It's dahlia season and here at my Bedford, New York farm we have lots of gorgeous, bright, and colorful dahlias blooming in my garden.
Dahlia is a genus of tuberous plants that are members of the Asteraceae family and are related to the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia. They grow from small tubers planted in the spring. And from summer until the first autumn frost, these flowers give off a stunning show with blooms ranging from small to giant dinner-plate size.
Enjoy these photos.
Dahlias grow more blooms when they get at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. My dahlia garden gets great sun behind my vegetable greenhouse. And because this spot is behind this large structure, it is also protected from strong winds.
Currently, there are about 42 species of dahlia, with hybrids commonly grown as garden plants. A member of the Asteraceae family of dicotyledonous plants, some of its relatives include the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, and zinnia.
Dahlias are named after 18th-century Swedish botanist Anders Dahl. He actually categorized dahlias as a vegetable because of their edible tubers. The tubers are said to taste like a mix between potatoes and radishes.
Dahlias were first recorded by Westerners in 1615, and were then called by their original Mexican name, acoctli. The first garden dahlias reached the United States in the early 1830s. Today, dahlias are grown all over the world.
The genus Dahlia is native to the high plains of Mexico. Some species can be found in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica as well as parts of South America where it was introduced.
The array of flower colors, sizes, and shapes is astounding. Dahlias come in shades of pink, red, yellow, orange, white, shades of purple, and various combinations of these colors – every color but true blue.
Do you know… in the 19th century, a London newspaper offered a pound, or a little more than a dollar, to the first breeder to create a blue dahlia? Interestingly, the reward was never claimed, but there have been many attempts that are near-blue. Like many flower varieties, there is also no pure black variety—only dark red and dark purple.
This one is bright creamy white with a very light yellow center.
Dahlias can also vary in height, leaf color, form, and shape. This is because dahlias are octoploids, meaning they have eight sets of homologous chromosomes, whereas most plants have only two.
Dahlia plant leaves grow opposite each other and are simple to pinnately compound with segments that are ovate to oblong to lanceolate in shape. The leaf margins may be lobed or dentate. Leaves may be green, reddish-purple, or purple-black depending on the variety.
The majority of dahlia species do not produce scented flowers or cultivars, but they are brightly colored to attract pollinating insects.
Dahlias are classified according to flower shape and petal arrangement.
They range from a charming single, daisy-like flower to the popular double varieties which can be two-inch-pompons to 12-inch dinner plate size.
They are divided into 10 groups: single, anemone, collarette, waterlily, decorative, fall, pompon, cactus, semi-cactus, and miscellaneous.
Pompon dahlias yield masses of intricate, fully double blooms measuring up to two-and-a-half inches across.
This cactus variety is called ‘Park Princess’ with tightly rolled rich, vibrant pink petals. It is a prolific re-bloomer and an excellent cut flower.
As they grow it’s important to provide tall dahlia stems with good support to help the plants weather any storms and strong winds. Phurba puts in green painted wooden stakes throughout the bed.
Phurba ties one end of the twine to a stake about two feet off the ground and then stretches it to the next stake a few feet away on one side creating triangular quadrants. He does the same for a second row a little higher allowing the stems to sit in between the jute ties.
Here is an elegant dahlia which produces large blossoms with fully double, slender, deep pink petals with creamy throats that produce a frilled effect-hence the name Fimbriata meaning frilly.
Experiment with the blooms – dahlias look great arranged in different colors or as a bunch of the same variety. Harvesting flowers is good for the plants and encourages them to continue flowering month after month.
And when arranging, always strip off all the leaves that would be below the water line in the vase. This is true for all flower arrangements, not just dahlias. When leaves stay underwater, they decay and release bacteria that shorten the vase life of the flowers. And change the water daily so they look fresh and last longer. With good sunlight, proper watering, and a little bit of luck, we’ll have gorgeous, colorful dahlias growing all the way until Halloween.
Have you ever heard of Daheim, the Victorian mansion that sits on more than 2000 acres in the historic Hudson Valley village of Millbrook, New York? Well, it's up for sale.
Daheim, which is German for “at home,” has also been known as "Millbrook" and the Hitchcock estate. The property was originally created in the late 1800s from a group of old farms by German-born gas tycoon Charles F. Dieterich. Since then, Daheim was owned by Standard Oil president and chairman Walter C. Teagle, and the Hitchcock brothers, heirs to the Mellon Family oil and banking fortune. In 1963, the Hitchcocks rented it out to American psychologist, author, and LSD advocate, Timothy Leary, who used it for experiments and weekend psychedelic experiences. Over the next two decades, the mansion fell into disrepair until the late architectural historian John Foreman moved in and took over efforts to preserve and restore it. Still owned by the Hitchcock family today, the property, and its 15000 square foot Bavarian Baroque style main home, also includes two lakes, a gate house, a smaller single-story residence known as “The Bungalow,” a tennis pavilion, a stable, and numerous other residences and outbuildings. I visited Daheim not too long ago.
Enjoy these photos.
Here I am at Daheim, a most interesting property steeped in history. It is now for sale and listed by Heather Croner, Sotheby’s International Realty.
This is a stone addition to the main house that was built to house a more modern kitchen and servants’ facilities.
