Swan Island Dahlia Fest.....

Swan's Sunset....lovely!

Swan's Sunset from another angle...

Tahoma Moonshot....my favorite this year and the muse for next summer's dahlia garden.

Safari is a 2011 introduction...

Patricia Ann's Sunset......so incredibly vibrant...I HAD to get it...

Mango Madness....a little to pink for me but truly the largest dahlia I saw yesterday...fully 12" across.... the size of Frenchy's head.

Hot Tamale......

Groovy is another 2001 introduction.....

Overview of the inside display area........CRAZY amounts of flowers...almost overwhelming.

The top dahlia is Pooh - which I got - actually I had it before. I got it this year to remember our dog Chuck that died two years ago. We called him Pooh.

The dahlia under Pooh is Caliente.

more Caliente....

The Bishop of York. I got this one to work with Tahoma Moonshot...this one has totally black stems...and the yellow has brown undertones...stunning!

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Yesterday, Frenchy and I went to the Swan Island Dahlia Fest in Canby, OR. It is a lovely festival that happens The last weekend in August and Labor day Weekend every year and it is an unbelievable treat for the eyes.

If I had to pick one group of flowers that were my favorite, it would definitely be dahlias. The variety, the colors...can't be beat. While all of the flowers are lovely, I am not at all fond of the pink ones. I detest pink. I tend to plant a tight color palette and the last few years have been only yellow, red and orange so no matter what is blooming, a bouquet will always look awesome.

As we are in the process of replanting our garden, I got rid of the old and bought black and yellow. The black is really a dark red, but it really does read as black. I found one dahlia that set the tone - Tahoma Moonshot...and then planned everything else around that one.

The dahlias will ship to me in April - depending on where you live depends on when they ship them to you - since we really cant plant them now.

At the festival there is an indoor display where you can see all the varieties offered. Unfortunately, they use fluorescent lighting and it totally skews the actual color. The displays are beautiful, but it is kind of dahlia overload. Luckily, they also have the fields planted within an inch of their life and you can see the actual plant in natural daylight.

As I took all these photos with my iphone, I apologize for the poor quality. Also, not all the pictures I took turned out so I cant even show you all the varieties I got! GRRRR!!!!

Anyhoo.......here's the photos! Have a great Labor Day!!!