The Dahlia Report, and a Flashback

We are pretty much at the high point of the dahlias. After all the whining and complaining ("moaning," as the British would say) that I did earlier this spring about slugs eating them, I thought I'd report back to show you how well they turned out. Overall, I'm pretty happy.

(I can see my brother rolling his eyes: "Oh no! He's blogging about plants again.")

This is probably the best-looking of the bunch, with darker-colored flowers. It's one of the Bishop's Children variety, and I like them because the flowers are open and accessible to bees and other pollinators. We see hoverflies on them all the time.

That gigantic green plant on the left is a Nicotiana, which is sending up a flower stalk that should bloom in a few weeks.

Here are three more Bishop's Children, with a geranium in the middle. All of these dahlias are elevated off the ground, which has kept slugs and snails to a minimum. That middle dahlia doesn't have a single flower bud, and I have no idea why.

Here are three more, two Bishop's Children and a Gallery Valentin (top, on the milk crate). The two on the bottom have had more trouble with slugs, which is why the foliage looks thinner. I was bringing them inside every night for a while, just to get them out of the gate with enough growth to survive. I left them out last night and pulled two fat slugs off them this morning, so I suppose I may keep bringing them indoors, even though it's a pain.

They'd be fine if I could keep them off the ground, but I'm out of elevated surfaces!

The one on the left has a couple of flower buds, but I don't see any on the right-hand plant.

Finally, this is our orange dahlia -- I can't remember the name of the variety, if I ever knew it -- which was so demolished by slugs or snails that it's barely grown at all. I'm not sure we're going to get a flower from it this year, but hopefully it's at least big enough to keep the roots alive for a fresh start next spring.

So that's the dahlia report. Aren't you glad you know all this? I'm writing it as much for myself, to keep track of all the plants' performance, as for you, but hopefully it hasn't been agony to read.

The funny thing is, it's almost accidental that we have all these dahlias. I grew the Bishop's Children ones from seed, and I've just kept them going year after year by keeping them in pots and tucking them away in the shed every winter. (Dahlias are not frost-hardy.)

In other news, Dave and I celebrated our 14th anniversary last night at The Ledbury in Notting Hill. We were civil union-ed when we lived in New Jersey -- before gay marriage -- on July 21, 2010. (And then married on Dec. 22, 2015, after marriage became legal.) We always consider the July anniversary our real one, because we would have been married then had it been an option.

Here we are on that day, with our two ancient boxers, Ruby and Ernie. (Who belonged to Dave before he met me.)

And here we are in the oh-so-glamorous office of the mayor of East Brunswick, who performed the ceremony as we all sat at his conference table. I remember we laughed afterwards about how weird it was that we didn't even stand up.

Sometimes I am shocked by how time passes. We've lived in London 13 years now, and ten in the same flat. I think both of us feel like we've got a good thing going.

Anyway, at the Ledbury, I had the tasting menu with wine pairings, and I wore the jacket. Dave also had the tasing menu but owing to his Crohn's he cut back on the wine. Which I probably should have done as well, to be honest. I am a bit foggy this morning.

Dahlias look beautiful even from behind, don't they?