2014, Day 221 - Beacon

There is definitely cause for celebration when the dahlias start to bloom and they're beginning to flower now.  I suspect we are still a couple weeks away from their peak but it is such a treat to have so many cultivated nearby.  These beautiful flowers are rather high maintenance as the tubers should be dug up in the late fall and stored cool but out of the frost.  I just don't have the patience to plant and dig up the same flowers year after year no matter how much I like them.

Canon 1D X, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f5.6, 1/320 sec @ 500 ISO