Survivors

There was quite a sharp frost the night before last, but our dahlias seem to have been in sufficiently protected parts of the garden to have survived. Who knows for how much longer?

We are inordinately pleased with these dahlias. We grew them from seed that was 'borrowed' from the local park last autumn, because we particularly liked the colour. Not only did we get flowers in the first year, but they were very similar to their parents: probably all the pollination in the park display was from the clump of a single variety. I put up a photograph of the first bloom on 28 August, so we've had them in flower for two calendar months now.

Just behind this lot of dahlias is the 'bean bush', several bean plants climbing up a cane 'wigwam'. These plants also survived Friday night's frost. Indeed, we picked a small crop of beans today, so the plants have been yielding supplies since 9 August. By my reckoning, that's nearly 12 weeks. Surprisingly, the beans we picked today were still tender and delicious when lightly cooked. But I fear that will be the end of the crop for this year.