Best day in my garden all year was last Tuesday

After a terrible June with aphids eating my roses, I went out to check my dahlia patch. Found 3 of them had bloomed bright orange and purple. The ones I started from seed back in March. Neighbor Mike came over and said they looked better than the ones at the botanical garden downtown. Anyone else have a plant surprise you after you gave up on it?

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west.casey1mo ago

Got to push back a little here. Those dahlias you grew from seed in March, they didn't just surprise you overnight. You put in the work back then, watering them, checking on them, probably moving them into better light. The aphids on your roses were bad luck, but your dahlias were always going to do their thing. The surprise is that you gave up on them, not that they bloomed. Plants don't read our moods, they just follow the sun and the soil you gave them. So neighbor Mike is right, but only because you put in the time months ago. That's not a surprise, that's a payoff.

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bennett.harper1mo ago

Is it weird that this actually makes me feel better about my own garden fails?

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nathan1001mo ago

That line about "plants don't read our moods" really stuck with me, @bennett.harper. It's comforting to remember that a garden doesn't hold a grudge or judge you for the weeks you let the weeds take over. So your "fails" might just be proof that you cared enough to start something, and the plants are always ready to forgive and grow again.

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