Siamese twin dahlia?!

Recently from the flower garden... Where 'siamese twin' blooms are concerned, I think I might be the first to post such an oddity in the dahlia department. This Cafe au Lait variety looked like another big blossom until I made a closer inspection. After separating the petals, it revealed 2 individual sepals conjoined at the stem. Bizarre, but pretty cool as I've only been growing dahlias for a few years.

Paul Robeson and Cherokee Purple tomatoes, nashi pears

The temperatures are gradually lowering as the fall season progresses, but as long as there's a bit of sun every day, the tomatoes should continue ripening for another couple of weeks. I'm satisfied with our harvests this year (way too many cucumbers though), even if the pears suffered stink bug bites. The affected fruit have an ugly, bumpy surface and by the time you cut out the blemished areas, there's decidely less of it to eat. Italy's ag sector sustained serious damage from the brown marmorated stink bug - Halyomorpha halys - and there's talk of introducing a predatory wasp. How effective the wasps will be is what everyone is wondering, even if the predators might eventually do more harm to our ecosystem.

Maybe cafe au lait dahlia?

I know it's been quiet on the garden blog but not for the lack of a vegetable patch this summer. As usual, the growing season was delayed by a month, and what went into the ground this year was pretty much the same as previous years. The cucumbers were the first to come through and we've had so much coming off 3 vines that it's ridiculous. Cukes in all manner of salads (cukes with cubed watermelon and crumbled feta cheese is our favorite), with crab or tuna in rolled sushi, pickled whole with spices, and simply left plain and dipped in a sesame-miso dressing for a healthy snack.

The big deal for 2019 though is my attempt at growing Cafe au Lait dahlias...again. Previous attempts turned out some other variety altogether, but this specimen appears to be the real thing and I'm in love! The first half dozen blooms had a pinkish blush to them but now I'm getting more with a pale peach hue. I have another Cafe au Lait growing in a pot that hasn't bloomed yet, so it'll be good to compare the two. I am definitely saving the tubers for next year!

The cherry tomatoes are trickling in but the large varieties have another 2-3 weeks until harvest. What amazes me is how well the herbs did. Lots and lots of basil, mainly genovese, but I have a lemon and thai basil too. I've already done a few batches of pesto to freeze. The red and green shiso did extremely well and are extremely low-maintenance. Both came up from last year's crop and all I needed to do was pick out the healthiest seedlings for transplanting.

Herbs potted up on the terrace; more basil and shisos in the back

It has been another hot summer yet with intermittent showers in the evenings, there hasn't been any problem of stressed out plants. This year I put down landscape fabric before transplanting and it has kept the weeds at bay and lessened the need for watering. The temps are forecasted to drop come September with definitely more rain, but in a week we'll be trying to keep cool in Delaware on a short visit to relatives. My son says it's 90°F - ACH! I cannot wait to check out their farmers markets and step foot in Targets and Safeway, but we hope to stuff ourselves on great seafood. Happy summer!