DAHLIAS, Hate Them or Love them, Take a Peek PLEASE

Lovely photos, Doon :o)

Gorgeous colours Doon :)

Gorgeous flowers specially the last one pleased you have no earwigs cos I hate them,its nice to go your own way isnt it,.

Wow fantastic show doon

Ah thanks so do you love them a little more, or just, don't care, they are gorgeous (my favourite word sorry) I usually have a huge bouquet on the outside table 4 show & pleasure, too scared to bring them in. A pity really isn't?

I love them Doon and you have some beauties .........

I love them Doon, grew one last year and i was hooked, 4 this year and theyv'e rewarded me with beautifull flowers and there still going strong :))) My favourites are the Cactus Daliah, they go great with my tropicals..
Love your Tiki Torch..

fab doon. your purply one is like one i have called 'crazy love or thats love. id have to check the label.
love bed hair.

i grow what i like and where i like too so am i a maverick?

please oh please that sounds much more interesting than unconventional or even worse uninformed!

I agree - Do your own thing.
I like dahlias and I think yours are great.

I love Dahlias & would grow many of them on my balcony if it weren't for all the earwigs! If anybody knows of a way of stopping them from coming to my balcony I would be eternally grateful to that person!

Your plants are fabulous, Doon, & I'd say do your own thing, go your own way & don't bother about whether you are with the "in-crowd" or with the "out-crowd", plant & grow what you like - I always have & always will! If that makes me a "maverick" well, so be it!

Doon, super pix - personally 'hate' dahlias - fear of earwigs :-) but those are still wonderful photos!

You know I haven't seen one single earwig on my Daliah's... Weird or What :)

I seen any havent either

Dad used to grow - and given I'm over 60 this is a long time ago - still seeing those earwigs creeping out of the flowers gives me the creeps... And their's me laughing at folk with bird, beetle, spider, butterfly fears... Just put up a photo of a dahlia and I instantly think 'earwigs'!

Wow, you guys what a response, thank you for the kindness & great comments, Yes Moon grower, earwigs freak me out too, But U know Young DD, those little critters R a hidin from you, put a few flowers in your kitchen sink with water & say "Hello" Lol The cactus dahlias r fast becoming my favourite as well.
Seaburngirl, Thanks please let me know the name of yours I like to keep tabs.
Balcony, that is so weird that U would have earwigs on your balcony, where do they come from? must be the soil. I hate to use that earwig powder.
Lincslass & Blodyn, Thanks for the comments, you all made me a happy woman today. (heh, heh, does not take a lot)
Terratoonie, Mavisc52, Drc726, thanks your comments were appreciated.

Lovely photos Doon. Glad you didn't lose them all over the winter.

Lovely Dahlias Doon, that last one is stunning :)))))

That's my favourite too :)

They are beautiful.

Wonderful flowers, particularly Bed Head and that last one - never seen anything like it before, absolutely gorgeous.

Gee, Gilli have not seen U 4 awhile, bet U have been a busy girl. Thank you Grindle, Louise1, Michaella. Great to know U love my dahlias as well
The last one is a stunning example & was my 2nd dahlia I ever got from.......................don't know where, but I think Costco.
Take care you all & enjoy your days of Fall.

Beutifull Dahliars Doon I love the red and yellow spikey one. Dont like the ear wiggels which seem to like the Dahliars

ooooh these are beautiful

my Dahlias are my pride and joy, my babies
am defo going to be doing these again and hopefully lots of different ones like yours

super pics

well done

x x x

Thanks Donnah, yup, they are beauts, 4 sure. Mookins so glad U love Dahlias, they R certainly a joy this time of the year. Just those pesky earwigs, if only the birds would chomp on them as well. Good protein. Thanks U2

did you know earwigs have wings...they just dont use them!!

thank goodness they give me the heeby jeebies enough wiggling around

x x x

Doon - your dahlias are FABULOUS. I've never grown dahlias cos they sound a bit fiddly - what with digging them up to overwinter- but I might give them a go now I've seen yours.

Urg Mookins - wings!! imagine

Doon, the earwigs seem to be drawn to my balcony like a magnet draws iron to itself! They aren't in my soil because, gardening on a balcony in pots I buy all my compost from the shops so its sterile till I open up the bags & start to use it for my plants.

I had a couple of white cactus Dahlia on my balcony some years ago but the earwigs hardly let the flowers open before eating them to mere threads. I did get a few flowers because I put upturned plastic cups on bamboo canes with scrunched up paper in them. I emptied them out every day & killed the earwigs but it's a never ending battle with dozens of them killed every day & still the flowers get eaten.

