Dahlia Hedge: June 2010 Wettest Month Ever in Oregon

June did arrive with record levels of rainfall here in Oregon. Statewide historical records were all broken and it was the wettest June in modern history.

Our helpful Pro informed us this would make for an unusual "blooming" period for the our Dahlias. Many of his associates had told him of how the massive rain had sometimes even ruined  their own Dahlia's. We seemed to hold-up fairly well thru June. This was when we met the garden guys "slug" & "snail". Just a little bit of snail bait applied 2X in June seemed to do the trick after we noticed one morning that some chomping had gone on.

Most of the pictures below are after the rain - last week of June. As you can tell we have big growth on some of the Dahlia's and zero on some. Exactly how our tutor predicted might happen due to the wacky wetness of this month.

Dahlia Hedge: May 2010 Progress Report

Our tuber-guys began to emerge this month! It seemed like half the time we saw a starter come up, it turned out to be a weed - but as the photos show - we have Dahlias coming up. Very exciting from an amateur perspective. However, there is a long way to go still.

Dahlia Hedge: April is Over -- March On The Way!

Knowing that these Dahlia bulbs would take a few months to emerge, the month of April slowly passed. The weather was fairly mild with mixed clouds and sun with minimal rain. The waiting is kind of like the same wait for the fireworks on the 4th of July. Photos are a set of the Hedge area thru April. Thought we had a few starters, but they turned out to be general weeds.

Dahlia Hedge Week One

As the photos show - we roto-tilled an area app. 2 feet deep and 12 feet long. Once the dirt was nice and sifted, our pro brought out the bulbs we had carefully trimmed inside the garage the week prior. We planted them about 15 inches apart or so and used the little comical drink stirrers as markers.

By this time, we had forgoten which varieties we had chosen and so the flowers would be a total suprise to us when they bloom. We decided that was a good thing.

A Dahlia Hedge - A Unique Idea Made By Rookies But Coached By A Pro

Lucky for us, a longtime friend decided to share some of his Dahlia bulbs with us in Spring of 2010. After 3 intense workshops where we learned to trim the bulbs with goal of maximum tubers to plant, we began by roto-tilling this area in our garden and planting 10 dahlia bulbs - a total mixed variety lot.