Sunday Selections was originally brought to us by Kim, of Frogpondsrock, as an ongoing meme where participants could post previously unused photos languishing in their files.
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life. The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.
Like River I generally run with a theme. Just for a change I am back in the garden this week. Some years ago I was given a Tree dahlia. Each year it is a bit of a race - will they flower, or will the frost kill them first.
This year they did flower. For two days. And a neighbour has just given me some red ones. They didn't flower this year, but I have high hopes for next year.
The meme is now continued by River at Drifting through life. The rules are so simple as to be almost non-existent. Post some photos under the title Sunday Selections and link back to River.
Like River I generally run with a theme. Just for a change I am back in the garden this week. Some years ago I was given a Tree dahlia. Each year it is a bit of a race - will they flower, or will the frost kill them first.
This year they did flower. For two days. And a neighbour has just given me some red ones. They didn't flower this year, but I have high hopes for next year.
Beautiful!!!!
ReplyDeleteCindi Summerlin: They are a treat.
DeleteOh, pretty! I do hope you will get to see them next year, EC. It's always so nice to think about your Sunday Selections here on the Pacific coast on Saturday. Makes me smile, every time. :-)
ReplyDeleteDJan: I hope we see them too - and I am really looking forward to red ones as well.
DeleteThese are nice. I'm assuming with a name like Tree Dahlias they get pretty tall?
ReplyDeletemybabyjohn/Delores: These are over ten feet tall. When the frost has finished killing them I will cut them back, and they will reappear in Spring.
Deletewonderful flower
ReplyDeleteAdam: Thank you - I love them.
DeleteFor two days ... lucky you got to see it. Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWendy aka Quillfeather: They are still flowering, but the foliage is burnt by the frost and the petals look pretty sad too. At least we won the race this year...
DeleteI adore dahlias, but never knew they grew as a tree. See? No telling what I can learn by visiting your blog. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteSuan: They are spectacular. As I said to Delores, the plants are over ten feet tall. I am really, really looking forward to the red ones next year.
DeleteThose are gorgeous flowers; glad we could have a peek.
ReplyDeleteJoanne Noragon: I am glad that you like them too.
DeleteReminds me of my Grandmother's garden.
ReplyDeleteJ Cosmo Newbery: I am going to take that as a compliment.
DeleteThose are beautiful! Things that rarely flower are more special somehow.
ReplyDeleteRiot Kitty: I love them. And I am very glad that the frost held off just long enough this year.
DeleteOnce I too had a tall tree dahlia that flowered. Then the Ballarat frost killed it stone dead. My Nan, a mad gardener, used to put old sheets over her prize plants to protect them from extremes. Great photos as always El Chi. X X
ReplyDeleteAnn ODyne: Thank you. The frost gets ours every year but, so far, they have always come back in the spring.
DeleteHa,ha, so what else is news? I had years of them and yep, frost got them except for one year with some lovely flowers on 6' stems. Then, of course, lost the lot at the end of our bid drought when we watered with the last of our dam water which turned out to be a totally saline brew and killed everything from all my berries to all perennials, a great number of treasured shrubs as well as a few roses. The other roses somehow managed to survive.
ReplyDeleteReally, congratulations on seeing yours flower this year.
I have some seeds of my scented cyclamen if you are interted???
Arija: Killing all those plants that you thought you were saving would have been heart-breaking. We lost lots of things in the drought, and I am getting worried again for this year/next year. It is very, very dry and we have had minimal rain. Mind you, ever the optimist, I have been planting tulip bulbs this morning. And Hoop Daffodils. And Lachenalia. And there is more to be done.
DeleteI would LOVE some cyclamen seeds. My email address is in my Google Plus profile.
Beautiful! I must come sit in your garden. And drink punch. ;)
ReplyDeleteLaura Eno: Lots and lots of punch while we watch Jewel snort crack cocaine for cats (fertiliser). The little beast follows me round, digs up bulbs and enhales the fertiliser I plant with them.
DeleteInhales. Inhales. I have no idea where enhales came from.
DeleteBeautiful! I don't think I've seen those here.
ReplyDeleteCarol Kilgore: They are an old-fashioned flower and are not that common here either - which is a shame.
DeleteThat second one is almost like a lavender set of wings. How sweetly they fly.
ReplyDeleteJohn Wiswell: I went back and had a look and yes, you are right they do look like wings.
DeleteHow delicate and lovely the blooms are.
ReplyDeleteladyfi: I look forward to them every year - and about one in two years they flower before the frost takes them out.
