Home And Family USA

Flowers have a romantic history with their honey sweet aromas, silky soft textures and cheerful appearance. The Dahlia flower is one of the the most enchanting and elegant of all flowers. The name itself conveys an image of mystique. One theory of the origin of the word “Dahlia” suggests a beginning in Eastern cultures. The “Dah” sound is remarkably similar to many Hindu Indian words. In the Hindu language, this part of the name signifies a certain godly essence, while the “lia” indicates an effeminate quality, an apt portrayal of the flowers’ gentle beauty. With these two combined, it’s likely that the word Dahlia means, roughly, “strong divine feminine”.

With over 1,800 varieties, the Dahlia flower is among the most easily recognized kinds in the world. So special and important was the Dahlia flower in the horticultural circles, that an international conference was held to determine what is, and what is not, a Dahlia flower.

In 1962, at the International Horticultural Congress in Brussels, a conference was held to determine what could be classified as a Dahlia flower. Color and shape were out of the question, as those descriptors were both open to interpretation. Instead, it was decided that the center disk must be double and not visible. The disk could either be curling inwards, outwards, or both.

What makes the Dahlia flower unique is the fact that it consists of two or more flowers within one. That may sound confusing, but let us describe this lovely piece of nature’s art. In the single layer Dahlias, the flowers spring forth from a central disk, with the tips either perfectly rounded, or sharply pointed. Some varieties have each individual petal divided into up to six sections.

The Anemone flowered Dahlia is a wonder of mother earth. While the central disk does indeed exist, it is not visible, due to the enormous number of petals embedded within. These are classified as a “Fancy Flower”, as they are indeed, quite elegant. One of the most attractive Dahlia flowers is known as the Ball Dahlia. The name does not do it justice. The flower is large and honey comb like. With eleven layers of petals, each layer piled on top of another, the overall design is a spiral shape, which tapers towards the top of the Dahlia flower.

So entrancing are these flowers that films have been named after them, and authors have written about them. Most recently, the big screen adaption of “The Black Dahlia Murders” was released. An indie film, called “The Black Dahlia” is currently in production. The plot centers around the enchanting beauty and fragility of the Dahlia flower, and was written by, and stars, the world renowned guitarist, Gidget Gein. This goes to show just how amazing this flower is, with an international conference held to study and define it, and with the admiration of a rock legend.

We recently installed trellises against the east and west sides of our home. We also put in an arbor over the walkway area to our garage. We did this so that we could enjoy some of the climbing plants that we had seen at our local nursery.

After the supports were installed we made a trip to the nursery to find which plants would do best in the areas we had chosen. The owner of the nursery had several trellises at the nursery with various climbing plants on them. She described the light and water conditions that each of the plants require, as well as how quickly they grow. There are so many plants to choose from so we were glad that the owner was able to spend time with us. We explained that we wanted climbing plants that would stay confined to the trellises and not climb the side of our home.

We decided on a flowering plant for the trellises. These flowering climbing plants will bloom from late June until late September. In the fall of the year you trim the vines to about 18 inches in height. This allows for a more controlled growth each year so that the plants will not take over the side of the house.

For the arbor we were looking at grape vines, however we decided that we did not want the work that goes with planting the fruited vines. We planted morning glories on the arbor in a variety of colors. These climbing plants offer the beautiful colors of the blossoms as well as green shiny leaves. The morning glories are annuals, so if we decide we do not like them we can go with a different variety of plants on the arbor next year.

The climbing plants have been in place for about two months and are already blooming and adding a wonderful splash of color to the side of our house. These are in areas that had seemed very plain and bland before. So far the plants have required no maintenance other than watering. We are so happy with the looks of our climbing plants that we are considering starting additional varieties along the privacy fence that we have in the back of our property.

For the fence area we will consider the variety of plants that spread more readily. The woman at the nursery had pointed out several wood vines that turn colors in the fall of the year. We thought that this would be a nice addition to the fence area. She did mention that with the more woody plants you have to have a strong support system because the wood vines are heavy. As with all yard projects it seems like if you start in one area you end up changing and expanding to others. Once we had done the initial work of placing the trellis and arbor then planting the rest is basically maintenance free.