Just one photo this week, because I had to nip out between rain showers to cut these and bring them inside this evening. The flower beds are ramping up, which is pretty exciting — I can see so many buds waiting for their turn already.
In the vase today: dahlia ‘Arabian Night’ (the dark red one), dahlia ‘Fascination’ (the bright pink one), dahlia ‘Sunlady’ (the yellow one), and dahlia ‘Impression Famoso’ (the purple and white collarette). Unnamed pink cosmos and peachy color-changing marguerites are providing backup.
Why was I out cutting flowers at 7PM instead of in the morning? Because we were out the door early to catch a ferry to the archipelago for a day of Finnish island-hopping, as you do. It was overcast, but we missed the worst of the rain. Fresh sea air and warm bilberry pie made for a lovely change of pace.
In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden — join us there!
9 responses to “In a Vase on Monday | 27th July 2026”
All considered, it sounds like you had a good day! The dahlias are lovely!
It really was. And the dahlias have been a surprise this season — my attempts at taking cuttings from them in spring went dismally but they’ve more than made up for it with the number of buds I’m seeing now.
Hope you had fun. Love the dahlias.
We did, thank you! It was one of those days where you come home dazed and windswept and completely happy about it.
Dahlias, and more Dahlias…I can never get enough. Someday, maybe I’ll have a sunny garden so I can grow more Dahlias. Your scene at the end is certainly beautiful and peaceful.
Dahlias can be such divas about where they’re placed, truly. I believe you’ll figure out a way, though — gardeners always do lol. And shady spots are great for so many things as well, especially with the sort of heat that’s been coming around for so many. I’ve got exactly one properly shady spot and I’ve crammed it so full there’s a waiting list.
You can never have too many dahlias – thanks for sharing yours. Which is your favourite, I wonder? Were the islands uninhabited, and do they have a lot of seabirds?
Ooh, hard question — I’m trying a few different dahlias this year but can’t say anything has really wowed me yet. My favorite out of all I’ve grown has so far been ‘Holland Festival’ back in 2023, a stunning orangey-red dinnerplate with white tips. Very extravagant lol. (https://littleblueandwhitehouse.com/2023/09/04/in-a-vase-on-monday-4th-september-2023/) My big dahlias should open soon, though, so we’ll see if any of them change my mind… Do you have any you’d recommend?
And a lot of the islands in the archipelago have summer homes which Finns go to when the weather warms up. A good portion of those are little more than simple cabins, so the experience is very much like camping. So perhaps inhabited is a generous term, but there are certainly lots of people out there, at least until the end of August. Definitely lots of wildlife as well, several of them protected, if I remember my natural history museum pamphlets correctly 😅 Mostly we just run into swan families, cranky geese, greedy gulls, and some terns trying to steal my son’s fishing supplies.
Wow. You have a great selection of dahlias. So colorful. Island hopping sounds great!