In a Vase, on Monday – DSZ

Chris Mousseau

DSZ = Dahlia, Sunflower, Zinnia — all blooming prolifically right now with stems long enough and flowers large enough to fill a beautiful crystal vase left by a friend a few weeks ago who now insists it’s not hers! Who am I to argue? Every Monday Cathy at Rambling In The Garden invites us to share a vase highlighting what is growing in our gardens. My colour palette showcases the colours of a sunset, or a sunrise, to complement the huge Dahlia ‘Wynn’s Desert Sunrise.’ That’s it, at the bottom left, in the photo, below.

There are three other Dahlias in this vase: ‘Santa Claus,’ – mostly white with bits of red stripes – also mostly hidden except when seen from above; ‘Seduction,’ a really beautiful purply one; and ‘Just Peachy,’ which is almost a Mini-Me of the much larger ‘Desert Sunrise.’ That’s it, below, just to the left of the more adult looking Wynn’s D.S.

All the gorgeous sunflowers peeking out and standing tall are ‘Ruby Eclipse,’ which is billed as pollenless, thus supposedly not attractive to bees. That may be, but I have indeed seen bumble bees on it and, despite not having any other sunflowers within an acre of the garden, seeds appear to be developing. Hmmm…

With C19 resurging around the world, not to mention hurricanes and wildfires and drought all over…I hope everyone stays safe and can enjoy these last few days of August.

21 Comments

  1. You have a wonderful collection of dalias and D. ‘Wynn’s Desert Sunrise’ is just lovely, lovely. I admire the form and the peachy color. Your zinnias and sunflowers are impressive as well. And how lucky you are to have a thoughtful friend contributing to the arrangement with her beautiful vase. Have a good week.

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  2. They’re all quite beautiful, especially that Desert Sunrise. I am curious, though. Why would anyone grow a pollenless flower? There must be a reason; I just can’t imagine what it would be.

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    1. Pollenless so that when cut and brought indoors pollen doesn’t fall all over your dining room table, giving that antique white lace tablecloth a forever yellow sheen 😆 Hybridized at the request of florists, I’d imagine.

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      1. Ah! That makes sense. I remember reading about a lily that had been bred to reduce the amount of its pollen. Anyone who’s had an Easter lily probably knows what can happen to that white tablecloth.

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  4. Few days? August is over after today and tomorrow. How late do dahlias last? I mean, when is the first frost? I do not suspect that they continue until November like ours do.

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    1. Well, I have one variety that hasn’t bloomed yet – hopefully next week. Our first frost usually hits mid October – around the 20th, so these dahlias should bloom til then, as long as we get some rain. We’ve had the occasional short thunderstorm but no serious rain at all in August, and September is often quite dry…we shall see.

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  9. That is absolutely gorgeous Chris! The dahlias are wonderful and I just love that sunflower. I have in fact ordered all my seeds for next year (better safe than sorry, with all that is happening around the world!) but I might have another look for seed of that one. 😃

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