Thank you Arlene! All tied up.

I still have some that are questionable and then have others that are super robust. And . . .

I HAVE THREE BUDS

Maybe the rain was needed more than I was thinking? The ones who have buds set on:

My Walmart cafe au lait (right now the bud is small and appearing yellowish under the skin) and it probably isn't even as named, but I've got a bud.

Double trouble which was from the church lady

The ones not doing well thus far: ginger willo, the one I think is a Wisconsin red, kelvin floodlight and pinelands princess. So they are there just not huge or looking good by any means But they are green, just small compared to some of the others and you have said give them a chance, so I will. Some late starts are finally catching up with height or leaves so it's all in progress.

I'm excited to see this. After seeing yellow leaves falling out of my crappy black locust (I only keep it because it's healthy and somewhat shady) and a wooly booly crossing the road, which usually tells me frost is soon, it has me with my eyebrows up. Last year I saw them in late July not June! Egads don't tell me we'll have snow for labor day As it was frost came early last year.

Hope you all have buds going.

Hurrah for buds!

Arlene: went out and looked my belle of barmera - stalk is huge. It's now about as thick as a broom handle in size! How are yours looking? That stalk wasn't that thick the last week or so. I'm hopeful for nice blooms.

Haven't looked lately but last I saw it wasn't impressive yet I never expect much this early in the season.

The thing I don't want from it is orange blooms for a plant shown as dark pink, and two toned per Breck's: "Peach centered, coral-raspberry blooms".

I hear you! I was to have the purple emperors from Brecks. They weren't dinnerplate, nor were they the purple as pictured. I'm hopeful, but the two sets of belle tubers they sent me, the one had leafy gall, I'm not batting to well with them I think as a vendor. But the stalk did surprise me though when I was out checking, as no others are that big yet. With my luck it's going to be a huge plant w small flowers, but I'll wait and see. Funny how we all seem to wait with anticipation. I don't seem to do that as much with the other flowers I have, but I do with dahlias and tomatoes. I look forward to your blooms as I do my own and hopefully they are true to what they were to be.

What's blooming today in your beds?

This is the week for Japanese irises.

Lovely!

First dahlia bloom! It is a small unnamed variety. It is a bright yellow single/daisy-like flower. I have had it for several years.

Dahlias in June! Hurrah!

Why is it my Walmart tubers are always the first to bloom? This is one that is getting ready to open - marked cafe au lait. I only got it because it was a bag of 5 for $10, the tubers appeared healthy and I wanted to see what the hype surrounding the bloom was. Right now color wise I'm thinking it may just be what it said, but just smaller. Thought I'd share!

Great! Since I've never grown it, we can rely on @DanPSU to help.

Gallery Pablo has buds so I guess it will be my first.

@Pirl that will be a lovely colored bloom to look forward to. I went and looked it up, is this a repeat in your garden? Is there a petal/bloom type you have more in your collection? Your previous pictures are so nice.

With all the heat and rain, mine have a few buds. Some of the plants still in need of a lot of growth and I look forward to my more colorful ones. But I guess a peaceful colored one is just fine to start with. I so look forward to everyone's pretties! I was looking online last night at ones in your lists to see about adding to my own list.

I favor peach, not orange even though I do have a few of them. It's new to me but came recommended by Dan.

Waterlily types are my favorites but I grow most types.

Those in the compost bins are so huge!

@Pirl: look forward to your gigantor compost flowers! Heck I'm happy with any bloom - even this one that's opening - as it makes those long months of snow when we are so hoping for colors and blooms become something of the past. I'll be looking at your water lily blooms, I think I may have one but I'll have to go back through my list and look.

People can say what they want about the Dutch grown, packaged clumps but I find them much more dependable, on average, than the tubers I've bought from the growers/suppliers. Mislabeled? Sometimes! Selection, not the greatest. And they're often dry and ratty looking. Some have so many broken "danglers" that it looks like they were thrown (or kicked!) into the bag from across the room. But I honestly can't remember any failing to grow and bloom.

Last year was my third attempt at growing Cafe au Lait. First year the clumps were mislabeled. Two years ago the tuber I bought from a grower rotted before it sprouted. The clump last year produced a nice 4' tall plant that probably had a total of 7-8 blooms. The color was okay but not "exciting". But I loved the near perfect form!

I watered and sprinkled Preen in my front yard beds yesterday. Several plants had small buds. So far, I've dug up four wilted 8-12" plants that had spongy tubers with no root systems. No idea what happened there.

Checked the huge stalks of the compost dahlias. Most approach an inch. I'm thrilled.

Congrats on your first bloom opening, Scarlet! You will have to post a pic when it opens more fully. I have grown Cafe Au Lait for the past couple of years, and it is fairly large and usually pinkish during the hot Summer months.

I finally have some buds, too. I've been plucking them off for a few reasons- a) no sense in having a bloom on a 2 foot plant b) I spotted a few Japanese Beetles over the past few days, so no sense in having an all you can eat buffet for the dirty rotten scoundrels c) the plants have a lot of UPWARD growth they need to be working on. I did miss a bud, and now it is turning pink, so I may let that one bloom. If I do, then my first bloom will be Jowey Winnie.

I would be thrilled, too, Arlene! An inch on a stalk this early in the season is definitely the sign of happily growing plants!

@Melissamaeday: so if I understand you pick off buds until the plant has reached at least the stated height and then you let them grow? Only my second year and I learn as I go and I have some that are just setting buds on. Do you snap the stem or just the bud head?

Totally agree, Melissa! I broke off all but one of the buds I found. Plants are still only half as tall as they should end up being. And having early buds is like ringing a dinner bell for the JBs. I can wait!

Don't know if it was because of the two nice rains we had this past week but some of my dahlia stalks seem to have doubled in size recently. I've topped most of the plants and broken off a lot of the lower leaves. Started finding a few earwigs a couple days ago. Grrrr!

Birds, mostly robins, have been all over my garden, digging through the straw mulch, the past two days. Can't recall ever seeing so many. Hope it's not their way of telling me that I'm being overrun with bugs this year. Please eat your fill and bring all your friends!!

I never knew that about removing buds until the plants attain the height we want. The buds I have are on low growing dahlias so they can remain.

As we enter JB season, I remove all rose buds - why let the miserable things feed, then have their orgies in my garden? That's too much to demand of any gardener.

My slug and earwig bait is ready for use tomorrow as I remove lower leaves. I doubt any dahlias in the garden need staking - just the ones in compost and they have the wire screen built by my late husband to keep leaves from flying instead of staying in the bins. The wire is ideal to support them until nasty winds arrive.

Last year I grew my veggies in the rose garden and birds ate my cherry tomatoes - I don't recall having even one of them. This year the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are all in the vegetable patch. Am I really fool enough to think the birds won't find them, 100' away?