The Cosmos Queen receives a dahlia and some amazing benefits of gardening
My dear friend, the Cosmos Queen, who first appeared in the post Greatest benefits of becoming a gardener visited my garden once the pandemic lockdown had ended. Racing across to this flower, her questions rushed out……. what is this flower? How did you grow this beautiful flower? I need one of those don’t I? The spectacular dahlia Cafe Au Lait was noted. As a result, I added one to the list of gifts I had written for her birthday. Read on for the amazing benefits of gardening.
The smile on her face was very wide indeed. What a difference I thought from when we first met. Her much-loved husband had passed away and she was naturally grieving the loss of a future planned together. Looking forward to a garden full of dahlias was now what she was concentrating on. Furthermore, gardening had become a major interest in her life.
Gardening really is great for our health and wellbeing and the Cosmos Queen has reaped the rewards and is enjoying herself. When we grow plants, we must nurture them, water them, feed them, deadhead the flowers, and stake them if they are tall. Subsequently, all the while we are being nurtured ourselves. How amazing is that!
Swooning over some dahlias
Off she shot to another dahlia. Labyrinth I said, I imagine you need that one in your new garden as well? I could see that the Cosmos Queen had started a love of dahlias that was likely to match mine. Over the next few weeks, I made a note of the names of others she had seen and was swooning over. Then I ordered Belfloor, Cafe Au Lait, French Cancan, Gerrie Hoek, Labyrinth, Penhill Dark Monarch, Great Silence, and The Phantom for her. She really loved the dinnerplate dahlias best. I sneaked in Waltzing Mathilda on the order too, for the pollinators.
New border alert and the amazing benefits of gardening
She sent me a photo the following day, she had dug out another border. More amazing benefits of gardening with the excitement of border digging. The Cosmos Queen added a few plants whilst awaiting her new dahlias. She certainly doesn’t hang about, that Cosmos Queen!
I potted the tubers in my greenhouse as soon as they arrived and sent photo updates as they started to shoot.
I handed them over in May ready to plant out with instructions on adding grit to the soil around each plant to deter the slugs and snails who love a newly shooting dahlia for a tasty snack!
Those dastardly slugs and snails
The trials and tribulations of growing your new dahlias
One of her new dahlias had been nibbled by a snail. What a panic she was in as she didn’t want to lose her new dahlia. An emergency dahlia call was organised. A calming down, a really don’t worry, all will be well, add some more grit, the dahlia will sprout again, was the advice I gave.
I also shared a story of one of my first dahlias, many years ago, eaten by slugs and snails. I realised I needed to protect them with grit when they first started shooting.
The Cosmos Queen mounted a snail and slug patrol every evening. She showed some steely determination, and she added more grit in a ring around her dahlia.
Unfortunately, the dahlia was still being eaten somehow by an intrepid slug or snail. Therefore, she quickly thought of a possible protection solution, and she hastened to pop a plastic container over the plant every evening. Her idea, care and attention paid off. The dahlia was soon shooting strongly, and we both laughed about it all.
There can always be setbacks for us gardeners, mainly weather or pest related. With this in mind, we learn, share our knowledge and use these experiences to make us better gardeners.
The new dahlia border in full bloom
The Cosmos Queen had grown some beautiful dahlia blooms in her new border. Her Cafe Au Lait had a flower before any of mine grew any buds! Daily photos were shared, showing who had the best blooms, we shared many laughs, and much fun was had.
Bees and butterflies
Dahlias for pollinators
The Cosmos Queen saw this photo of mine and realised that no bees were visiting her dahlias. She understood this was because she had mostly chosen dinner plate dahlias and pollinators need single flowers. They need blooms where they can easily reach the nectar. Waltzing Mathilda was a good option for the bees and butterflies though.
Therefore, I gave her some single flowered dahlias I had grown from seed (Bishops Children and some other varieties). The pollinators were still able to feed on her cosmos blooms, of course, and she could add more single dahlias in the future.
New single dahlias
The single flowering dahlias were planted and flowering. The Cosmos Queen still felt guilty that so many of her existing dahlias were of no use to pollinators. She does love the big blousy dinnerplate ones and they are good for her vases too. She has come up with a new plan……….
For every new dinnerplate dahlia she will get two Honka varieties for the pollinators. My earlier blog 12 of the best dahlias for pollinators gives you my top twelve dahlias that the pollinators loved in my garden in 2022.
Likewise, here is one of my updates for 2023 10 beautiful dahlia flowers for pollinators
And onto the dahlias in 2023
The Cosmos Queen had ordered 3 Honka pink, 1 Verrone’s Obsidian, 1 Honka fragile, 1 Honka red……. and I had seen a few messages with some other single flowered dahlias in the pipeline. I’m grew a few pollinator varieties from seed for her too, as you can never have enough dahlias, can you?
I looked forward to seeing her beautiful new border (yes, another one was being dug as I type) awash with colour and buzzing with bees. In addition, some of the photos have been shared on a post in summer 2023
So, here is the latest post on the Cosmos Queen The awesome power of the garden.
How fabulous it is to see my dear friend enjoying her garden. Consequently, she is planning for more borders and blooms for her garden, her vases and for the pollinators.
Boosting wellbeing and biodiversity with the benefits of gardening
The amazing benefits of gardening are so clear to see. Growing some dahlias is such a fabulous way to ensure many months of colour in your garden. There is such a sense of achievement, nurturing your plants and seeing them bloom. An amazing boost for wellbeing.
In addition, providing some dahlias for pollinators is helping the biodiversity of our planet. What a rich reward that is.
Gardening really is such a fantastic boost and the power of the garden really can be quite awesome. Coupled with helping wildlife, it brings such contentment to our world and that of the natural world. More amazing benefits of gardening to be seen.
So, another summer is in full swing and the dahlias are blooming beautifully.
I purchase dahlia tubers from Sarah Raven and the tubers supplied have been of great quality and grew quickly into flowering plants. Also, there are some exclusive collections such as the Raven Dahlia Collection which cannot be purchased anywhere else. Please follow this link for the online shop.
Click here for Sarah Raven dahlias
This blog is an affiliate member of Sarah Raven. If you purchase using the link above, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Cosmos Queen has become as obsessed with dahlias as her friend, the Dahlia Queen!
Although rumour has it there is another border being planned for 16 more varieties of cosmos, so she’s still the Cosmos Queen it seems. Do stay tuned for more news on that!
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