Well, it has been a lovely summer here in Toronto. It’s been very hot and it’s hard to believe that we are one day away from September!
The summer is quite fabulous in the flower world, as our local growers have their flowers available that we patiently wait for all year-long.
One of our local favorites is the dahlia. Such a fabulous flower with its many shapes and intense colours. We are all huge fans of bold, clear vibrant tones and like the queen of the flowers (the rose), dahlias provide us with that vibrance that is unsurpassed.
The short period of time we get to spend with her ladyship makes us love and appreciate her even that much more.
They are happy ladylike looking flowers and nine out of 10 times, will make everyone around them ooh and aah at her simple perfection.
They mix well with other flowers, but I still do prefer them just on their own showing off like they like to do.
The two major shapes are “decorative” or “ball”, but there are so many varieties like the “dinner plate” or “platter dahlias”. Another stunning variety is the cactus dahlia which has a spiky flower petal. I have only seen that variety in pink and orange.
Even though we can get dahlias from about June on……..we tend to really work with them in August and September all the time praying for the frost to stay away until mid October, just so we can work with them a little while longer. The first frost completely finishes the season of the dahlia. Our major supplier grows these beauties outside, so he generally hopes to have them up until Thanksgiving, but then she must retire for a rest during the winter and spring and grace us with her presence again the following year.
I’ve been a floral designer for over 20 years now, and being perfectly honest with all of you, I truly can’t wait for dahlias to arrive if only because I know that virtually any arrangement I make with them will be spectacular!
She practically designs herself!
