Remember the Cosmos Queen? Well, read on for her interest in beautiful dahlias.
We first met under incredibly sad circumstances over four 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 benefits of gardening for our wellbeing. With this in mind, I wondered if she might be interested in growing a few flowers one day.
Well, that was the start! See my post Greatest benefits of becoming a gardener for my first post on my dear friend, and how she became The Cosmos Queen.
As a result of a visit to my garden, post pandemic, The Cosmos Queen fell in love with my dahlias. See my follow up post The amazing benefits of gardening which details her growing love of dahlias.
New border alert
To begin with, the Cosmos Queen had no flower borders in her garden.
After kick starting her interest in gardening, she dug out a border. Fast forward to Spring 2023 and she now had six flower borders she had dug out.
She had borders for her cosmos, her delphiniums, aquilegia, borage, comfrey, and cornflowers. Another border dug primarily for her 2022 beautiful dahlias.
Additionally, she wanted an area for some wildflowers. Since the borders were becoming full, out she went and dug out another one!
But where were her new beautiful dahlias going to be planted? She gave me a call and told me she was about to dig out border number eight! How I laughed. Clearly, us gardeners will aways need more borders, however many we have in our gardens.
Later that day, the photo arrived of border number eight. See photo above.
The tubers arrived
The Cosmos Queen had ordered twenty-four beautiful dahlias and wanted to grow them in pots herself. Initially, she was concerned that she would not know how to plant them and how to ensure she did not over water them.
I provided some lovely photos of my tubers and demonstrated how to pot them up. Additionally, some fascinating photos were shared, of my finger in a pot, testing for dryness of the compost and when to water. The fun we both had!
As a result of my instructions, her dahlias were potted, watered, mollycoddled, and pampered! Overall, a fairly straightforward and successful dahlia growing experience. Of course, I received photos of the progress almost every day.
Sometimes, I was consulted on the moistness of the compost. A sensible idea, as it is easy to overwater a dahlia tuber when you first start to grow them. For example, if you overwater so the compost becomes waterlogged, the dahlia tuber can rot. The Cosmos Queen is a jolly sensible girl!
beautiful dahlia progress reports
To begin with, the Cosmos Queen was a lover of the dinner plate dahlias, whilst I was always extolling the virtues of the pollinating types. Especially the Honka and star shaped such as Verrone’s Obsidian (my favourite), Honka Pink and Honka Fragile.
During our chats and photo swaps, I could tell that the Cosmos Queen was rather lukewarm about my Honka types. But my oh my, how things have changed!
Suddenly, the Cosmos Queen was talking nonstop Honka! Three Honka Pink were ordered, Honka Fragile, Honka Red and Verrone’s Obsidian. Once I saw the photo above, I noticed that all the Honka’s and others for pollinators, had pride of place on the sunniest windowsills.
The new dinner plate varieties were relegated to the shadier windows.
Clearly looking forward to a garden full of dahlias, but primarily, the majority of the dahlias needed to be for the pollinators.
The bees, butterflies and hoverflies all need single flowers for easy access to nectar and pollen. Single flowered dahlias such as the Honka’s, Happy Singles and Bishops series are all ideal.
Follow my link to find out which dahlias the pollinators loved best in my garden last year 12 of the best dahlias for pollinators
And below is a link to a newer post with some of the dahlias for 2023.
10 beautiful dahlia flowers for pollinators
So, for the Cosmos Queen, if the pollinating types were also Honka’s, happy days!
The beautiful dahlias grew and grew.
As a result of her daily attention, the dahlias grew into large plants, awaiting a move to the outside world.
Every time we met or spoke, the chats were mainly about the dahlias.
Once I had stopped laughing for a moment, I mentioned we only talk gardening now. Well, said the Cosmos Queen, it is the best thing ever, I love gardening. Thank goodness you got me interested.
The facts are well known that gardening can benefit the mind, body and soul and harnessing the power of gardening can improve our mental health and wellbeing.
In 2021, the RHS released research that revealed that people who garden every day have wellbeing scores 6.6% higher and stress levels 4.2% lower than people who don’t garden at all. Surveying more than 6000 people the research showed a significant association between gardening more frequently and improvements in wellbeing, perceived stress, and physical activity.
The story of my dear friend, the Cosmos Queen, is a shining example of how the two paragraphs above are so true.
The blooming race for beautiful dahlias
Fast forward to a chat last night. Another ninety minutes of gardening talk, beautiful dahlias, and laughter.
During the chat, a photo was pinged through to my phone. Evidence of her first Honka Pink with a lovely flower blooming.
The Cosmos Queen received the prize for first Honka in flower!
Mine are still in bud. She positively “honked” with glee at my reaction.
I could not resist teasing her about her lukewarm reaction to Honka dahlias in the past. In fact, I am surprised the call did not last for two hours. All that Honka excitement!
Indeed, we only finished talking as we both needed to water our pots before darkness fell! Also, I needed to make sure my lovely chickens were tucked up in bed.
To end this merry dahlia tale
To conclude this merry tale, I must say, I am so proud of my dear friend , the Cosmos Queen.
She has embraced her new world, full of gardening, dahlias, and happy pollinators.
I am thrilled that she won the first Honka dahlia in flower competition. A light-hearted competition with no actual prize.
Ultimately, to see a dear friend enjoying life again after a devastating bereavement brings me so much joy.
Gardening is so powerful and life affirming for our wellbeing and I hope that everyone gives it a try. Whether this is in a garden, big or small, a courtyard, a balcony, or houseplants in a home.
Finally, I will share more posts later in the summer, chock full of our dahlia photographs, so stay tuned for that!
The Cosmos Queen is now a gardener, and a mighty fine one she is to!
Click here for an update on the Cosmos Queen The awesome power of the garden
I purchase dahlia tubers from Sarah Raven and the tubers supplied have been of excellent 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. There are still some potted varieties available if you need some.
Click Here For Sarah Raven Dahlias
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