The First and Second Frost

Well the first and second frost came and went..and I figured Mr. P and I had a couple of hours to dig up dahlia tubers before heading out to brunch.

BEFORE:

We had about 15 dahlia tubers planted in this bed!

Now who knew the inside was hollow!!!

I love this photo...great job Mr. P!!!

Some dahlia plants I got a good amount out of tubers, and others not!  This is my second attempt at digging out the tubers so I am not an expert of how to dig them out. 
However, what worked for me was to dig a 12 inch circle around the base of plant and wiggle to you feel a heavy mass of tubers on your shovel.  Yes, I did cut some tubers in half, and on some plants, I did not even really get more than 3 tubers. 

This was a good dig!!!

I feel that this is what sweet poatoes would look like when freshly harvested????

The cleaned out bed!  Thanks Mr. P for your help!

The dahlia tubers are drying now, to be put away for storage for the winter!

The Dahlia's are still blooming!!!

My Parents had a fall get together this weekend with my Grandma, Aunt, Brother (Sister-in law was unable to make it) and Mr. P and myself.  Out of the girls, I have to say we all think we are a little crafty, and like to out do each other with the favors and food! 

This year as you have seen earlier, I have an extreme love for Dahlia's.  I thought what if I put them in a pumpkin!  I was able to get small little boo pumpkins for a $1.00 and the Dahlia's were from my garden.

I tried to cut the pumpkins myself, but was unable to ( I did keep them in my car for a week, and we tried first thing in the morning..I think they were a little too cold).  However, Mr. P was called in for duty, and he took care of them, with a help of his cleaver!

I tried to soak them in water before I had to ask Mr. P for help.  I thought it would make them softer..did not work out to well!

1.  First cut the top of the pumpkins.
2.  Take the insides out.  I saved the seeds, I was surprised how many seeds were in these little pumpkins.
3.  I put water in the pumpkin to make sure there were no holes, or that the water would leak out.
4.  Dumped the water, and trimmed the string insides.

Below are the dahlia's upside down before I started to arrange them, I never realized how pretty they look even this way!

Finished product:

To transport them to my parent's house, I placed them in a roasting pan!

Next time:  I would try to get floral tape to make a frog for the dahlias to stand up better!

That is one big flower!!!

I have been in love with Dahlia flowers, ever since a trip while I was a little girl to Campobella Island, Canada, right off the coast of Maine.  Than luckily enough one summer while living on my own, I found a Mansion that would sell them off the side of the road for Charity.  I would stop and buy a bunch in a Mason Jar every week for my desk at work!!

How nice would it be to be able to have rows and rows of flowers:

Below is my small Dahlia Paradise:

I am lucky enough to have 2 successful rows of Dahlia's, and another very slow growing row (I started it too late).  As of right now, I have three plants in bloom as beautifully shown above.  I am hoping that I can show you some more dahlia blooms by the end of the summer!!!