ID Help Needed.

PegMc

I have what seems to me to be a bit of a curiosity. This bloom is on a plant that came up on its own. In an area that last year, I am pretty darned certain absolutely no plant showed up, especially not in that area. A few did, but they were further into the row while this plant is more towards the end of the row. I had a terrible growing season last year, and this last row hardly produced squat. Unfortunately, I also pulled the tags...

My 'last row' was designated for the 3 footers/3.5 footers max. It seems similar to HH Pinkie, but I do know where that was planted, and it wasn't in this row, lol. There are more buds that haven't opened yet, and the tallest of them is right around 3ft, so I'm pretty sure this wasn't an 'accident' (aka I didn't plant a 5-footer in my 3-footer row!)

Is it truly possible that a tuber laid dormant all that long, skipped out on producing a plant last year, and shows up early to the game the following year? Plant is quite healthy and it is easily pushing buds.

PegMc

Oh wait,,, HH Pixie is the taller of the two. I have it remembered in reverse. I do have HH Pinkie marked as a 'no show' plant for last year, and as a "3-4 footer".... So, I think I might just have it figured out, lol. So, if I do, then yes, it's apparently quite possible a 'no show' plant shows up on year two?!!!!

AndreaB

PegMc That definitely looks like Hollyhill Pinkie to me. Maybe @Teddahlia can confirm.

Teddahlia

Hollyhill Pinkie is my vote. We no longer grow it as it is laciniated and those split tip genes are not good for breeding unless you are breeding laciniated flowers. It used to grow 6 feet tall for us and in cloudy weather had very nice color. It is a seedling of an oldie that was Loves something, maybe Loves Flame.

PegMc

It's a lovely bloom! I'm a bit surprised that there hasn't been any comment about the tuber laying dormant for a solid year. Has this happened for anyone else? All of the trouble we go to to avoid rotting, and then there's this!

Teddahlia

Nick Gitt's Sr . had too many tubers to sell one year so he rented some space in a controlled atmosphere storage locker that they use for apples. They increase the co2 and keep it rather cold in there. The next year he planted the two year old tubers into his field and claimed that they grew better than ever and seemed to be more vigorous and grew with less disease. Lots of people have planted two year old tubers with success that were stored in less than ideal conditions. I know of two examples of three year old tubers that were "hidden" in the garage or under the crawlspace that grew but at only about a 25% success rate.

PegMc

Interesting! But isn't this a bit different? The tuber that did not produce a plant last year was left in the ground all that time. I easily assumed that it had rotted, pulled the tag and that was that. I have four other plants that showed up in the same manner. Until they bloom and I can figure out what they are, I won't know if they produced a plant & bloomed last year or not (aka, I dug the tubers but missed one type of thing).

Honnat

I have found a great purple ball for cutting. Problem is, I'm not sure what it is. I have it labeled as "JS Emma Lee " but that is classed as a red ball. Could just be classed wrong? The "Crazy 4" catalog pic makes it look pretty red as well.
The one pic on the JS site I found for Emma Lee actually does look a bit more like mine.

Btw- I also grow "JS Neon Purple" and that has better color but not as nice of growth habits. In fact, I'll be culling it.
I really like this one. More if a merlot in color but really nice long stems on a productive plant in a year that has been rare in my garden.

Honnat

Honnat and of course, this pic looks pretty red but I assure you it is not.

Flowernut

Honnat I have JS Emma Lee and to my eye it is purple in my garden.

SteveM

Honnat this pic looks pretty red but I assure you it is not.

That might also be the case with the other photos of JS Emma Lee on the web. Camera sensors and software don't do a great job of replicating purple. The only way I have found to make it look close on a monitor is to shoot in RAW format and then apply the color profile in Photoshop.

Also, the ADS colors do not always look like what most people would describe. Here is the color chip for dark red courtesy of Ted's web page:
https://hollyhilldahlias.aroundbeantown.com/files/DarkRedblur.jpg
To me, a couple of the dark reds look purple.

Ted's upload of the ADS color charts is very handy and interesting:
(check out the dark pink chart to see some oranges)
https://hollyhilldahlias.aroundbeantown.com/ADSColor/ADSColor.html

NCDahlia

Skipley Snoho Bill is my only guess? It's a MB

I can't really tell from your picture without seeing the center but that's my guess.

Honnat

NCDahlia l grow that one and it's way way smaller and more petal dense. This is a full size ball.

Juliarugula

So my mystery dahlia finally bloomed, and I’m really not sure what it is. I was thinking maybe Vassio Meggos, which I’ve grown but not in this spot - maybe I’d just dropped a tuber or something. But it doesn’t seem right to me. What do you think, is this just a poor form/off color vassio meggos? I can’t think of anything else I’ve grown that it might be…. (It’s the one I mentioned before with noticeably red stems, if that clue helps at all. You can see them in the foliage of the photos)

AndreaB

Juliarugula So my mystery dahlia finally bloomed

I don’t think it’s Vassio Meggos or Wyn’s Pink Pearl. Here’s WPP for reference.
Sorry I don’t have any other ideas for you!

Juliarugula

Or, maybe it could be Wyn’s Pink Pearl? Again, I didn’t grow that one in this location, but I could have had a tuber escape when I was digging last year. It seems a bit purple-y for that one, but the form makes more sense…

Bessie

AndreaB I couldn't help but do a Google lens search... Lovely Lana or Formby Monarch is what it looks most like to me.

Juliarugula

Andrea, your pink Pearl is much more like what I remember (although I only got a couple of blooms). I was thinking maybe color variation due to weather though?

So frustrating! I really don’t know what it is! The only thing I can think of is that I think maybe four years ago in my early dahlia days I planted some dahlias there from a random Costco bag and only one ever came up (not this one). So it would have had to be dormant for like 4 years? Surely not.

AndreaB

Juliarugula What size is it? And it bloomed recently, right?

AndreaB

Juliarugula Could it be Lavender Perfection or Arthur Hambley?

Juliarugula

Bessie I actually think it looks just like every photo I’ve seen of Lovely Lana. But I’ve never grown or ordered that one (same for Formby Monarch). This guy grew out of one of my aisles, so I’m assuming it’s from a previous year and not just an mis-id from this year’s plants.

I don’t really think it looks much like Formby Monarch…

It’s big. I haven’t groomed it at all, but maybe 7” diameter?

Oh, but it doesn’t look like Andrea’s though! (I was working from memory there…)

AndreaB

Definitely not Lovely Lana. My first bloom just opened a couple days ago.