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Dahlias pack plenty of easy-growing flower power

Dahlias are bold and beautiful flowers that are easy to grow in any sunny garden. They are also spectacular in summer flower arrangements. With just a few dahlias, you can enjoy picking your own fresh-cut flowers every day from July through September.

These spring-planted tubers make gorgeous additions to flower beds and even the vegetable garden. If space allows, the very best way to grow dahlias for bouquets is in a cutting garden. A backyard cutting garden doesn’t need to be large. Even a 3’ x 6’ raised bed will give you plenty of space for 6 to 8 full size dahlia plants. Planting dahlia tubers in rows lets you get maximum productivity with minimal maintenance.

When choosing dahlias for a small to medium size cutting garden, start by narrowing your choices. Select colors that you can imagine looking great together in a vase. This will make it easy to create lots of creative combinations on the fly.

Choose red, orange, and yellow flowers if you like energetic arrangements that mimic the colors of late summer and fall. Blossoms in cool colors and pastels, such pink, lavender and violet, will be softer and more soothing. Include purple and burgundy flowers to add drama and help unify warm and cool colors.

Floral designers know that combining flowers with different shapes and sizes makes arrangements more interesting. Dahlias offer many options and it’s one of the reasons they are such a popular cut flower.

Ball dahlias have tightly curled petals and dense, perfectly round, 3 to 4” flower heads. Varieties such as Sylvia and Jowey Mirella are perfect for adding repeating bursts of color. Decorative dahlias have the classic dahlia look, with 4 to 6” wide, open-faced blossoms and orderly layers of petals. American Dawn and Great Silence are two reliable and versatile, decorative dahlias.

The flowers of dinnerplate dahlias can measure 8 to 10” across and these enormous blossoms make it easy to make stunning summer bouquets. Popular varieties for cutting include Café au Lait, Penhill Dark Monarch and Otto’s Thrill. Add texture and movement to your arrangements with cactus dahlias. Varieties such as Yellow Star and Nuit d’Ete have tightly rolled petals that give the flowers a spiky appearance.

Single and peony-flowered dahlias are seldom seen at the florist or even in farmer’s market bouquets because they don’t travel well. But home gardeners can enjoy growing varieties such as scarlet-red Bishop of Llandaff or the melon and burnt orange flowers of HS Date. These plants tend to be compact and rarely need staking.

Don’t let the many options overwhelm you. Consider starting with an assortment such as the Flirty Fleurs Sorbetto Collection (longfield-gardens.com). It includes five varieties of pink and burgundy dahlias, specially selected by an experienced floral designer.

Most cutting garden flowers are picked before they are fully open. But dahlias should not be harvested until they are fully open and in their prime. To avoid crushing the stems, make your cuts with a sharp knife rather scissors.

If you want your dahlias to have nice, long stems, take a cue from cut flower farmers. When harvesting for market or removing spent flowers, they always remove the entire stem, cutting right back to a main stalk. Though this means sacrificing some buds in the short term, the next round of flowers will have noticeably longer stems.

When selecting plants for this year’s flower garden, be sure to include plenty of dahlias. These spring-planted, summer-blooming bulbs will take your homegrown flower arrangements to a whole new level.

Dahlias, with their variety of colors, make bright bouquets. (Phto courtesy of Longfield Gardens.com)

Melinda Myers (melindamyers.com), who wrote this article, is the author of books on gardening and the host of a DVD series, “How to Grow Anything.

srmedia by — August 26, 2020 in Lifestyles
Treat isolation as a time to get right with nutrition and weight

Bananas are among fruits that are a recommended natural source of fiber.

Not sure how to eat and stay healthy this quarantine season?

Candice Rosen, author of the book “Forget Dieting: It’s All About Data-Driven Fueling,”  encourages “food combining. As you combine foods, Rosen adds, “monitoring blood glucose is the key to weight gain versus weight loss, good health versus poor health.”

Here are some specifics from her:

Make Wednesdays and Fridays vegan days.

According to Rosen, avoid dairy. Try vegan yogurts, cheeses, and milks. Dairy is inflammatory and will deplete your bones of calcium. There are unsweetened milks of almond, hemp, cashew, etc., and all are available in grocery stores. A low blood glucose breakfast idea would be a sprouted grain English muffin, spread with a tofu or nut-based cream cheese, some sliced tomatoes, and topped with sea salt.

Eat fruits that are high in fiber.

