Making way for Dahlias

A few days ago we dug a trench shaped in-ground bed and planted flower bulbs. Aside from some irises that I planted years ago, these are some of the first bulbs I’ve ever planted. The practical part of me has always felt like I should always devote my limited growing spaces to food and “useful” herbs. The artist in me has always loved the colors and shapes of spring and summer flowers.
Perhaps it was an extra need for color coming up on the anniversary of the pandemic, or mothering a toddler which has opened my eyes to the value of so many things that might seem “frivolous” to serious adults. Or the fact that practically speaking, we feed our family with boxes of organic fruits and vegetables from local farms as part of a CSA program, and we don’t really need to grow all of our own food in order to help support a resilient local agroecoony. Whatever the reasons, this year, for the first time in my life, I took my sensibility for beauty more seriously and ordered several varieties of dahlia, ranunculus, and anemones from the Eden Brothers catalog.
We dug a little flower bed along a white wall that radiates heat in the summer, and planted the bulbs just before a rare rain storm.