Dinner Plate Dahlia

Yay!  The blooming of the Dahlias has made my week.  I can't get over how beautifully perfect this flower is.

It is a full eight inches across and so heavy that it hangs it's head.  I'm surprised the stalk can hold it up.

Here is is amongst the daylillies to show a contrast in size.

I must admit, when I ordered these bulbs from Breck's ( http://brecks.com/ )

I didn't really believe they'd bloom the 6-9 inches promised.  I especially didn't expect anything this summer because I planted them in the spring of last year.  I planted ten of them in different colors and they all sprang up.  Then the drought hit and, even though I watered them faithfully, the drought killed off over half of them.  The ones left got buds on them and were promptly eaten up - everything but the stem - by grasshoppers.

In our climate, you're supposed to dig dahlias up and store them through the winter, replanting in the spring.  My efforts last summer were such a dismal failure, that I didn't even bother digging them up.  They over wintered in the ground and to my great surprise, three of them grew this spring.  This one is the first to bloom, but the others have buds on them, too.  Can't wait to see what colors I have left.