2023 - Dahlia Blooms
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My Bloomquist Jean plant is huge and the blooms look nothing like what I had on my puny plant last year. I love it.
edewitt my BQ Jean has really, um, blossomed this year too! So much better than last year.
MissyWeitzel Ferncliff Dolly is stunning. I canāt believe how large it is! I didnāt grow anything open-faced in my garden this year because I thought I might want to save seed and try seedlings. But I think Iāve changed my mind about trying seedlings, so maybe I need to think about her next yearā¦
Juliarugula I just cut back or cover all my open center ones before I start letting blooms mature for pollination! 
MissyWeitzel oh thatās a great idea - so simple but hadnāt occurred to me. Especially when planting by form - thanks for sharing your tip about this here.
MissyWeitzel Iāve really just had to put my foot down and face the fact that I donāt have enough space to grow both the varieties Iād like to grow and also seedlings.
I just added in two vegetable beds because my family has been complaining that I didnāt grow veggies this year. So maybe in a couple of years, theyāll get bored of tomatoes again and I can convert those to seedling beds. 
Barbarry Dominion
Barbarry Dominion is one of the very oldest Barbarrys and dates to 1988. We grew it in about 1993. Pretty flower. It may be the oldest Barbarry variety. I love Barbarry Red Dwarf and it was introduced in 2000.
My design.
Itās been a while since Iāve shared any pics from my dahlia patch, so here are some photos of Orange Globe, which has been slow and stubborn. I think I was compelled to try cuttings this year in part because I only had one surviving tuber of OG. Itās hard to capture how otherworldly this bloom is! The bees are happy with it, so Iām leaving it for them, rather than cutting it to bring indoors. This was my only bloom out of four cutting plants. I gave one cutting to a flower farmer that I know and ended up receiving one in my CSA bouquet, which was a nice coincidence! Oddly, I also got one bloom off the cutting that I am growing as a pot tuber. The two plants that are in the ābetterā part of the garden have been inching along slowly all season. They now have fat buds, so maybe OG will give a good display before the frost. Either way, I forgive her for her fussy habits. 
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And a few more from Charlottesvilleā¦
This is the āautumn colorsā bouquet. Snoho Doris is a nice chameleon bloom. The others are Jessie G, Bloomquist Awesome, and one of very few Koko Puff blooms that I managed to get this year.
Next up is Coralie with Rock Run Ashley. These both have remarkable vase life and I love how they change color in the vase.
"....black peppers you grow, are they āBlack Pearlā? Yes and from saved seed. At the large commercial greenhouse we frequent, they use baskets of this plant to "feed"the beneficial insects when they are in the larva stage. The baskets are hanging all over the place mixed in. We bought a "used" basket and it probably it came with a batch of some beneficials. I have never bit into one of the ripe pepper but they are reported to be very
, very hot.
I can't stop being amazed at Hollyhill Pinkie. The color is so beautiful, and the form graceful. When I think of hybridizing with it, I can't imagine a garden flower that would be prettier.
