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August and September are the months for Dahlia in my garden.
Dahlia was one of my Mom's favorite plants. She was a teacher in an elementary school. She taught kids in grades one through four. She'd get a class of 25-30 students in 1st grade, teach them for 4 years, then get another group of 1st graders, etc. She was teaching them language, reading and math.
During her teaching career of more than 30 years, she worked in a tiny country school, a small town's boarding school and in a big town's school. I remember her saying that her most rewarding job was in the boarding school. The kids there were either orphans or from big families whose parents couldn't provide for them. Mom said that those kids were the most curious and hungry for learning. Whatever story she told them or whatever picture she showed them, they got excited and eager to learn more.
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The first of September has always been the first school day in Russia. It was assigned that way in 1935 and has never been changed. It is a tradition in Russia to bring flowers for the teachers on the first and last day of the school year. In May, it's mostly lilac. The gardeners in the countryside knew that they needed to guard their lilac bushes the night before school ended, since those kids who didn't have their own flowers were likely to "borrow" some aromatic branches from the neighbors. In September, dahlias, gladiolas and asters were in the bouquets . Mom used to come home with a huge bunch of flowers that we put in vases, jars and whatever else was able to hold stems.
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She always grew these flowers in our garden. The winters were cold with temperatures sometimes down to minus 22 degrees Farenheit. She needed to dig the tubers out and store them til the spring. Remembering this chore kept me from having dahlias in any of my own gardens, even in the Pacific Northwest with its mild climate where tubers can stay in the garden year around. The other reason was that in my mind Dahlia was my Mom's flower and I felt like .... like it was taken from me when she was gone. It was that way til my yoga instructor and her husband shared tens of Dahlia rizoms with me two years ago. I've been having beautiful blooms since then and those blooms bring sweet and sad memories to me, especially when the 1st of September is getting close.
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I can't look at Dahlia blooms without thinking of my Mother. How did she, being always busy, manage to have a garden? How did she find time to take care of the family after coming home late every afternoon with a handbag full of students' papers to read and correct. How did she find the time to spend with us when she needed to write a detailed plan of each lesson every day?
At the end of the school year, for some unknown reason, the school principal used to take the lesson plans from all the teachers and never return them, so they needed to create all their lesson plans from scratch every year.
How could she always be patient and cheerful with us, never raise her voice after coming home from her moonlighting job when we became a one-income family?
I'll never know the answer to these questions. Anyway, the 1st of September is coming. Will my boys take bouquets to their teachers this year like they have done before? None of the other students do, except them. Well, even if they won't, I'll give flowers to the teachers myself.
And these blooms are for you, Mom. Happy 1st of September to you, dear.
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Some facts about Dahlia:
Dahlia is named after Andreas Dahl (1751-89) Swedish botanist.
Andreas Dahl regarded it as a vegetable rather than a garden flower. Interest switched from the edible tubers to the blooms when the first varieties with large, double flowers were bred in Belgium in 1815.
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*Dahlia belongs to the family Asteraceae (aster family)
It is native to Mexico and Guatemala.
The first tubers arrived in Europe at the end of the 18th century, sent over to Madrid by the Spanish settlers in Mexico.
The modern dahlia were developed over the centuries, through hybridization.
The most common hybrids are the products of crossing Dahlia coccinea with Dahlia pinnata.
The tubers of the garden dahlia were one source of fructose, used by diabetics.
The favourites in early times were the Ball and Small Decorative Dahlias.
Now it is the Large Decorative and Cactus varieties which are the most popular.
Dahlia Plants range from dwarf bedders (twelve inches high) to giants taller than a man.
Dahlia flowers range in size from an inch to over 10 inches in diameter and 5 inches in depth.
Dahlia bulbs are a subterranean root system, comprising many distinct tubers, each a separate lump. These allow the dahlia plant to mature year after year without benefit of seed or spores.
To sprout the next season, each tuber must have one eye.
The dahlia is the official flower of the city of Seattle.
(Most of above facts are from The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008).
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A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants gives the following varieties of Dahlias, based on their sizes, flowering patterns and resemblance to other flowers :
* Decorative dahlias
* Cactus dahlias
* Fimbriated dahlias
* Ball, Miniature ball, Pompon dahlias
* Waterlily dahlias
* Anemone dahlias
* Collarette dahlias
* Orchid dahlias
* Peony dahlias
* Single and Mignon single dahlias
*Novelty dahlias
Wouldn't it be neat to have at least one of each in the garden?
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Copyright TatyanaS