happened to be available in the nursery at the time. (The nursery must provide for the fad.) It needs as much staking and attention as other large dahlias, but the color is rather mundane. I would have preferred a straight white, or another real color, instead of something in between. ‘Breakout’ looks like it is more cream colored in the picture. I can not see the pink and golden glow (but I am none too proficient with color). I believe that I prefer the form, as well as the color, . . .and that it is not a fad yet.

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  14. smallsunnygarden

    I’m quite taken by the wonderful blends of both color and texture you can achieve just with dahlias. Both your arrangements are lovely, and I enjoyed seeing why you chose the particular vases. I’m more a gardener than an arranger, so it helps me think about the latter a bit! 😉
    My eye was certainly taken by Gallery Pablo! I love how you’ve been able to capture so many of the colors of fall in two vases.

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  15. Cathy

    Totally Tangerine is a lovely one and I can see why you like it so much. You have put so much thought into your arrangements once again and it is a real pleasure to see what you come up with each week Susie. 😃

    Reply ↓
    1. pbmgarden Post author

      Thank you Cathy. Last weekend I had both the flowers and the time to experiment a little. It’s a bit of a meditation to arrange flowers when I’m not under pressure to hurry through it. Have a good week.

      Reply ↓

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