Late summer in the perennial bed

We have been having some nice dry weather interspersed with rain showers so my garden is looking happy right now. I was able to go outside over the weekend to do some long overdue deadheading near the front steps; as a result my chrysanthemums are looking cheerful and one can see their second bloom better. The dogwood is turning a lovely red. And my only dahlia, out of four plants, that has bloomed this summer is the Teddy. (The one I planted in the back near the terrace didn't come back at all :( )  I cut these back to the third set of leaves, as is recommended to encourage them to be more bushy and have more blooms, but it seemed to stifle any flowers on the other two dahlias in the perennial bed. Maybe next year?

The Teddy has great color to tie in with the autumnal Victorian color scheme of the house.