Mother's Dahlia

Mother has been bragging about her dahlia for several days, and told us at church this morning that we'd best hurry to Rollingwood Drive to see it. My sister Joan did and this picture is the result.
My friend Mike Bock brought us a few dahlia roots two years ago or so and the resulting blooms were so wondrous that I have invested in two containers of dahlia roots since. Unfortunately this project has coincided with the residence in our neighborhood here on the river of a voracious family of woodchucks.

Those derned groundhogs have a hankering for nothing so much as fresh dahlia plants. They've kept our crop nibbled down to nubs.

Mother planted the few roots I gave her in a pot and despite the hungry herds of whitetails in Garden Lakes, she got this gorgeous bloom. Ain't it pretty? Thanks for the photo, Joan!