Dazzling Dahlias…

A symbol of commitment and eternal love.  --from Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers by Jessica Roux 

Our dahlias are blooming!  

The super nova of flower gardens. Some the size of lunch plates! The dahlia’s time is now–from midsummer when the season is buzzy with cicadas, through fall. I’ve been a fangirl of these confections from way back. 

Late last September, my husband and I traveled to Maine for the annual Common Ground Fair. Along the way, we discovered Dooryard Farm, a family-run farm in Camden selling dahlias. How it works is, customers choose which flowers they fancy, and Dooryard sends tubers in the mail come spring. Tubers are a bit like bulbs. Actually, more like potatoes that sprout eyes. They grow in a clump beneath the dahlia plant and must be dug up every year before the ground freezes.  

With clipboard in hand, we walked the glorious rows of organically grown dahlias and chose our flowers-in-waiting. Some had sultry names like Voodoo, Boogie Nights, Seduction, Tempest, and All That Jazz. Others had more innocent-sounding names like Cafe Au Lait and Sweet Nathalie.  

 In April, a box stuffed with possibility–tubers buried beneath shredded paper like hibernating mice– arrived on our doorstep. I stored them in the cool dark barn, along with a collection of older tubers inherited from the Lincoln Garden Club. And we waited. 

By late May, convinced a spring frost was behind us, we planted. And waited again. 

Sweet Nathalie is now here, in all her glory! 

we should make a purchase. Tap into your creativity. You’ve got this.

Photo: Dahlias, white hydrangeas, amaranths, dill and zinnias from our garden, blended with snapdragon and strawflowers from Codman Farm. 

  • Coming Up...

    Dreaming of creating your own flower or vegetable garden? We get our inspiration from the Common Ground Country Fair, held annually in Unity, Maine. This year’s fair takes place September 19-21. IMHO, it’s the best agricultural fair in New England for farmers and gardeners. No carnival rides. Lots of tie-dye and aging hippies. For more information, check out the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s website at www.mofga.org  

  • Tricks of the trade...

    Blue hydrangeas may be taking a seasonal bow, but the frilly, white Oak Leaf hydrangeas are now center stage. Hydrangeas need lots of water and can be finicky—they often wilt quickly. The secret to zhuzhed-up hydrangeas? Alum powder. Typically used for pickling, it’s found in the spice aisle of grocery stores. Here’s what you do: Condition cut hydrangeas in water with plant food overnight, then dip the ends of stems in alum right before adding hydrangeas to an arrangement. It supposedly dissolves the sap that inhibits water absorption. 

    For all your flower arrangements, change water daily, keep cut flowers out of direct sunlight, and avoid placing arrangements near radiators.  

  • Second chances...

    I love hunting for vases at second-hand stores. My latest thrift store finds (above) were discovered at Buy and Consign in Waltham (directly across from Market Basket entrance) and at Restoration Project Thrift Store in Belmont. 

What’s on my bookshelf…

  • The Flower Recipe Book

    by Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo is my go-to guide for seasonal flower arrangements. A great 60th birthday gift from my friend Melanie T.  

  • Flower Hunter

    by Lucy Hunter is dreamy. Like a wild rose-scented day spent in a diaphanous nightgown, in the gardens of a stone cottage in North Wales. Hunter’s arrangements are high art. Pure inspiration.

  • Raising Hare: A Memoir

    by Chloe Dalton. Nope, not about flower-arranging, but lots and lots of gorgeous garden talk. It’s a paean to a hare--as well as to the interconnectedness of humans and nature--observed while living in the English countryside during Covid lockdown. On NYT’s Bestsellers List. 

Six months in …

and loving every minute of it. I even like waking in the wee hours to view the day’s first pick when the New England Flower Exchange in Chelsea opens at 5 a.m. Ok, I must admit, snipping dahlias that have taken all summer to grow can be bittersweet, but the “work” is mostly joyful. I love choosing the perfect ranunculus for prom boutonnières, selecting silk ribbon for nosegays, and combining marketplace roses with field-grown wildflowers for birthdays, anniversaries, bridal brunches, “get well” and “just because” bouquets. Please spread the word.  

Enjoy the rhythm of the seasons.  

–Heather