Dahlias Ideas, Tips & Guides

I’ve resorted to digging up some of the dahlias that have been seriously chomped on by the slugs and snails.  They are now in the recovery ward where the good news is that an earlier admission is starting to sprout healthy new growth.  I will nurse them back into full leaf and with any luck they may provide some autumn colour. Clearly some v

Rip City, my favourite dahlia, was obliterated in the border by the slugs, so it has been dug up and potted up into several pots where the rescued tubers are putting on healthy leaf. I will cosset them  through the autumn and keep them undercover for the winter so that I don’t have to do without them next year. Meanwhile,

Top Left: A beautifully elegant glazed balcony in Seville Top Middle: Late spring at Dixter in the Peacock Garden looking towards the house through drifts of cow parsley and giant fennel Top Right: My bargain vintage copper pot bought in Hastings Old Town for a mere £30 – I planted a dahlia in it during the summer and it is now planted with tulips Centre Left: The Topiary Lawn at Great Dixter at dusk in mid-summer Centre Middle: a wall of roses on the stand of The Real Flow

A Dahlia as High as an Elephant’s Eye In the middle of May my new border was still a building site, so the minute the cement mixer was removed and I could dig up the hard core from what had previously been a paved area, I did everything I could to improve the bed – adding compost, topsoil from elsewhere and GroChar – before planting.  It seems to have worked, one of the dahlias is 6ft 3 inches, another has a flower that measures 10 inches across and even the cosmos (grown from seed) are a lofty 5ft.  I’m sure this year’s growing conditions have helped, but none of the dahlias in the other borders anywhere near as big.

It’s that time in the garden when the late spring and early summer flowers are gone, or fading fast, and the late performers are only just starting to kick in. And thanks to the very welcome, but exceptionally heavy rain that has fallen recently, the roses have taken a real battering, so even the repeat flowering varieties are looking pretty sorry for themselves. I know that in a coup

I came very close to cancelling our open garden this year, Covid fatigue and brain fog making the prospect unthinkable for a period; but the fog lifted, tests were no longer positive and there was still a full four weeks till the first opening. That’s now down to three weeks, but this week I have been able not only to continue with a long list of tasks in the garden but also make good inroads into my mammoth baking schedule. Physically, I am still having to pace myself to manage the fatigue, but we took the decision not to tackle the repair to the reservoir of the stream till later in the summer, so the remaining tasks are all fairly minor and easily do-able. The partially dismantled reservoir has been screened off for safety purposes, and the rocks stacked randomly around it (below). Most things in the garden, however, have been striding ahead without me, like Rosa ‘Strawberry Hill’ (above).

As the trees spread their shade in the garden, much of it consists of textures and shades of green, but there also some star performers that provide splashes of colour, especially in shades of pink.  The earlier cool, wet growing conditions has meant that the plants that successfully outpaced the slugs and snails have reached giant proportions and I find myself looking up at many of them.  The Nicotiana have never been finer and although they tend to wilt a bit in the heat, they quickly recover. It is al

  Now that most of

Apart from putting icing on cakes to add to their beauty, you can also use Edible Flowers for Cakes to make them look more professional. Choosing the right blooms, you can make a colorful addition to your tasty creations and sell them literally like hot cakes!

Black plants are not really black but dark purple, deep burgundy, maroon, or red. These black flowers and plants can transform any backyard or container garden exquisitely. They add a tropical touch and look exceptional when grown with other bright-colored plants.

Some bulbs are shaped in such a way that they practically hold up a neon sign telling you which direction to plant them in. “This way up!” they seem to scream.Others are far less clear, leaving

Dahlias have got to be one of the most stunning types of flowers out there.Okay, I might say that about most flow

Every summer for the last 15 years, friends and family visiting my home have walked through a mass display of dahlias on their way to the front door. And luckily for us gardeners, dividing them to propagate more is incredibly easy.I started with huge clumps o

Eager to add more plants to the dahlia beds? It’s easy to propagate new plants from cuttings.We link to vendors to help you find relevant

Whenever I am introduced to someone new and the inevitable, “So what do you do for a living?” question pops up, I get to share that I am a gardener and a writer.“Oh!” they exclaim, “It must be great to

If you love the season of fall, then you must be fond of the orange shade. This beautiful color has the happiness of yellow and the energy of red color. It symbolizes fascination, creativity, attraction, success, encouragement, stimulation, and determination. You can bring all these attributes into your home or garden by planting these best Types of Orange Flowers!

Planting slug resistant plants is the most effective way of stopping slugs and snails from devouring your garden.

Fall has a certain charm that never seems to fade away. If you want to welcome it in your garden with fabulous shades of color every year, then here are the best Best Fall Flowers you can grow!

Dahlias (Dahlia spp.) add pizzazz to the landscape with bold single or double blooms in a varied color palette, including black, orange, pink, purple, red, white, and striking multicolor combinations.We link to vendors to help you find relevant produc