As you know I am a die hard bargain shopper, and that particularly goes for plants. The dead plant section at Lowes (where things cost $1.00 or less) is my favorite place in the world. I am also a big fan of the sale which Lowes, Home Depot et. al. have late in the Spring when they reduce their summer bulbs (dahlia, gladioli etc) to 50% off, usually at which point I start buying them with abandon. This year I happened to have to go to Wal-Mart (a place I hardly ever go), to buy a pond pump (and I only went to Wal-Mart because I was too lazy to drive half way across town to Lowes, a problem which will be solved when my own Lowes on my side of town will open next month). As I perused the pond pumps I noticed a big 50% off sign, right next to all the summer bulbs. So as you do I snatched up every bag of dahlia I could find and took them home (and I actually did buy a pond pump). When I got them home I had absolutely nowhere to put them of course, but as is usual for me, I had recently turned over and seeded the "accidental bed" (a bed so-called because whatever ends up in it is purely by accident). This weekend one of the dahlia bloomed, and she just stunned me. A deep, deep burgundy, so deep that in some lights she looks almost black, and after the good soaking rain we had on Saturday she just looked beautiful.



I just kept going back and looking at her, she is just so beautiful. I am so looking forward to the rest of the summer when she blooms like this.