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View fullsize Last harvest and blooms. Started cutting down the dahlias to prepare for digging next week. #dahlias #dahliaseason
View fullsize Hollyhill Finlandia in the late afternoon October sun. It glows in the sun and up close you can see a pink picotee edge to the florets. It’s a really nice one! #dahlias #dahliaseason #dahliahollyhillfinlandia
View fullsize We could have a frost any day now on the top of the hill where I live. I’m trying to get all the dahlias tagged while some are just blooming for the first time! Also working through the seedlings to decide cull vs. save. Also marking seed pods
View fullsize This is a sport of Hollyhill Color Magic that has been stable for two years. I love the color! #dahliahollyhillcolormagic #dahlias #dahliaseason
View fullsize Extracting honey from the Blue hive’s honey super. Bottling tomorrow. Not as much as last year, but happy to get any.
View fullsize End of season beekeeping chores. Still working on getting rid of varroa mites in the hive which can lead to the hive not making it through the winter. The Blue hive is the problem child. It went from 4 mites per 300, to 65 mites in September, to 16
View fullsize Hollyhill Moonsong is classified as a Giant, Semi-cactus dahlia. It’s beautiful, but aside from its looks, it produces multiple blooms of good size (10 inch plus) without a lot of fussing and babying. These 3 blooms came off the same plant in i
View fullsize Cutting some dahlias before the 3-day windstorm we had last week. Between the heat, pests, hail and now wind, it’s been a tough dahlia year. I’ve also pulled a dozen plants to put on the burn pile as they didn’t look healthy. #da
View fullsize A quick inspection of both the hives plus a second mite treatment. A month and a half ago, I tested for mites and found 4 mites in my sample. Not the worst but over the threshold requiring mite treatment. Varroa mite infestation can proliferate very
View fullsize I brought 3 blooms to exhibit in the RI Dahlia Society show after scouring the field to see if I had anything worthy. The 3 I brought had leaves, but they were a little rough from the hail. Nevertheless, they all got blue ribbons and two made it to t
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View fullsize Well, our annual dahlia show is this coming weekend and I don’t think I’ll have a thing to show. My micro climate is extremely hot for the area (high up in a hill, we don’t get the coastal breezes other local growers get 😔), and t
View fullsize Wedding celebration flowers in wine boxes. There were Hollyhill Black Beauty dahlias in here too (just didn’t show up in the best pictures). #weddingflowers
View fullsize Bloomquist York just opening up. It’s gonna be a beauty! #dahliabloomquistyork #dahlias #dahliaseason
View fullsize And here come the dahlias, slowly but surely! 1. Peaches N Cream 2. KA’s Coral Sea 3. Boom Boom White 4. Bloomquist York #dahlias #dahliaseason
View fullsize Wedding flowers for my daughter Annie’s and son-in-law Jerry’s wedding. Lots of scrounging up flowers since my dahlias were just starting to bloom! Floral Design: @tailwind.farm Flowers: @thefloralreserve @stone_circle_flowers @petalsfar
View fullsize Finally took some time to do a deep inspection of both hives. I couldn’t find the queen in the yellow hive, but I know she’s there since there are eggs! I gave them another brood box and rearranged some frames. Smaller hive, but looking g
View fullsize Even the bees don’t like this heat! When it’s this hot, some of the bees from the hive will hang outside on the landing board or ‘front porch’ and make a ‘beard’ on the hive that frequently hangs over the front and
View fullsize This wonky first bloom is from a struggling dahlia cutting that I hope will straighten out when the weather improves. It’s KA’s Mocha Jake (not that you can tell from this bloom!). They say patience is a virtue, but not when you have a we