Apples, bananas, oranges, berries  ̶  the list goes on. You will still want to avoid sugary fruit juices, as well as very sweet fruits like pineapples and mangos while trying to lose weight. Fruit is always eaten alone with two exceptions–when added to a vegan smoothie, and eaten with a nut or seed butter. These healthy fats reduce the chance of a blood glucose spike.

Nothing white.

To lower blood glucose, don’t eat or combine animal proteins with any white potatoes, bread, rice, or pasta. “Sorry,” she said.

Eat more sweet potatoes.

Think wholesome, nutritious, responsibly grown, pancreatic-friendly food that doesn’t raise your blood glucose, like sweet potatoes and yams, which are nutritious carbohydrates that are low in sugar levels and provide fiber. They’re best consumed baked or steamed, but can also be cooked in a variety of other ways. A great lunch or dinner option (and it is inexpensive) is a baked sweet potato, split down the middle with a large spoonful of black beans, a tablespoon of tomatillo salsa, and a side salad. To lower blood sugar, eat them with veggies and plant-based protein together—not meat.

srmedia by — August 26, 2020 in Food, People

Fall is quickly approaching, meaning more and more schools and parents must decide whether to resume in-person classes amid the continued COVID-19 public health emergency. Importantly, because these choices will have implications for students, school employees, families, and communities, they will require a careful balancing of factors.

Among them, that re-opening schools could further spread the virus in ways that put people with Medicare at greater risk. The underlying concern is that students who become infected at school could bring the virus home, possibly infecting others. This could be especially dangerous for the millions of adults over age 65 who, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), live in a household with school-age children.

The KFF data show that over three million older adults, around 6% of people over 65 in the United States, live with over four million school-age children. The prevalence is higher among older adults of color, with nearly one in five older adults who are Asian and Pacific Islander or Latino living with at least one school-age child. Hawaii (15%), California (11%), and Texas (9%) show the highest percentage of older adults sharing a home with school-age children.

While some evidence shows that younger children may be less likely to become infected with COVID-19 and less likely to become severely ill if infected, the same is not true of their older relations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies older adults as especially at risk from severe illness from COVID-19. People with certain disabilities and chronic conditions are also at elevated risk.

Preliminary studies from South Korea also show that compared to adults, children younger than 10 are less likely to spread the virus responsible for COVID-19, but young people between ages 10 and 19 are more likely to do so. This means that older adults in households with tweens and teens may be at extreme risk if their young family members attend school in person.

In addition, school administrators, teachers, and other employees may face risks as schools reopen. Previous work from KFF shows that nearly one in four teachers are in a higher risk category for severe COVID-19 illness, including being over age 65. As states, localities, schools, and families contemplate a return to in-person classrooms, we encourage decision-makers to ensure that the health and well-being of people with Medicare are seriously considered in all discussions. The safety of millions of older adults, people with disabilities, and people with chronic conditions must not be taken for granted.

 

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srmedia by — August 26, 2020 in News

Almost 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s.  In 30 years, that number is expected to rise to 14 million. But when one woman or man is diagnosed, that one becomes the most important person in the world for that family.

“Caring for a family member or friend who has Alzheimer’s is a daunting task,” said Aaron Van Valkenburg, manager of Pierce County Aging and Disability Resources.  “The Alzheimer‘s journey takes patience, flexibility and lots of support.  Focusing on the needs of the caregiver is just as important as focusing on the needs of the person with Alzheimer’s.  Giving good care means taking care, too.”

Aging and Disability Resources, a Pierce County government program, will host a new series of its “Oh My Gosh – Now What?” seminar beginning Sept. 14.  The six-part series of discussions is designed for individuals with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, families, caregivers and others focusing on the initial journey of memory loss.  The seminar will cover the warning signs and symptoms, managing behaviors, the disease progress, legal concerns, financial issues and local resources.  All sessions will be held online from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Advance registration is available at 253-798-4600 or 800-562-0332.

People can participate in any or all of the discussions, which are free.  The schedule:

  • Sept. 14 – “What is Dementia? What are the warning signs?”
  • Sept. 21 – “How does the disease progress? What should I expect?”
  • Sept. 28 – “How do I start the conversation? How do I cope with the shock?”
  • Oct. 5 – “What are the typical moods and behaviors? How do I manage them?”
  • Oct. 12 – “How do I pay for care? What are the legal things I should do?”
  • Oct. 19 – “Where can I turn for help? What are the resources I can rely on?”

The sessions will be led by a case manager with Aging and Disability Resources who specialize in help to individuals and families coping with memory loss.

Additional information about the series is available at 253-798-4600.

srmedia by — August 25, 2020 in Health & Fitness