Akita is definitely badly behaved, even more so than last year. In the torrential rain this weekend I did find that the flopping upside down flowers provide an exotic rain shelter for bumble bees. By contrast, even after 4 inches of rain last week the Chat Noir Dahlias looked pretty good – just a few spots on some of the petals.
Chat Noir has long strong stems and formed a big clump with plenty of flowers.
The vase also holds the remains of some silky unseasonal Shirley Poppies which lost all their petals in a beautiful heap within hours of being picked, and a white cactus dahlia which came in a mixed bag last year.
Over at Rambling in the Garden where Cathy hosts this weekly meme you will find people collecting flowers from their gardens around the world in all seasons.
Absent Gardener 
Oh I do like Chat Noir! beautiful colour and better still if if doesn’t flop. My Dahlias aren’t showing through the ground yet but it shouldn’t be long if they have survived our hard winter this year.
Chat Noir is anything but floppy. I’ll have to post a photo of the plant. I hope your dahlias come up. For me it seems that newly planted ones come up before those that have wintered over. I guess this is because they are less crowded, have more compost and fewer weeds so more sun.
What a great name for such a funky flower!
I have thought about planting Chat Noir and you may have convinced me. What a stunning flower and dramatic bouquet.
Thank you, it certainly has been a good one for me.
How good to be seeing your dahlias when mine are just biding their time in pots, waiting to sprout… Chat noir certainly sounds a good do-er… do I have space for any more dahlias…? Thanks for sharing
It is quite big I suppose, the clump is taking up roughly a square yard of space.
Love the rich color of your Chat Noir Dahlia. Scrumptious. /susie
Thank you 🙂
This post makes me want to grow more dahlias this coming summer. Yours are gorgeous and look great in this tall vase. Happy Monday.
Gorgeous! I ordered a slew of dahlia tubers this year – I hope mine do half as well as yours!
Oh it will be great to hear about them. There does seem to be a bit of variance in how well they do for me.
Such a lovely, deep, rich burgundy. Your dahlias are spectacular, Cath!
Thank you Eliza 🙂
OMG! Gorgeous flowers and photos Cath. Makes me long for summer and Dahlias!
Thank you Gillian, I’m just planting my daffodils and looking forward to those. 🙂
Chat noir is a beauty. I love them. My dahlias are no where to be seen yet but your shots remind me how I love them
I’m glad it’s not just my imagination. I’ve been trying to get a ‘black’ one and have had a few failures before this.
Love your Dahlias, they are a pipe dream for me so I especially enjoy yours.
They are from Mexico, so would be OK in your heat? Is it too humid for them where you are?
The lovely deep rich red goes beautifully with the pink and white – nice to be reminded of dahlias as we go into early spring here! 🙂
It’s the great thing about gardening – always something to look forward to.
Having recently lost our chat noir, I think this Dahlia would be a perfect thing to plant in her honor.
I’m sorry you lost her, this is a lovely flower to remember her though.