I had chosen the dahlia for the bright vivid orange hue on the tag.
The plant next to it in my local nursery already showed the sunny promise, but I chose my plant for the abundance of buds it had.
A perfect bright punch, adding energy to the front yard and, I knew, would be blooming in time for our upcoming barbecues.
Except it didn’t.
My husband’s luau came and went without a single bid popping, the leaves fading even though I supplemented their water, seeing the mints beside it thrive.
The Fourth of July held no front yard fireworks.
Instead of a bouquet of juicy dahlias, I had small sprigs of mints in vases, bringing a fresh scent to the kitchen when I scrunched the leaves but not a replacements for the color I craved.
I didn’t plant any other cut flowers this year, a problem I already plan to fix through the autumn and next spring.
Finally, finally, six weeks after I expected to have a bright blossom to enjoy against our beaten wood fence, I saw a bloom.
Which just proves, you never quite know what you’ll get when you garden.
awww and it’s so pretty too! I planted these what were supposed to be tall green blades with white flowers on them. They bloomed while we were in Germany. Now they are all dead. lol But my mom says they were beautiful.