Summer bouquets

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A flower blossoms for its own joy.
– Oscar Wilde, Irish poet and playwright

2020 will go down as a strange year, to say the least, all the way around. Many just want the year to end. We have been battling a host of pests and disease in our garden, from grasshoppers and snails and gophers, to powdery mildew and mysterious diseases, that are attacking our beleaguered plants and flowers. Our dahlias have been hit hardest. And that means we’ll need to dig up the tubers, separate them, and store them until late winter. This is a chore, but we want to bring back our beloved dahlias. Still, I was able to make bouquets – not as many as in years past – and share them with family and friends. Here we go!

My sister gave me this dinner-plate dahlia because it wasn’t doing well in her hot weather summer. I just got this one dahlia, though I’m still waiting for the other smaller buds to bloom.
Love in a Mist blue flowers and favorite seed pods, Cupid’s Dart blue flowers (that is, until the gopher got this plant!), smaller dahlias, red and bi-colored Farley Chomley dianthus, white orlaya grandiflora (Minoan Lace), and white gerbera daisy.
Close-up of red-and-white miniature roses at the top, Cupid’s Dart purple flowers and then blue and white scabiosa.
Another view of this favorite petite bouquet of mine with so many of my favorite flowers.
I love the way the dianthus hang over this bouquet to give it a nice shape.
An early June only-dahlia bouquet. That is rare now. So let us enjoy this beautiful gathering of healthy-looking dahlias!
A bountiful alstromeria bouquet. These are huge!
These petite red-and-green lilies join the dahlia bouquet.
A close-up of this bouquet.
Mid-June bouquet. Notice the fewer dahlias, now joined by alstroemeria and lilies.
A different vase, but the same beautiful flowers as in the petite bouquet above.
More scabiosas, please!
A close-up of scabiosas, dianthus, and orlaya grandiflora.
My favorite Frances Kate sweet pea and orlaya grandiflora.
My one dinner-plate white dahlia.
Mid-June dahlia bouquet needs some Love in a Mist seed pods and pink alstroemeria to fill it out.
Dinner-plate yellow dahlia.
A small pitcher of Frances Kate sweet peas or lathyrus.
June 21st is Jacob’s birthday, and I had a great harvest of sweet peas.
A petite alstroemeria bouquet.
Our peach-colored gladiolus are coming up now. They have slowly naturalized in the last few years, and this is the first time we have had multiple flowers blooming.
Another petite bouquet. I’ve had to pivot to smaller vases to make smaller bouquets.
A late June bouquet.
One of my favorite burgundy dahlias didn’t produce as many flowers this season.
Late June harvest of multiple sweet pea varieties.
A few big dahlia blooms!
The very rare magenta dahlia and the faithful yellow dahlia.
This beautiful, ethereal yellow dahlia is the centerpiece for this bouquet.
Adding purple echinacea to this bouquet.
Another view of this bouquet. Gerberas (red) have been a reliable staple in my decimated garden this year.
Close-up: Speaking of staples, the scabiosa anthemifolia has been a reliable flower this season.
This orange-and-yellow dahlia was short-lived this season.
Dahlia fireworks.
The sheer, silky, fluted petals of this white dahlia.
A white rose and white helipterum roseum add to this petite bouquet.
Top view of this petite bouquet. Now you can see the white helipterum roseum and the creamy miniature rose at the top left. The salmon-colored zinnia, and in fact, all of the zinnias didn’t do well in the garden this year, but I harvested one here and there this season.
And finally, to end, the last of the June bouquets, the frilly Frances Kate sweet pea. Stay tuned for the July bouquets in a few weeks!