Dinner Plate Dahlias

 I watched a YouTube video in which a man and woman sold three varieties of exotic dinner plate dahlias on a shopping channel. $20 or so, less postage. Their son had discovered these 'hard to obtain' plants from the Netherlands, that's Holland we were informed. Last year I bought some by mail order. These are spectacular plants and have flowered here from the third week in July onwards. There is a drawback. When the huge flowers get saturated in our English summer they topple over like pins hit by a bowling ball. So support is the answer, something I'll attend to next year. I've already bought pointed 4ft and 6ft wooden stakes for only fractionally more than than their bamboo cane equivalents. That's for next year. Meanwhile this I believe is 'Islander' and a stunner. My favourite. The plant is so large that until the frosts cut it down I simply can't discover my obviously too small label. I've got another fifteen on order for next year at a small cost. Perhaps I'll set up my own shopping channel. Inexpensive and glorious plants.