Last December, I felt like one lucky lady, when my husband gave me a 6 week dahlia CSA share from a local flower farm, Five Fork Farms. Of course, my share didn’t start until dahlia season, so, in September, I felt lucky all over again, when I picked up my first bouquet of dahlias and brought them home.
Each week, I’ve received a bunch of beautiful flowers, and each week, I’ve indulged in a session of taking dahlia portraits. A few of these photos have already appeared on my instagram, so if we’re friends over there, they might look familiar.
Its been such a fun project to select, pose, shoot; a mediation in which I examine, learn, know each flower. Their idiosynchratic uniformity is captivating – they follow seemingly mathematical rules of form and shape, yet each one in different. 
I picked up my last share a few days ago, and I’ve been pampering and savoring these last dahlias of the season: changing the water, keeping them cold at night, trying to make sure they last. They’ll be gone soon, but what joy they have brought me! 
pink dahlias
Dahlia daydreams and a little bit of printmaking
If you’re addicted to looking at flower photography on instagram like I am, you’ll know it’s still dahlia season. (See #dahliaseason.) My own garden dahlias disappointed me this year. I picked up the plants at a local garden center without paying much attention to the variety and I ended up with these short, mottled white and magenta flowers.(above) They still look pretty enough, but I found the high contrast of bright pink and white together a bit jarring and I didn’t like the way they looked with other flowers.
In past years, I’ve grown softer pink and yellow dahlias, like these flowers from 2014 (above and below).
So, I’m already dreaming about what I’m going to plant next year. So far, I’m thinking about ‘café au lait’, ‘apple blossom’, or some type of pompon dahlias like ‘Eveline’, all pictued below. (Photos are not mine – they’re from wikimedia commons, details and links at the end of this post.) If you have any particular favorite dahlia varieties to recommend for growing next year, I’m all ears.
cafe au lait dahlia
apple blossom dahlia
pompon dahlia ‘eveline’
My daydreams also led me to make some dahlia-inspired white line wood cuts.
Clearly, pink dahlias have been on my mind. I wanted these prints to be softly colored but now, when I look at them in comparison to photos of real dahlias, they look positively washed out and I’m not sure what I want… Other than to grow more and different dahlias next summer.
Photo credits for dahlias I’ve never grown:
Cafe au lait dahlia: Mark Twyning (Marktee1) via wikimedia commons
Dahlia ‘apple blossom’ : Mark Twyning (Marktee1) via wikimedia commons
Dahlia “eveline’ : Mark Twyning (Marktee1) via wikimedia commons
