Trebbiano Dahlia from Breck's

A few days ago my first Trebbiano dahlia from Breck's bloomed. I was so excited that it was indeed black as it was advertised to be (well, at least as "black" as a flower can be).  I think it's gorgeous and it goes just as I had planned with the urns flanking my garage.

 In early June I spent considerable time choosing plants to fill these two new urns.

 I am thrilled that my combination of dark plants  with an unexpected "punch" of late summer color is performing as I expected--at least in one of the urns.

I planted them exactly the same with purple fountain grass, Tropicannas, Trebbiano dahlias, purple heart, asparagus fern and a coleus.  You can see them freshly planted in late May and get my planting "recipe"  by clicking here.   Every two weeks or so, I switched their positions so they would get exactly the same amount of sun.

Here are both urns on Saturday, August 6, 2011:

 They both look pretty good, BUT urn #2 has no Trebbiano dahlia as this close up will prove.

Yes, another Breck's Dud--only one of the two dahlias I purchased came up.  50% success seems to be par for the course.

Here is Trebbiano's description in Breck's own words: "Blooms start out a deep pitch black. As they grow, pointed outer petals change colour to ruby red while centre remains black"

That seems to be true. The  outer petals are indeed changing to ruby red. How exciting!

I also love that my planting choices  go so nicely with the Ninebark shrubs I planted last month.

All in all, I love Trebbiano! I don't love that only one of the two I purchased came up. Now I have a very lopsided planting. 

Here is a bit of trivia for you: Trebbiano is the name of an Italian  wine grape. Juding from my Trebbiano's color, I would have to guess it's a red wine.

These urns are just beginning to show their stuff. The Tropicanna lilies will be blooming soon--big tall ORANGE flowers (that's the unexpected "punch of color" I mentioned in the beginning of this post) .  I noticed a bud on one of them today.

 I can't wait to show you the urns in their full glory.  I think the planting is quite successful, despite the Trebbiano failure in urn #2.

Stay tuned for the Tropicanna bloom update.

I am linking to Jean's Blooming Tuesday today. Please pop over there and see what everyone else has blooming. Jean's linky party is a very friendly one. Almost everybody visits each other's post and comments.  It's not like some of the others with hundreds of people joining, but nobody bothers to visit anyone.  If you have something you would like to share, I am sure Jean would love to have you link up.