I hear these are completely hardy in all zones

Take darn near a year to germinate though! :-)

My new niece, Taylor Alyssa, born 2:26 am today. 7lb 5oz, 19" long.

A little dark, but still a cute shot.

Adorable! I hear that they need some protection for a while after sprouting. It's amazing what ya find in the cabbage patch!

Babies! Congratulations to the new family. What a sweet, innocent sprout. She's just beautiful. Here's my best 'baby girl' dahlia color just for her.

Congratulations! Taylor is just beautiful! I hope she lives close enough so you can spoil her as an aunt is supposed to. LOL Here's a little more light on the subject.

Thanks for the "bleach job" KatyMac. I used to have a program to do that, but apparently I lost it along the way somewhere. It's about a 2 hour drive to see her and in a couple years her parents want to move, probably further north which will make it that much longer. We have a VERY small family and this was the first birth for nearly 30 years. Since I was not able to have children, and my sister is the only other person in my generation in my family, I'm going to be as involved as I can!

Beautiful dahlia Poochella -- just the right color. :-)

My sister would have been happy to spend the last 9 months looking under cabbage leaves Herpst. LOL. Her labor was fairly short -- less than 12 hours from admission to birth, and only about 30 min of actual "delivery", but right now you couldn't convince her that it could have been a lot worse.

She must retain these horrific feeings to bring up in about 13 years. Young lady, I did not carry you for 9 months and suffer days of excrutiating labor to have you leaving this house looking like you were raised by wolves! Now march back in here and iron that blouse before you go anywhere public!

Herpst, iron? In 13 years? Oh Herpst, you are dating yourself. LOL How about "remove that green lipstick and wipe off the blue blush"?

KatyMac - spot on!
Herpst - you do not have any teenagers, do you??
So far the only thing I have had to relent to was ear piercing! That was an easy decision on my son's part after his girlfriend's unsuccessful attempt at piercing his lip. I only wish I had taken photos...

Congrats! What a cutie pie. :-)

Nope, don't have any - just remembering when I was one those many, MANY years ago.

Mz Weazelle, Beautiful baby! Enjoy every minute. She'll be a little one for a long time yet, and ya know that growing up stuff has its positive benefits as well. Although I have to badger my teenage son to wash his hair and clean his room, he mowed the whole yard today, watered the apple trees, did a load of laundry, and picked a quart of raspberries 9while devouring an equal amount of course).

I'm sure hoping that her mom will let her come down to visit her auntie while she's still young enough to be interested in something other than computers! I'd hate to live with out my modern conveniences and gadgets, but I think it's good to appreciate the natural world too. :-)

It's fun being an auntie! All the fun with none of the responsibility and expense! Spoil her rotten. She's a doll.

Gwen

Hardy?!

I don't think so. You have to overwinter them indoors. They need liquid fertilizer every few HOURS. They have to be cleaned up at least as often. And it takes a couple DECADES before you can leave them out to overwinter on their own. Even then, they require ongoing maintenance, and have been known to take up residence in your house again.

But they sure are cute. And precious.

Congratulations!

Awww, what a sweetheart! I agree with Gwen - spoil her rotten! Appreciate her even when her parents do not! Be the 'special' auntie who does fun stuff. Plant fairies and gnome doors in your garden just for her to find, set a fairy teaset made out of flower petals on a bark table before she comes over. Put a tiny door and window at the bottom of a tree and say nothing until she sees it ! By the time she is 4, she will be begging to come to your house. It works. Let the magic begin!

An animal lover from the very beginning!

Sweet! I'd be scared, very scared.

Adorable! I'd be falling hard!