Dahlias

If you will recall, back in winter I posted the five things I looking forward to in Chicago Spring. With only five official days left in Spring, Roommate and I payed a visit to the garden store in Andersonville to pick up an window box herb garden for him and some purdy flowers for myself. I chose Dahlias because I thought they'd get a lot of sun from my "patio" and they are so gosh-darn purdy! Besides which their little care tags said they'd be great for window boxes!

I came home to them the next day thrashing in the wind (didn't take the alley in to consideration) and dry as a bone. Five minutes of Google search proved to me that I was way out of my league. The soil needs to be kept damp but you can't over water them! One thorough watering a week and maybe little watering when it gets hot. Not only that but they're supposed to grow to be three or four feet tall! I crammed three of those suckers in to a planter box and now I'm starting to feel bad for them. I've stunted their growth!

I'm feeling pretty down on myself as a plant-mother, but I'll be even more upset if I kill $27 worth of flowers. I think the answer might be to prune them in to small window box-sized shrubs or move them to bigger pots. But until I make my final call about them...they sure are purdy.