Fife is SO dry, and even here we’re going to hit mid-high 20 degC in the next 4 days. It seems that the dry spell has brought on the dahlias, so THIS is the week for my first dahlia special #SixonSaturday of the season. I bought a couple of mixed collections, and have some old favourites, from tubers kept from previous years, and even from some plants that have been grown from seed. The absolute classic is a bright red, full-on perfect dahlia.

Some of the new plants have flowers that are gorgeously hard to describe, like this one, a sort of peach-to-red, with a dark centre that will end up with little yellow flecks (I think).

A small plant last year, now I have a 30cm high, 20cm wide robust plants with a very simply single-colour pink flower, the bees love this one.

Back to a newby, I was going to call this one peach-red. The complexity is stunning, starting from the bi-coloured outer petals, to the inner flame-like small petals, and captivating wine-yellow centre. I think it’s my new favourite.

Next up, another simple beauty, pink with a hint of yellow near the centre. Could be ‘Bishop’s Children’, she’s not quite a perfect specimen, but illustrates a hoverfly getting drunk on her nectar.

Last, another classic full, yet simple dahlia, in a pale orange-yellow. I got one plant last year, it flowered for many many weeks, it’s much bigger this year, and has just started to flower for me.

That’s my #SixonSaturday Have a good weekend, I’m off to give my MANY pots a good long drink and a feed, as they will need to weather the incoming heat next week. Stay safe, take care out there, and don’t forget to follow the crowd on twitter and via the web from links to the originator of #SixonSaturday, the Propagator himself.