Dahlias

Of all the flower photos I have snapped over the years, the above shot of the white dahlia is one of my very favorites! I was so happy to have isolated it against a dark background and caught the full magnificence of the flower as well as I did! I took the photo on a sunny day with a brick wall in shadow behind the flower, and the dark background was one of those rare, happy accidents.


screenshot from BING Maps
When my father was alive, he had a favorite barber to cut his hair. The barber owns a small shop in the small town nearby and ran that shop every day for decades. As he got older, however, he hired a couple of younger barbers to run the shop and opened a room in the basement of his house (with a separate outside entrance, see photo) where he took care of longtime, loyal customers who preferred his services to that of the other barbers.

One time, I went inside and sat while my father had his hair cut. Most of the time, however, I waited outside so the menfolk could talk to each other without any interference from me. The barber's wife had pretty flowers planted alongside this driveway: zinnias, marigolds, hostas, and others, so it was at this house that I took quite a few of my flower photos, including the white dahlia.

Dahlias have always been one of my favorite flowers because of the profusion of petals they have. I dearly love flowers of all colors, but I think the most striking color is the white as shown above! 😊

However...

The recent day I went to Maggie's Galley restaurant to eat with a family member, I was treated to quite a stunning sight. I saw some of the biggest dahlias I have ever seen in a gorgeous, sunny, buttery-yellow color! They were bigger than my hand! In fact, they were so large that I wasn't even sure they were dahlias but wondered if they might be something else.

We had already eaten and left the restaurant. However, I was so impressed with these flowers that I went back inside to ask about them. As I went back into the restaurant, another woman walked in ahead of me. She told the hostess that she was there to pickup a carryout order, so the hostess turned to me and I asked her about the flowers. She confirmed that they were, indeed, a variety of dahlia called "dinner plate dahlias" because of their enormous size. The woman customer that was waiting for carryout said she had some like them at her house! She told me the best place to get them is from Swan Island Dahlias. They have been in business for 93 years and their website states that they have 40 acres of dahlias at their location in the US state of Oregon and are open to the public!

August & September come stroll through almost 40 acres of beautiful dahlias at our farm in Canby, Oregon. The fields open August 1st each season and remain open through September (into October weather permitting). [source]

In the above photo, part of my hand is visible in the lower-left, as I had to hold the bloom to turn it towards the camera. I didn't have a ruler handy at the time, but would guess that the flowers were easily 8"–10" (20cm–25cm) across! I learned from the Swan Island Dahlias website that they even have cultivars that are larger than these! 😮 Looking through their website, I think I have identified the exact cultivar of this dahlia: Harvest Moonlight. Their information lists the plant's height at 4.5 feet (1.37 metres) which is about right for the plants I saw — they were really tall!

As a member of the botanical Asteraceae family, the Dahlia is related to other common plants, including sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum, zinnia, aster, fleabane, dandelion, chicory, artichokes, and even lettuce. The plant family of Asteraceae is so important to human existence that there is a separate field of science devoted to its study, called: Synantherology.

The name of the field refers to the fused anthers possessed by members of the family, and recalls an old French name, synantherées, for the family. [source]

Have you ever seen a dinner plate dahlias flower? Aren't they breathtaking?
...tagging @dswigle so she will see this post...

 😊

SOURCES
   1 Swan Island Dahlias
   2 Wikipedia: Asteraceae
   3 Wikipedia: Dahlia
   4 Wikipedia: Synantherology


to learn more about either of these projects, please visit: @heyhaveyamet or @theterminal


27-Aug-2020



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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 20 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
!BEER
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Those are some beautiful flowers! The shot of the white one is absolutely perfect and looks like it could be in some advertisement, lol!
The woman I bought my house from was so much into flowers that the entire front yard was covered in flowers and 75% of the backyard was flower beds. The lot is only 970 sq ft. So it literally only took 15 minutes to mow the grass. But it was beautiful and a lot of upkeep.
I ended up ripping most of the beds out except for one in the front yard. Its still beautiful!

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This post has received a 100.00% upvote from @fambalam! Join thealliance community to get whitelisted for delegation to this community service.

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Lovely Dalia shots. I always felt that dalias had an almost fairy tale like quality to them. Big bold whimsical and beautiful. And hardy growers.

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Roses have always been my personal favourite, and I love to photograph them when I get the chance.

That first picture with the clear black background is superb. There are no distractions from the flower at all. Very nice!

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What a beauty of flowers @thekittygirl, here are red dahlias, they are beautiful and those are huge, much bigger than the ones here.

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I sometimes get my flower fix at a nearby cemetery if I didn't have anything else better to do other than doing the odd video shot. April, May and June especially with the various trees blooming in Stages.
Thanks for the beautiful shots.

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I love how you photographed the first dahlia! It is pure in detail and nonexistent in distractions. My mom always had them and one of her favorites, they certainly have come a long way, yes?

I have seen the giant dahlia's when I lived in Texas, one of the nurseries there carried the most exotic things they could find. I also bought dinner plate hibiscus (which are really rose mallow, but that is their nickname) there before they became popular.

Thank you for the wonderful story, and for the awesome information! You are so very thorough!

Upped and Reposted

!tip

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I am glad you mentioned the Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), as there are some of those, here! I'd always heard them referred to as "Althea" or "Rose of Sharon" but they look different than the other "Rose of Sharon" bushes we have! Now I know! Thank you! 😁

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You are right and I have heard them call them the same. Although it reminds me a little bit of hey hibiscus, if you really know hibiscus it's evident they are not the same. The flowers May remind you of it but the leaves are truly different. Pull them up on the internet and you'll see what I mean. Thanks so much for the awesome article.

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The Dahlias are stunning. A delightful and informative post.
Thank you for sharing.
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Wow! Those things are big and beautiful, love the hue of yellow.

!BEER

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I'd say, "can't believe I missed this post!"... but you know me lol 😆

This is a beautiful photographic journey, with a heartfelt #thoughtfuldailypost story of your father.


We had been sticking with Dahlias as well, because we loved the design, as well as beauty they bring. We got upset when our two newest additions, from our local Amish place, didn't produce any blooms... just started growing like a tree!


20200826_164213.jpg
Taken with Samsung S9 | Edited with Snapseed App


This one above, is as big as my hand also! I tell you... being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis has sure taught me many things... one of them is love for flowers 💐

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Your photography is awesome and beautiful yellow flowers!

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