Dahl's Life

Once upon a time, I worked for a small village newspaper. The other three reporters on our staff each wrote a monthly column. I asked my editor if I could write a column, too. He was shocked by my request; I didn't know the other reporters had to be bribed. I was the first to volunteer. My editor named my column "A Dahl's Life" because that incoporated part of my then last name, because I liked dahlias, and because I was making a lot of dolls back then. My editor thought it was an extremely cute title. I ended up writing only about six columns before I finally became an adoptive parent (and yes, I wrote a column about that!!!) and had to change jobs and home address. My Dahl's Life came to an unexpected end.

Now I think my Dahlia Life has gone beyond life expectancy. My cheap tubers are never the color on the $1.29 box, and I've been lucky to get one or two flowers each year.

This year I tried something different. I bought actual dahlia plants. already growing, in plastic containers. I bought twelve plants in eight different colors. They weren't even on sale. That's huge for me.

Two already had blooms. The flowers eventually opened. They were beautiful. All the other buds on all the other plants withered in our summer heat. Grasshoppers shaved two of the plants. Only stalks remain. The raccoon tipped over and broke one of the terracotta pots in which I'd transplanted one of the dahlias. Since mid-July, I've been patiently waiting for new buds to appear on any of the plants.

New blossoms are finally beginning to form now, but only on three of the remaining eleven plants. Now that's summer's over (although we are still in the heat dome), less than half of my dahlias have finally decided it's okay to do what dahlias are supposed to do. It's kind of a good thing we haven't had an overnight freeze yet because that would have been the end of the dahlias for this year. And possibly forever for me.

I think I'm coming to the conclusion I am not a dahlia addict anymore. There are many more flowers tried and true, especially in my garden. Nothing beats a dinnerplate dahlia (mine have never gotten that big), but that's it. I'm done. Too expensive, too much work, too many repeatedly crashed high hopes. I'm deadheading my red sunflowers and pink cosmos and spreading the seeds everywhere. Quite frankly, I think I'd rather make dolls! Doll, yeah!

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