Time for another post featuring my dear friend, the Cosmos Queen. She has worked jolly hard on her new dahlia beds and is now reaping the rewards of all that effort.
We first met under incredibly sad circumstances over five years ago. Sadly, her much loved husband had passed away. As we got to know each other, I mentioned my garden, as I knew the huge benefits of gardening for our wellbeing.
Well, since that time she has become a fantastic gardener, and one who absolutely adores her dahlias.
I have added a link below to one of my earlier posts featuring some of her dahlias.
The Cosmos Queen’s beautiful dahlias
She has now dug out ten flower beds in her garden for dahlias and other flowers. And I imagine the flower beds will multiply next year again.
Dahlia beds in the making
I am always so impressed with the Cosmos Queen’s neat borders. Firstly, she measures out the width of her mower. This ensures she will have a grass path, just wide enough for a single mow.
Next, she marks out the space with string to get straight lines for her border edges. Then she cuts along the edges and marks out squares in the turf.
Next comes the removal of all those squares of turf. These are then stacked upside down, tidily of course, to rot down and become compost next year.
Her final task is to rake across the border to remove any lumps to provide a flat level area for her plants. In this case, surprise surprise, it will be a load of new dahlias.
Since this photo was taken, several more borders have been dug out. As I mentioned earlier, the number stands at ten, so far………
That Cosmos Queen certainly works hard to dig out borders for all her beautiful plants.
I know she is now on the lookout for a greenhouse. So, when she then starts to sow flower seeds as well, those borders will soon overflow.
More borders super turbo charged Cosmos Queen expert digger, more borders!
Wonderful dahlia beds
Onto a photo of the Cosmos Queen’s new dahlia beds. As you can see, she has packed her borders full of beautiful dahlias.
Not only displaying a variety of flower shapes, they are also a kaleidoscope of different colours.
I can see the beautiful Thomas A Edison, the deep purple blooms at the start of the border. Followed by the fabulous Octopus Sparkle, on orange and red star shaped flower with an anemone centre. A new one for me this year and I could not resist picking up another one for my dear friend.
She has also planted some deep pink Cafe Au Lait Rose, some colourful cactus dahlias and a host of other beauties too.
A fabulous new border, full of colourful dahlias. A beautiful sight to behold.
Mingus Randy in the dahlia beds
The next photo should have been a new dahlia called Jaxon, a bright red cactus variety. After the tuber labelled Jaxon was potted up and grown on indoors, into the new dahlia borders it went.
However, this dahlia sent up a bloom which was purple, lilac and white. Thankfully the Cosmos Queen loved the colours of the flowers and started research into who the newcomer could be.
She found that her new dahlia was called Mingus Randy, one of a famous family of Mignus dahlias bred in the USA.
After seeing that dahlia Mingus Randy is often quoted as being perfect for making a statement in a garden, she loved it even more!
I am sure Jaxon will be ordered again for next year. Fingers crossed there are no more tuber mix ups with suppliers.
Although, it is a jolly good excuse to order more of course!
More colourful dahlias
The next photo shows a dahlia border which was planted up last year. Although the bed has plenty of colour, there are one or two gaps.
Naturally, the Cosmos Queen is disappointed that a few of her dahlias didn’t make it through the wet winter. However, so many gardeners have lost a few plants due to the torrential rain which has rotted the tubers.
Furthermore, the rain has resulted in ideal conditions for the slugs and snails so more bad news for the dahlias as they started to shoot.
I think the dahlia border looks beautiful, and I am sure that you will agree.
As well as plenty of colourful blooms, several of the dahlias are perfect for pollinators.
So, take heart Cosmos Queen, a couple of gaps means there is room for another dahlia or two for next year.
I can see her smiling at that thought and making a new dahlia wish list!
To continue the flower display
The next photo shows a couple of dahlias picked for the house. The Cosmos Queen wanted to continue to gaze at her dahlias after dark. So, rather than wandering around with a torch outside, a couple cut for the vase seemed like a good plan!
She chose the fabulous Wanda’s Aurora. A beautiful dinner plate dahlia in salmon pink, orange and yellow. What a whopper this bloom is. She also chose one of her new ball dahlias, Linda’s Baby.
I am so pleased that she loves gardening and especially, her dahlias.
Gardening is so powerful and life affirming for our wellbeing, and I hope that everyone gives it a try. The Cosmos Queen is certainly a prime example of this, and I repeat, with her permission, a message she once sent me.
“I came in from watering my garden tonight and I turned in the doorway to look back at my garden. I thought to myself, I have done all this myself, with a lot of encouragement from the Dahlia Queen. For the first time since losing my husband I realised that I had a deep sense of wellbeing that had been missing up to now. And it was all down to you and gardening, so thank you honey”
What a lovely message and how heartwarming to see what gardening can bring to our lives. I am thrilled that gardening has helped my dear friend. Over the last few years we have become firm friends, who never tire of talking about dahlias and gardening.
Bring on the winter bedding
We have recently been discussing the time when our dahlias have finished and how to continue the colour through the winter.
One idea is to plant some winter bedding, and I have ordered a few plug plants already. Mine are coming from Thompson and Morgan. I have added a link below if you are interested in looking at some options too.
Click here for some options on bedding plants from Thomson and Morgan
Of course, winter bedding looks so colourful, boosting our wellbeing over winter. Additionally, and so importantly, it also provides some much needed food for our early pollinators. Therefore, two great reasons to plant some winter bedding in your garden borders, pots or window boxes.
In my photo above, a bumble bee can be seen feeding on a polyanthus flower in February. Thank goodness I had some flowers to provide these early bees with some nectar and pollen.
Well, it is time to finish this post featuring my dear friend, the Cosmos Queen, as I need to deadhead all my dahlias next and that takes quite a while!
I hope you have enjoyed the update on her beautiful garden and her dahlia beds full of colourful blooms.
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2 responses to “Colourful dahlia beds for a beautiful summer”
All those lovely dahlias. Not as many as you have of course but I think we’ve both succeeded this year in our mission to pay tribute to that unforgettable man and his colourful trousers. We’ve both done him proud and we will never ever forget him❤️❤️
I totally agree with you. We have made it our mission to try to match that lovely man’s fabulously flamboyant and colourful trousers with our dahlias. And what fun we have had too. Absolutely, never forgotten and we will try to match those trousers for many years to come in our gardens. 💜💜🪷🪷