The following spring I put them in my sister's garden & one has survived & has grown up & flowered every year for at least 4 or 5 years now. She never lifts it out of the ground & it only gets the water that falls out of the sky. It has never been fed & hardly watered yet every year it comes up & flowers! The earwigs don't seem to touch it either!!!

I may try again next year. I want to get some seeds for the chocolate leaf ones. Our local council has planted great numbers of them this year in the flowerbeds on the ring road round town. There are 100s of seedheads on them. I'm bound to get some with chocolate coloured leaves.

Thats why I wont grow them, balcony! I'm phobic about earwigs (clipshears we call them) But I LOVE the "Show-Off" Doon, not chrysanthemumy at all! (I'm not into chrysanths)! Its gorgeous!

Lovely pics Doon, thanks for sharing

Good girl Doon... you're a 'girl after me own heart' (as my mum would say) ...Dahlias are Thee best flowering plants Ever and i loved your blog and pics...especially the last one...gorgeous...I also have an awful phobia about earwigs...they're the only insects that give me the creeps, but i love Dahlias so much and have to have them....:>)))

Show stoppers! I love "old women" flowers. Your dahlias are enviable (I have none), but if I'm very careful, I can get a peony or two on occasion! Beautiful photography too.

Gorgeous dahlias....looooovvve the last one....wow..:))
daisy,....all the earwigs up here are in Amble....in MY gardenin....in MY dahlias.....could send a few over? ...lol

Oh U guys, earwigs be damned. I have to admit I used some special stuff for my EW, and they left town. Thanks Hmhb, it was taken with my pocket size digital Olympus camera that I use during cycling. Noooooooooo Amblealice U keep those little critters now, OK.
Well Motinot, and our Mums R always right, ahem!!!
Thanks 4 looking at my pics Healerwitch, it was fun sharing!!
Madperth, look at them under a magnifying glass to get the real scream!!!Lol.
Mookins R U kidding me, really wings?? No way let me Google that one.
Wow Balcony, so U tried, I am glad one survived, but I know this time of year earwigs get in a frenzy, they R really chomping my dahlias, & hostas.
Spindle U guys are a zone 8 I think, we R zone 7& i refuse to dig up my dahlias, toooo much work in my big garden, so I just put extra dirt on top & put them to sleep. I might dig out one bedhead & ginger just to be safe, the rest, up to them to survive. Try it, come on!!!!

Why do you think dahlias are described as old women’s flowers? I suggest that it might be because women as they mature have greater wisdom, a higher appreciation of natural beauty and more time to cultivate and nurture lovely gardens. I particularly like blogs like yours that contain several different flowers of the same species. The variety and contrasting colours in each of your choice of flowers is a pleasure to view. Thank you. However you need to update your avatar photo. Gosh you must be really old to have such good taste.

Ha, Ha, yup, I guess hey!, Now it was not me,gulp, but my friend who always commented I grew old women's flowers, don't ask me why she thinks that way. I like them for their variety & easy care. You R right, TG with maturity comes wisdom & don't give a da... what other say, Heh, heh!!!
Thanks for liking the blog, I do like to do a blog on same species, it does show case them better I think. Check out my blog on Hostas, if you like Hostas. What a self promoting hussie I am.

You'll have to let me on to your secret potion to make the EW leave town as I'm planning on growing some chocolate ones next year. To that end I collected a seedhead from one of the plants in the picture I took of them in the flowerbeds on the ring road. (See my latest blog) I hope to sow them at the end of winter so that they are big enough to plant out towards the end of April.

But I need to beat the EWs!!! Help someone!

Like the faces of friends, each distinctly animated & vivid. Our grannies gave us a good heritage of diverse dahlias. Keep up the tradition! Do you s'pose you could cross pollinate Bed Head with Tiki Torch or the last mauve one?!

Great pics Doon - I have always liked Dahlias but enjoyed them in the garden rather than bringing in the dreaded earwigs hiding in the petals!
I don't know what the answer is except perhaps to try and breed some E 'resistant' varieties :-)

Fenclare, I'd be the first in the queue if anybody managed to breed them to be earwig resistant. Have you tried growing them in Spain? I don't remember if I ever tried while I was there. I had many different balconies over the more than 20 years I lived there so I no longer remember all the different plants I grew!

So right Orgratis, but cross pollinate, I leave that to the experts. It will be a nice combo though.
Balcony, I simply put a bran type of eekk, pesticide around the base of the dahlias, when they start growing, or else they will be eaten to nothing. Then after I just tolerate the pesky EW & keep my bouquets on the patio where they frolic & can not come in the house. Bedhead is a cactus type & EW have a hard time hiding it it without me detecting them,
So Fenclare try a light coloured cactus Dahlia & you can spot EW a mile away. LOL. thanks 4 comments.