Flower Friday - Dahlia + Friday's Fab Five

'Purple Gem' Cactus Dahlia

This week's featured flowers are 'Purple Gem' Dahlias!  These big purple blooms grow from tubers and make excellent cut flowers.  This cactus dahlia blooms nicely from mid to late summer, and the tubers can be divided year after year.  We live in a fairly wet region of the country and our dahlias have issues with pests like slugs and snails at the beginning of each season, but as the plants mature they seem much less susceptible to such attacks.  This plant gets to be around three feet tall and the blooms are fairly heavy so it benefits from staking.  To learn more about about 'Purple Gem' Dahlias, check out Easy to Grow Bulbs' 'Purple Gem' Dahlia page, Holland Bulb farm's 'Purple Gem' cactus Dahlia page, or the 'Purple Gem' Dahlia page at Dave's Garden.

A few book & blogosphere notes:

1.  Manga Maniac Cafe is giving away ten copies of Inara Scott's debut novel, Delcroix Academy: The Candidates.  You can enter that giveaway here (ends 10/2).  You can read the first chapter of Delcroix Academy: The Candidates here & check out the book trailer at Inara Scott's website.

2.  Melissa Marr is giving away six autographed copies of Kiersten White's Paranormalcy and six autographed copies of Lisa Desrochers' Personal Demons on her Rath & Ruins message board.  You can enter that giveaway here (ends 10/2).

3.  The Undercover Book Lover is hosting an international "Hungry for HarperTeen" contest featuring several fabulous books that I can't wait to read, including Lauren Oliver's Delirium and Courtney Allison Moulton's Angelfire.  Check out all the great prize pack options & enter that contest here (ends 10/15).

This fun meme is hosted by Froggarita's Bookcase.  Every Friday Froggarita asks five questions so we can all get to know each other better.  The only rule is that you can't use the same answer twice within your five!   Ready to play?  Leave your answers in the comments or leave us a link to your own Friday's Fab Five post. 

What is your favorite: 

1. 50's song?

I love Nat King Cole (L-O-V-E, Smile, Mona Lisa, The Very Thought of You, etc.).

2. Country song?

I'm not much of a country music fan, but I've always liked Patsy Cline.  Crazy & Walkin' After Midnight are two of my favorites.

3. 80's Song?

There are so many fun 80's songs!  The Promise by When in Rome is among my favorites.

4.Pop Rock song?

I like Lene Marlin's Whatever it Takes and basically every Secondhand Serenade song.

5. Song done on Glee?

I love Glee and it seems impossible to choose just one favorite, but the Halo/Walking on Sunshine mashup always makes me smile.