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There seems to be several people who admire dahlia flower traits that are not recognized by the American Dahlia Society:
(1)Picotee flowers. This color pattern is the "Bees Knees" for many people. I have noticed that there is a short life of the picotee pattern after picking. I would give it about 24 hours in the vase before the red pigment bleeds into the background color. Any comments?
(2) Swirling "Birds Nest" cactus flowers. The ADS defines incurved cactus and does not have a specific class for the swirled types. Margaret and I love them to the point that we have been known to show "overripe" blooms just to show off the swirled pattern.
(3) "Barbies"(my own term for them). There are flowers that have little barbs on the florets, usually on laciniated flowers but not always. Horse Feathers was the first one I saw. Then there was Thistle and Pink Thistle. Then the Heeringas came up with a couple of them but the names escape me. Magic Moment has a few of the barbs.too.
Any more unrecognized categories? Someone mention flowers with notches rather than official laciniations.
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.
I will have to do a study of the picotees I am getting this year, I usually give the blooms to the ladies at work, and I don't know if it vanishes. They are indeed the bee's knees to me, BTW. :)
I wonder what factor "oomphs" the bird-nestieness of the bloom - temperature, nutrients, or some genetic variance? Fans of Snoho Storm may now want to avert their eyes, here is a very relaxed bloom I had:
Here is another rare pattern, Giraffe - not the usual variegation:
The "Giraffe" trait that is rarely seen are the horizontal bars of pigment on the back side of the florets. It has been transmitted to seedlings and Les Connell had a variety called Tahoma Giraffe. I believe that Roland Verrone has some with this trait too. Tahoma Giraffe was a fine flower and we grew it for several years before losing it(not a good tuber maker).
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.
Another with the barbs is AC Thornbird, a 2015 into from Accent. . Not a great photo of it. Color was a bit better and thorns more apparent then this pic shows. I quite liked it.
Verrone's Richard B has the giraffe trait a bit. I can't seem to get any decent tubers from it and wont be bringing it back for 2016. It can be nice though.
Verrone's RIchard B bloomed like crazy for me last year/...but they tended to pop open centered, or bruise badly on the way to market. I won't be growing it next year either. I loved the color, good healthy plants, but just too many I had to toss. That makes room to try something else instead.
When I think "ruffly", I think Informal Decorative. Like this photo of Bloomquist Sun Rays by Noni.
Bluetiful and OBO Katie are both IDs that look ruffled to me.
It's a trait I like, but I'm not coming up with an image in my mind for a ruffled cactus.
teddahlia wrote:
Any more unrecognized categories? Someone mention flowers with notches rather than official laciniations.
They do have a different look. Sandia Comanche is is a good example of ADS laciniated, as the splits are deep and the florets twisted. Cheyenne is in the same class, with splits that are less deep.
Compare to a couple of my seedlings from last year. The florets are mostly flat, with shallow splits. That is notched rather than laciniated by ADS standards.
Higher temperatures tend to make for deeper splits, so the classification may depend on the conditions at the time it was evaluated. Here is an extreme example: Piedmont Rebel. The first shot, by Clear Creek here on cubits, shows a bloom with barely split tips. I couldn't figure out why it was listed by the ADS as laciniated, until I found this photo from someone in Tennessee.
Those are interesting differences. I am guessing that the notched petals might hold up better at a warm summer market then the laciniated and rolled ones. It would be interesting to see....
A lot of breeders refer to certain of their varieties as "arrangers' flowers". Could we see some examples? What makes something an "arrangers' flower"? How do they differ from show flowers / garden flowers / cut flowers?
I think the notched ones can have a certain charm of their own, but since it is not a recognized characteristic, it is hard to search them out. There are some to be found just by looking through catalogs. Linda's Dahlias has a few, Kelsey's Wish, Lakeview Peach Fuzz and Melissa's Magic. The first two are listed as laciniated, the last as FD. Go figure.
Arrangers flowers...I suspect these are more for a sort term special event where looking good for a long time is not as important as with the person who takes a bouquet home to enjoy over a span of days. But the "Arrangers Flowers" seem to have some special "Oooh and Ahhhh" qualities that people really enjoy seeing..like the arrangements Margaret makes for the dahlia shows...Perhaps in an arrangers flower form and shape are more important then color....I don't know, these are just random thoughts that occurred to me. I am sure Ted will have more to say about this..
I remember Ted describing HH Fairy Queen as more of an arrangers flower , it has tough long wiry stems , a pleasing bloom position on the stem and for looking quite dainty it is surprisingly durable .
I remember snapping this photo just an hour or so after a freak wind and hail storm , it looks like she hid under an umbrella through the whole ordeal as most other blooms looked a bit unwieldy .
Arrangers flowers are those that have something special that makes them suitable for an arrangement. Examples:
The one flower design: The flower must be beautiful and colorful and have a shape and form that allow it to be the only flower in the design.
The exotic blooms: Spiderwoman, Wyns Eeekk!!, Shaggy Dog and and several others are just wonderful for designs.
Examples of blooms that are not arrangers flowers: Most ball dahlias, most formal decorative flowers, flowers that have ugly colors.
What are the differences between good cut flowers and arrangers flowers? Good cut flowers have to be prolific bloomers for economic reasons. Arrangers flowers can be scarce bloomers and difficult to grow as people will put up with their quirks to get the special flowers. Spiderwoman is an example as it is not very vigorous, has to be disbudded as the stems are too short and makes very few tubers. But one Spiderwoman flower is all you need.
We like to place a sign on our porch that says: We are in the garden. Really, we are always in the garden.
. Not a great photo of it. Color was a bit better and thorns more apparent then this pic shows. I quite liked it.
