I had a large garden at my old house. Here, in the condominium, I am a container gardener. In past years I have varied between pots of tomatoes and basil and flower baskets purchased through school fundraiser. This year, though, I’ve been nostalgic for my dahlia garden.
One part of the yard at my old house was devoted to dahlias. In some ways, I think of them as grandma flowers. They are old-fashioned, but I love their size, hardiness and colors. So, I bought some bulbs this year and today, I planted them in the pots on my front stoop. They make such lovely cut flowers and I do love to have them inside the house. They are planted and now I have to wait.
The beauty of a pre-fab flower basket is that the arrive in bloom. By planting my own dahlias, I get the joy of anticipation, the joy of watching the green shoots emerge and the flowers bloom, as spring becomes summer and summer becomes fall. I have to be patient, but it becomes its own special way of measuring the passage of time.
Oh I am jealous that you have a green thumb. Every single thing I try to plant in my container garden balcony, dies almost instantly! The plant/seeds see my black thumb and refuse to survive long enough for me to enjoy them!
I love the last paragraph when you talk about the joy of seeing the process of the plants growing- I enjoy that part too! Now I want to go do some planting after reading this.
I totally agree that the fun is in planting seeds and bulbs and watching what happens. We have a flower circle at the end of our roadway and we plane seeds every year. The anticipation of watching them sprout and develop is great. Seeing the variety and color of the blooming flowers always makes me smile.
Slowly the plants come to life, waiting is the hard part. Your stoop will welcome all with the fabulous colors of the dahlias.
Yes, dahlias do seem like grandma flowers….and now, I want to get some bulbs and plant them. We have so much shade here we can’t grow a lot of things. I love that there is still enough sun for the spring bulbs to bloom…but I have to take photos of them at first bloom because the deer like to eat them. Enjoy your flowers and thanks for the memories. Jackie http://familytrove.blogspot.com/