Owner Charles F. Dieterich created the estate out of five adjoining farms in Millbrook, surrounded by a natural landscape of trees and open fields.
None of the stone walls were veneered. Instead, the stone work on all the exterior walls was done with two-foot thick stones.
When built, this farm was a dairy. There was also a corn barn or feed barn, a molasses barn, a cattle barn, and an equipment shed.
This is inside the restored hay barn notable for its magnificent trusses. Round hay bales are stored in the rear.
Here is a view of one of the lakes at Daheim. A driveway crosses a stone bridge over a narrow canal that connects the estate’s two main bodies of water.
The two lakes are 45 and 60 acres large, but there are also smaller ponds on the property.
The main house was designed by James E. Ware in the late 1800s. A smaller guest house named The Bungalow, was designed by Addison Mizner in 1912.
The original oak and mahogany millwork in Daheim largely intact.
Many of the rooms are still furnished.
On the ground floor of Daheim, the kitchen wing is connected to the wood frame section of the house. Roomy wood and glass front cabinets were built all the way to the ceiling providing lots of storage space.
Charming smaller cabinets were built one narrow walls.
Here are two large farm sinks with beautiful views of the gardens.
So much of the interior was well cared for over the years.
Before heading home, I stopped in to visit the Orangerie, also in Millbrook, owned by my friend, Anthony Bellomo. If you’re in the area, please visit this charming garden shop and nursery filled with unique plants and items for the garden and home.
Inside the Orangerie, a wonderful collection of curated pieces.
Home decorating and gardening books, tableware, baskets, and of course, hand made, one-of-a-kind ceramic lamps by artist Christopher Spitzmiller.
In this area, beautiful ornamental garden urns, topiaries and other plants. The Orangerie, and Daheim – both very good things.
My long and winding pergola is full of striking orange-colored tiger lily blooms.
This pergola, located on one side of a carriage road near my Tenant House, goes through several transformations during the year. In winter, the garden sleeps - tan colored burlap is what one sees along its border. In late spring, a palette of bold purple and white alliums covers the beds, followed by the shades of lavender and blue from the flowering clematis vines that wrap around each of the granite posts. Now, hundreds of brightly spotted tiger lilies line the garden bed for all to see - and they are thriving.
Enjoy these photos.
Tiger lilies, Lilium lancifolium, bloom in mid to late summer, are easy to grow and come back year after year.
Native to China and Japan, these robust flowers add striking beauty to any border. I love how they look with their bright and showy orange colored blooms.
This is my pergola in late winter – the boxwood border is covered in protective burlap and the beds are covered in a new layer of mulch. Spring blooming bulbs are just beginning to poke through the soil.
By late May, this pergola garden is filled with lots of blue and purple flowers. This palette of colors is a big favorite at the farm – it grows more colorful and vibrant every spring.
The beds are filled with Camassia, alliums, Hyacinthoides or Spanish bluebells, and others.
In late June, the blues and purples give way to bold green lily stems.
And now the entire south side of the pergola is covered in bright orange.
Tiger lilies are covered with black or deep crimson spots, giving the appearance of the skin of a tiger. They have large, down-facing flowers, each with six recurved petals. Many flowers can be up to five inches in diameter.
The tiger lily’s petals bend back far during the flowering cycle, curling up against its own stem and exposing the stamens and pistol for visiting pollinators.
Lilies are well-known for having heavily pollinated stamens, which stain. Here, it is easy to see those pollen-filled anthers. When cutting, always remove the anthers to prevent a clothing disaster – just pinch them off with gloved fingers.
The blackish, round “seeds” that develop in the axils of the leaves along the main stem are called bulbils.
There are also a few white lilies in this bed – adding more interest to the floral display.
This lily is white and orange with bright orange stamens, which also stain.
And there are still more lilies that have yet to open.
Lilies can grow very tall – many are more than six-feet. Most lilies have strong wiry stems, but those with heavy flower heads often need support. Here’s Phurba wrapping the pergola section with jute twine.
Bamboo stakes are hammered into the soil every few feet and then jute twine is looped around the top to give support to the tall lily stems.
The twine is about three feet high supporting the middle of the lilies and just above the boxwood shrub border.
The boxwood shrubs I grew from cuttings. They’ve developed and grown into nicely sized specimens. Buxus is a genus of at least 70-species in the family Buxaceae. There are more than 300 boxwood shrubs planted on both sides of the pergola.
On the granite posts, there are a few lasting clematis flowers. I have grown many varieties of this wonderful plant. Most species are called clematis, but it has also been called traveller’s joy, virgin’s bower, leather flower, or vase vine.
In this garden, I also have pops of daylilies. The daylily is a low-maintenance perennial—easy to grow, virtually disease- and pest-free, and able to survive drought, uneven sunlight, and poor soil. Despite the name, daylilies are not “true lilies.” Leaves grow from a crown and the flowers form on leafless stems called “scapes,” which rise above the foliage.
On the back side of the pergola garden I planted lots of Russian Sage with its tall, airy, spike-like clusters of lavender-blue flowers above finely textured, aromatic foliage.
Across the carriage road, there are more orange tiger lilies blooming in my Stewartia Garden under the tall and stately bald cypress trees.
The entire pergola border and its surrounding gardens, trees, and other specimens provide a spectacular show every summer.
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