Thanks!

I spent a couple hours yesterday tying up plants and checking blooms. I'm finding beetle damage on some, but no beetles. I checked all the plants (over 150) and found exactly two JBs on a partially opened bud. I don't think I've squished more than three dozen the entire year. This has been a great (for me) year for beetles. It's getting late in the season for them. Hopefully, there won't be any late arrivals.

The buds are popping out all over. Only a couple weeks ago, it seemed only about 10% or less had buds. Now it's more like 75%. Many of the blooms are not the best. I think the heat and humidity are causing some to be misshaped and have colors that are more pale than normal. Maybe some cooler weather will help.

Unbelievably, we actually got some rain this past week. One night there was around an inch. That's the most we've received locally, in a single event, since back in May, maybe earlier. I got a break and haven't had to water since Monday. The forecast this weekend called for a widespread 2"- 3". The 60% chance last night didn't deliver a drop and the sun is shining brightly right now. There is a flash flood watch the entire weekend with an 80-100% chance of heavy rain. Looks like feast or famine.

I hope to post some photos in the next few days.

It drizzled a little last night. Current temp is 75 high of 78 today low of 64 tonight. Who could ask for anything more?

Now 92, with a real feel of 113. I'm jealous, Gary!

Arlene I hope you get some relief soon. It has been a glorious weekend here. Going to get hotter and more humid as the week proceeds. Weather people describe it as Fall-like with Summer conditions returning by midweek. Good chance of rain during the week too.
The dahlias are looking good. The Unwins are very nice. I really like their bright perky colors.

Waiting for this one to bud.

I'm 6'2. I'm amazed at how slow growing it was then the last three weeks it's shot up.

Holy cow. Although with the early hot sunny spring/summer my dahlias are much taller than they have been in the past.

They can get tall.!

This is from the end of the season last year - my partner in the pic is 5'11"

We have had a lot of rain in the past week 1.25" and then 2 days later at least the same amount. My tall plants are suffering a bit. Lots of broken, soggy blooms, and a few broken laterals. I do a really good job of staking and tying them up as they grow, but my stakes are only so tall, after that they are on their own. On some of the plants, when I cut to bring in flowers for vases, I cut them 18-24" just to take some of the height off the plant.

While the dahlias are handling it fairly well - my tomatoes took a tumble the night before last. (they get really tall too - due to my shadyish yard) Three of the stakes broke and two massive plants that were sort of staked/tied together, completely collapsed. I managed to get them back vertical again, and with amazingly not much breakage, but I am hoping the rain lets up a bit.

Geof, what are you using for stakes and what are the lengths? Best stakes I've used are the 1/2" EMT conduit from Home Depot or Lowes. I buy the 5' lengths and drive a foot into the ground with a fence post pounder. Very rigid and I've never had a problem with plants leaning or pulling them down like I did with bamboo stakes. The 5' lengths are around $1.75 and 10' lengths are a little over $2.00. It's nearly impossible now to buy the longer ones and get them home to saw in half since I sold my p/u truck and bought an SUV. Of course, with the shade you'd probably need more than the 5 footers. I do have several dahlias that are around 7' tall, even though planted in mostly sun. With those, I just pray there's no high winds.

Speaking of tomatoes, I'm growing them again for the first time in four or five years. I had given up because of the deer. I decided this year I HAD TO HAVE home grown tomatoes again. I bought 4' high fencing and built 10 cages. The deer still nibble short pieces of the vines that grow through the cages but the damage is very minor. Even with our miserably hot and extremely dry summer, the tomatoes are coming on like gangbusters. They're ripening faster than we can eat them or give them away. I had forgotten how good the home growns taste. Now I'm wondering if those hard, round, red, tasteless things I've been buying from the super market the past few years could actually have been tomatoes. LOL

I do use bamboo - and its probably not the best way to go, but at this point, I have so much of it, that I'm not willing to toss it all and buy something else. The ones I was using on the tomatoes were old and thats why they snapped. The ones I have the dahlias tied to seem to be holding up ok.

Yep fresh home grown tomatoes are pretty special. I don't ever buy them at the store any more. The plants have been doing great this year. Love em !!

Happy Birthday, Dan! Blow out those candles!

Thanks for remembering, Arlene! I appreciate the thought! As far as the candles, I won't get too close. There's great danger in being overcome by all the heat! LOL

Alert the fire department!

Enjoy the day, Dan.

Mine Dahlias are really taking off now, lots of buds and flowers within the last week. We have had a significant levels of moisture and heat within the last 2 weeks.

They will do even better as it cools down a bit, and hopefully we won't get a frost until at least mid October.

That would be a good thing! I think change over day is coming quick!

RJ, those are lovely colors. Reminds me of Kagone Fubuki except KF stays closed up - no center showing.

We are well back to normal here with overcast and light rain almost daily. Yuk. But the dahlias are loving it. I was so pleased to see another Bumble Rumble open up. So that makes three clumps. Still have a fair number of 'mystery plants'. And as they bloom I find that I cannot depend on the nursery tag stuck in the ground to be correctly named. I guess I will save any that have decent clumps as noids but give preference to the named ones. Won't be saving Red Hat. Opens pretty but keeps going almost immediately to show the yellow stamens?? Not at all attractive. Valley Porcupine is more beautiful each day. It is now almost a complete ball though not a 'ball' form. Hmmm. Have to check that out. Fire Magic continues to bloom like made as do several of the plants despite my pinching many buds. White Fawn has such weak stems but it seems to help to get rid of the superfluous buds.

Funny - my Red Hat has been making really nice blooms - though not lots of them, and Valley Porcupine, I tried for 3 years and it never did well, so I dumped it.

I am sure some of it is just the stock we buy, and some of it is weather, sun & soil in our various gardens.

If I get decent tubers from VP, I would be glad to share. Maybe my stock is sturdier. It was so wimpy the first year, hmmm Can't remember if I reordered or mine just grew stronger through its one summer before this one.

So your Red Hat doesn't open in the middle fairly quickly after bloom? Interesting.