DeleteThank you for sharing those beautiful flowers with us EC. I love dahlias but have never heard of a tree dahlia but then not many people in Perth seem to grow dahlias now. I think with our water restrictions and recent very hot summers many people have almost given up on flower beds and the like although roses are still reasonably popular but seldom seen in new housing estate homes.
ReplyDeleteThe colour of those flowers is a sheer delight.
Mimsie: I am not sure how closely related to dahlias proper they are. I love them though and they are not as thirsty as other dahlias - they like a drink but don't wilt to nothing if they don't get it. And ours grow beside our compost bins so the soil is full of nutrients.
DeleteBeautiful pictures - the tree dahlia takes a bit of the sting out of going into winter.
ReplyDeletelynners: I like winter - it is summer which does me in, but the tree dahlias are a treat every year. Have you come across the red ones?
DeleteThank you for these, I haven't seen tree dahlias since the early 80s when we were living in Puckapunyal army base and a neighbour across the road had them. He was a dahlia fan and had many different varieties and entered them in the local show every year.
ReplyDeleteRiver: They seem to be out of fashion at the moment, but I do like them. Though I like most plants...
DeleteOh, what a trip down memory lane for me!
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a lovely large tree dahlia by the stable in the country in W.A.
It flowered so generously. The only problem was that it grew so tall, so very quickly that it would bend and break just as quickly, as their stems/stalks are hollow.
Tall stakes helped.
Even when hubby cut the plant to the ground, it would grow back fast.
An amazing and pretty plant :)
Vicki: We do lose one or two stems to the wind each year, but enough survive. And they have a fence behind them which provides some shelter. Ten or twelve feet in a growing season IS fast though.
DeleteDo they smell as nice as they look? We've just had peonies bloom in our garden; they smell heavenly. I cut a few and brought them inside, where they promptly wilted. That'll teach me.
ReplyDeleteMs. CrankyPants: Jealous thoughts. I have not (yet) been sucessful with peonies. I wouldn't have been able to resist bringing one or two inside either. The dahlias are scent free.
DeleteA late bloomer, but well worth the wait. Beautiful pictures EC. I have a friend who raises Dahlias and competes with them. He has brought me blooms that were over eight inches across. I have always thought they were hard work so I don't use them much in my gardens ... but, as your picture shows, they are well worth it when they do survive to the blooming stage. Hope all is well with you and the SP. Be well ...
ReplyDeleteAndrea @ From The Sol
Andrea: These are not hard work at all. Set and forget plants - always a bonus. With a treat when they do flower.
DeleteI like that last photo. The flowers look whimsical in it.
ReplyDeleteStrayer: Thank you - they do a little.
Delete--The lilac flowers are like you, S.
ReplyDeleteB E A U T I F U L.
XXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx How are your cats, dear?
My Inner Chick: I am not beautiful - but thank you. The cats are thriving. Particularly when I turn the heater on for them.
DeleteYOU ARE beautiful and special to me! <3 Xxxxxx
DeleteAren't these unique! I have never seen then before. Very pretty colour.
ReplyDeleteKaren: They are fun, but I really, really want to see the red ones too.
DeleteVery pretty flowers!
ReplyDeleteTerri: Welcome and thank you.
DeleteI'm glad to see you're back in the garden. A flowery visual delight. Which reminds me, if it wasn't three in the morning, I'd be out in my garden :)
ReplyDeleteA peaceful Monday to you.
Gary :)
Gary: I do hope that you are now asleep and not in the garden. Mind you, I can think of few more healing places to be. And a wonderful week to you too.
DeleteThat is lovely. I've been reading the comments and your replies; do they truly grow 10 feet from the ground up, each season? Amazing! The rareness of seeing blooms much make for a bit of fun each fall, wondering if this is the year ...
ReplyDelete*must* make, not much make ... tsk, must improve my proofreading :)
Deletejenny_o: In a bad year they grow to be six or seven feet tall. This year they are at least ten feet tall - and yes, from the ground up every season. You can almost see them grow - and you can certainly measure how far they have grown overnight. Magic.
DeleteSo the name 'tree' is more of a description rather than a scientific classification?
DeleteI just thought of something - we have sunflowers here that grow pretty much the same way ... I don't grow them myself, so I'd kind of forgotten that. Do sunflowers grow there also?
jenny_o: Yes, we have sunflowers. At the moment I am uprooting most of them from the garden since they are sprouting there from seeds that the birds didn't eat. And yes, tree is indeed a description in this context. I must look up what its classification really is.
DeleteBeautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteThank you for dropping by during last Monday's blitz of my blog. I appreciated the comments. :)
I hope you're having a lovely weekend.
Dana: Welcome and thank you. It is now Monday, but it was a very productive weekend. In the garden for a change.
DeletePeggy loves dahlias, and just planted some. They are among the few flowers that she ever has planted.
ReplyDeleteSnowbrush: Does Peggy like any particular sort of dahlia, and what other flowers has she planted?
DeleteI love these purple flowers...they could look great in vase...I have joined the blog hop too :), couldn't miss it.
Deleteunikorna: Thank you - they do look good in a vase, but it needs to be a big one.
DeleteOOps I thought it was a linky blog hop....my mistake
ReplyDeleteunikorna: It sort of is a blog hop - but a manual one. It is worth visiting River and Cindy though - they usually have Sunday Selections posts.
DeleteI'm glad you got to enjoy those beauties for two days at least. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteLynn: They are lovely. Every year they flower.
DeleteI’ve tried them because I like them. But no, it’s hopeless. Our temps are too low in winter.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have better luck.
Friko: This year we did. And it is always worth trying.
DeleteI've never heard of a Tree Dahlia, and those beautiful flowers don't look like the dahlias I've seen (one of my very favorite flowers), but they're so delicate and pretty and I LOVE the color! It looks so terribly exotic. And probably is! :-) I think its fleeting nature enhances its beauty, and I'm glad you captured it in photographs (that last one is my favorite) for posterity. I share your high hopes that your red ones will bloom next year, for I would love to see them! :-)
ReplyDeleteLaloofah: Rest assured that if the red ones bloom next year (or the year after) there will be a photo - or six. I am a garden obsessive (among other obsessions) and do find it rewarding - to the point that I forget that some people find it duller than ditchwater.
ReplyDeleteI just found this quote and thought instantly of you, because you're always saying something very like this about yourself! :-)
DeleteI am not a greedy person except about flowers and plants, and then I become fanatically greedy.
~May Sarton
Laloofah: Thank you, I love it. I am not greedy except when it comes to flowers, plants, books, cats, beauty. Well yes, I am greedy.
DeleteSuch a beautiful flower! I love the tender color.
ReplyDeleteCarola Bartz: And isn't a gem, against soft grey skies OR framed by brighter days.
DeleteThat's an awesome looking flower, just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Denise
An English Girl Rambles
DeniseinVA: I do love my tree dahlias. And everything which isn't a weed which survives in the garden...
Deletethe beauty of your photos does make me smile
ReplyDeleteKim @ Stuff could...: I am glad that you enjoy them.
DeleteI love the lavender dahlia blossoms but hope to see the red ones next year.
ReplyDeleteBe well n happy EC ~:)
Pam;): Me too, me too. I wanna see the red ones too. And your wish has just boomeranged back your way.
DeleteAll nice but that 2nd image is special. Awesomely delicate
ReplyDeleteDon QuiScottie: I liked it against a grey day. Delicate and beautiful.
DeleteStunning photos, EC...so beautiful. They've brightened my day. :)
ReplyDeleteLee: Thank you so much. I am glad to bring brightness into your world. Very glad.
DeleteWow. My favourite flowers over here are Dahlias. I just love them. I've never seen a tree one, but my they are beautiful too, like huge daisys. Fab pics, as ever. x
ReplyDeleteAll Consuming: They are a delight aren't they?
DeleteThanks for stopping by- I hope you and SP are well n Happy ~:)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I have this gorgeous tree called a rhododendron that just bloomed these awesome purple flowers. I have to take a photo of it - it's amazing and I think you would like it. I'll send it to you. :) But your photos are always so vivid and gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteDeb: I would love to see your rhododendron. They are very beautiful trees.
DeleteThose flowers are worth waiting for, just lovely
ReplyDeleteLinda Starr: And I do wait for them - with fingers crossed - every year.
DeleteJust beautiful. You capture Heaven, you do.
ReplyDeletewordsfallfrommyeyes: Thank you. It is here, there and everywhere for the taking if only we open our eyes.
DeleteI rescued some tree dahlias from my mother's old garden a few years ago and have had them growing in a polyfoam box ever since. This winter they are going into my garden as prized specimens. I remember buying the original plants with my Dad from a rare plant nursery about 25 years ago. I loved seeing yours.
ReplyDeleteCarol: Our first tree dahlias were given to us by a friend. She died this year, and they are doubly precious. They are finished (more than finished, the frost got them) for this year - but there is always next. And the promise of the red ones too.
Delete