Big Brash Dahlias

What did you do with your dahlias this year? Did you enjoy them flowering in your garden? Did you bring some inside as cut flowers? Did you carefully dig up the tubers and and settle them into trays of peat-free compost in the shed to overwinter? I did all of those things, but I also ate some with a nice chianti*

There’s a distinctly autumnal feel to the garden now (and high winds over the weekend have made the dahlias all bendy), but it’s still very warm.

Header image: TheOldBarnDoor/Shutterstock.com

Header image: Steve Gale (pilot) and Gail Iles (right) next to the Marchetti jet. Kieran Blair, Author provided

This tree-like succulent is a great plant to have indoors that’s also easy to maintain. If you want to know How to Get a Big and Bushy Jade Plant without too much fuss, then we have all the right pointers for you!

Have you ever heard that planting a small garden is like writing a short story instead of a novel? Well, I hadn’t either—until Los Angeles designer Adam Sirak said it—and I think it’s brilliant. “Some people might think they can’t have an amazing garden or that it’s not worth the trouble because they don’t have a big space,” Sirak says. “But a small space only means you have to take all your ideas and distill them down to a concentrated big idea.” He adds that, as with a short story, there’s no room for filler, and each choice must be thought of in relationship to the whole. “In this way, a small space can be a very exciting puzzle to put together,” he says.  

If you want to Grow Unlimited Supply of Onions in Big Plastic Bottles at Home then we will tell you how with some onion sprouts you already have at your home!

What is purple and where do you draw the line between dark pink and dirty red? How much blue should be included to make a purple plant? Does it really matter anyway?

The hot subject for discussion this Autumn seems to be the renaissance of Dahlias. For me they have never been far from my garden but I understand how fashions come and go then return.

‘Fiery’ hardly does justice to this cactus Dahlia.

On holiday in Majorca I spotted this potted Aspidistra plant marking the way to the toilets. It is fitting that it was located at The Banys Àrabs, or Arab Baths. These baths are a remnants of Palma’s Moorish past and include the lush gardens of Ca’n Fontirroig. Although very small the gardens are home to Sardinian warblers, house sparrows, cacti, palm trees, and a wide range of flowers and ferns.

It will soon be April and I need to check my over wintered tubers and buy some new varieties. The I can start my Dahlias in to growth. It is too cold to plant them out in the garden in April in the north so I start to get them going in pots in the greenhouse.