Steve Whysall wrote about dahlias in yesterday's Vancouver Sun. He went out to Ferncliff Gardens on McTaggart Street in Mission, where they breed dahlias and peonies. There's a dahlia-growing tip from the owners/gardeners, David and Sheila Jack, that is so great I'm writing it word for word here so I remember it for next year:
David "hills" plants as they grow in spring, pulling up soil around young stems the same way vegetable gardeners hill potato plants.
"When they are only about 12-inches high, we draw soil around them and firm it up by foot," says David. "We do it again when they are a little taller to create a hill that is five or six inches tall. We find this gives them all the support they need. If it turns out to be a dry summer, the hilling also acts as a mulch and helps retain moisture."
Imagine that.
I'm starting to like dahlias, so long as they are interspersed with other plants. Like roses, I feel like mass plantings of dahlias are too much of a good thing. Leads to obsessiveness, petal-counting, Fall Fairs, etc. Nevertheless, a fine specimen throwing out pom-poms and cheerleading all the way into deep autumn is a welcome sight.
The purple dahlias in the photo above were rescued from a staking accident in Janis' garden (thus the revelation re: the no-stake method). If they hadn't done a face-plant, I could have taken a pic of their deep purple against a mauve backdrop of Joe-Pye Weed/ Eupatorium purpureum. It was nice. The dahlia below was in the Hollyhock Centre garden on Cortes Island, and the bit of yellow at the base of the petals really made it sing. Dahli-a-la-laaa.
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