The garden has totally gotten away from me this year — I didn’t get my mulch down in May, made a partial effort in late June / early July, and now much of my yard is a wasteland of weeds, only somewhat camouflaged by all the blooming perennials (thank all the gods for them).
I don’t know what happened to my dahlias — no sign of most of them. But I did put in some white glads at the same time (late), and they’re actually doing splendid — except they need staking, or they basically just lay flat on the ground once the heavy blooms start opening up.
I FINALLY went around and staked them all today, bringing in the broken blooms for a vase in the house, and they look nice. It’s not quite what I had in mind — I was hoping they’d bloom in late July / August, so that along with the white David phlox, the nicotiana, and the later hydrangeas, I’d have a lovely cool white effect in the garden in the hottest part of the year. I definitely didn’t get the timings quite right this first time — I should’ve planted the nicotiana earlier too, I think.
Oh well! It’s all an experiment. You can’t get too fussed over it when things don’t go quite to plan, or you’d probably never garden again. 
