Wordless Wednesday

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Dahl's Life

Once upon a time, I worked for a small village newspaper. The other three reporters on our staff each wrote a monthly column. I asked my editor if I could write a column, too. He was shocked by my request; I didn't know the other reporters had to be bribed. I was the first to volunteer. My editor named my column "A Dahl's Life" because that incoporated part of my then last name, because I liked dahlias, and because I was making a lot of dolls back then. My editor thought it was an extremely cute title. I ended up writing only about six columns before I finally became an adoptive parent (and yes, I wrote a column about that!!!) and had to change jobs and home address. My Dahl's Life came to an unexpected end.

Now I think my Dahlia Life has gone beyond life expectancy. My cheap tubers are never the color on the $1.29 box, and I've been lucky to get one or two flowers each year.

This year I tried something different. I bought actual dahlia plants. already growing, in plastic containers. I bought twelve plants in eight different colors. They weren't even on sale. That's huge for me.

Two already had blooms. The flowers eventually opened. They were beautiful. All the other buds on all the other plants withered in our summer heat. Grasshoppers shaved two of the plants. Only stalks remain. The raccoon tipped over and broke one of the terracotta pots in which I'd transplanted one of the dahlias. Since mid-July, I've been patiently waiting for new buds to appear on any of the plants.

New blossoms are finally beginning to form now, but only on three of the remaining eleven plants. Now that's summer's over (although we are still in the heat dome), less than half of my dahlias have finally decided it's okay to do what dahlias are supposed to do. It's kind of a good thing we haven't had an overnight freeze yet because that would have been the end of the dahlias for this year. And possibly forever for me.

I think I'm coming to the conclusion I am not a dahlia addict anymore. There are many more flowers tried and true, especially in my garden. Nothing beats a dinnerplate dahlia (mine have never gotten that big), but that's it. I'm done. Too expensive, too much work, too many repeatedly crashed high hopes. I'm deadheading my red sunflowers and pink cosmos and spreading the seeds everywhere. Quite frankly, I think I'd rather make dolls! Doll, yeah!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Not Gone with the Wind

I should have taken a photo the day I rescued the huge branch of cosmos that was leveled by 60 mph winds a couple of weeks ago. All buds. I didn't know if they'd ever bloom. But I put them in a vase anyway and have kept it on my porch just in case there are garden helpers hiding in the skimpy leaves.

I also rescued a branch of eryngium or sea holly. That particular plant had been chopped down to make room for the tree cutters when we had to take down the gigantic poplar/cottonwood hybrid that was munching on the plumbing beneath our house. The branches I cut off back then lasted a long time in the vase in my kitchen, but the "flowers" never turned blue. (I hosed down those branches to relocate any garden helper residents because the power wash wouldn't destroy sea holly the way it decimates flowers.) I didn't know the plant would persist and produce a few more branches before next year.

I thought I saw a hint of blue in the sea holly over the weekend, so I closely inspected but found no trace of blue. Yet. I will give it more time.

The cosmos, though, have exploded with blossoms! And they seem to last a very long time! Every day I check the vase on the porch and am so pleased to see twice as many blossoms as the day before! What a wonderful way to close out summer!

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Wordless Wednesday

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Pins and Needles

End of the month means more digital temperature quilt segments are done!

Or nearly done...

And oh, my goodness, is this whole year panel turning out awesome!!!

I'm falling in love with this project all over again because, to me, the cooler temperatures make it SO much more attractive.

I just missed another Spoonflower fat quarter sale, darn it! Fingers crossed the sale will happen again soon so I can get my newest digital temperature quilt segments printed when they are finished!

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Transcendental Efflorescence

Seven years and two weeks ago, I discovered cosmos. I'd seen seeds, but I'd never planted any, probably because I'd never really seen (or recognized) any flowering cosmos plants. We were on our way to the Tour de Lavender in Washington, and I can never go to the Pacific Northwest without a stop (or two!!!) in Wyoming. More specifically, a stop in Tetons/Yellowstone. We paused en route at a rest stop in Shoshoni, where the bright pink cosmos were blooming like crazy. We'd been shooting a bit of fall color, so the burst of pink was an addictive pleasant surprise. When we returned home a week later, I created a poster (the shot above), then began researching what kind of flower could handle late September overnight lows.

My cosmos adventure began! I planted my first seeds the following spring and was a bit disappointed when the flowers didn't bloom until September. (Although I was very thankful to have flowers in September because for the last many years, most of my garden has gone to seed by mid- to late July!)

Each year, seeds would sprout in places where I did not plant. Each year, I'd buy seeds for a new variety or two. Or more.

This year, I attempted digging up some of the volunteers and transplanting them in places where I wanted flowers and in pots for the porch. Some survived; some didn't. Overall, I have far more cosmos this year than I've ever had, and there are still volunteers popping up in places I would not expect them to flourish.

Last week we returned to the birthplace of my cosmos addiction. I didn't expect tons of flowers this late in the season, but I did expect flowers. I had to really look to find them! The "garden" has been overgrown with grass.

If I lived in Shoshoni, I would dig up this little garden welcome mat and redo it with every variety of cosmos I could get into my little green thumb hand as a service project. Hopefully giving everyone who drives through (in September) a wonderful impression of Shoshoni...

The 2017ish addition to the Shoshoni sign made me giggle.

I'd forgotten we originally had planned to view the Great American Eclipse somewhere near this site. We chickened out when we learned tiny little remote areas such as Glendo were expecting up to 40,000 or 50,000 people. We opted for fairly remote, non-totality on the Colorado/Wyoming border.

I've always heard Wyoming and wind are blood brothers. I had to giggle at the Shoshoni sign wind braces...

I tried shooting cosmos still blooming at home when we returned last weekend, but that blasted wind, which does not confine itself to Wyoming, kept taking those precious blossoms right out of my viewfinder. But, I guess wind (plus goldfinch) is what spreads the seeds, right? So my own little guarantee for next year's crop!

And, I really can't complain about having flowers, even if windblown, in October. Once that first freeze happens, which could literally be any minute now, outdoor flowers will come to a quick and sorrowful end until next year...

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