corky is here

I have been waiting for this day when Corky would appear, and I'm glad I was there when she showed up today. She looks ever so pretty - such a pretty yellow!

Her sisters should be arriving the rest of this week. Perhaps I will see them all on Independence Day?

dahlias are coming back

I was getting worried about the Arabian nights dahlias because they were showing signs of distress. The leaves were speckled and turning brown as if drying up. At first I thought it was caused by the organic bug sprays I was using. I have found a few aphids and infestation of spider mites on the dahlias but I was surprised that these little buggers could cause this much trouble.

Despite the dahlias being distressed, they were still producing new growth and flower buds albeit smaller flowers from what they started out blooming. But even the new growths were also showing the speckled leaves.

I then realized that the dahlias were getting too much water. In fact, the planters were sitting in water. The planters containing the dahlias have drainage holes but the water wasn't draining away because it was sitting in a tray of water. I dumped out the water and the dahlias began to show signs of improvement.

orion as seen on our balcony

Orion is a constellation of stars. Orion is also known as a figure in Greek mythology, a giant huntsman. But here on earth, and specially on our balcony, they are a constellation of beautiful flowers with large blooms.