JessieC I grow Mystique and didn't have that experience last season and it's not blooming for me yet this year.
Pic from last year. The bloom shape isn't great but the dark stems and the way the petals fade in that ombre effect are pretty. 
2023 - Dahlia Blooms
Sometimes the first blooms of the season are a bit wonky. I always give a dahlia at least 3 blooms before i decide if its not fit to keep / bad genetics. Also depends where you are growing them for people in very humid areas they can take till August to start getting "normal" blooms. For me in 7B I will get green centers till August then they normalize out
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NCDahlia MissyWeitzel
Thanks to you both for that! Mystique is new to me, and I selected it because a couple of growers in my climate (7A/B Virginia/NC) have grown it with success. Everything has a green center right now, I’d say. Between the heat and the rain, I haven’t had a good chance to spray in a few weeks, so some of them look a little buggy. We had an enormous downpour last night.
To keep things on-topic, here are some blooms that have been doing well:
Robin Hood (pic 2) is particularly lovely. I’m not sure why I picked only one tuber of it and a pair of Snoho Doris, which is similar. RH has nicer color, at least at this point of the season. @NCDahlia you make a good point about the awkward phase early in the season. We are only halfway through July, and I’ve still got plenty of varieties that haven’t bloomed yet.
The other varieties shown are PnC, Rose Toscano, RRA, and the last one is Arabian Night, which bloomed at a staggering 65 days from planting in a grow bag!
Mission Jazzy, Clearview Cinnabar, Lakeview Premier
I’m a little disappointed so far in Clearview Cinnabar. The blooms seem very soft, like they won’t last long. We’ll see how they are for the rest of the season…
Mission Jazzy seems like there will be lots of fun variety in the blooms. It was one I almost didn’t buy and I’m very glad I did.
Lakeview Premier was one of my top ‘wanted’ dahlias this year and it’s lovely.
Juliarugula I Think I got CLearview Cinnabar...sure hope so after seeing yours!
JessieC I grow Cecil and Snoho Doris which are also super hard to tell apart early in the season if just looking at the flowers. Plants themselves are quite different. I keep both because they both have different good qualities. Snoho Doris has nicer stems and is a nicer plant but it changes color a lot later in the season. Some of those late blooms are kinda blotchy looking, which isn't a favorite. It's in the ADS though and can win at shows. Cecil is not in the ADS, but it blooms earlier and gives more total stems in a season and the color stays a lot more consistent.
Pic is Cecil.
JessieC Has anyone ever experienced this? My much anticipated Mystique just started to bloom and the petals just seem to fall off. None of the others are doing that. Any ideas?
The cause of"shattering" or "premature petal drop" on dahlias doesn't seem to be well understood (from the literature I have read). There are varieties that seem to always shatter, varieties that shatter under some conditions, and varieties that never drop their back florets. It sounds like Mystique must belong to the group that shatters under certain conditions. I have a few varieties that shatter under certain conditions but I have never been able to pin down exactly what those conditions are. I once thought it might be high day temps,or high night temps, or high humidity, or low humidity, or dry plants, or mite infestation, or fungicide sprays, or etc. etc. There might be more than one cause. If you figure it out, let me know!
Clearview Neive is blooming today - what is causing the rows of green petals between each row of regular petals? They’re emerging between each row through the whole bloom. Also, my Vesuvius is blooming.
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New ones today - Tahoma Vivian, which I loooove!, 20th Ave. Memory, and River’s Saffron, which I think will be nice if it grows out of it’s hard centers…
Juliarugula I like the color of River’s Saffron.
My River's dahlias are just starting out too..so much fun to see them open!
Jennie looking pretty today
Jennie is named after the late Phil Traff's mother. I met her a couple of times at shows back when and she could have won any "sweet , nice mother" contest. It won best in show at the largest dahlia show ever in America, in the early 90s and that was in Vancouver, BC. The flower that won was much, much darker on the tips and edges than in your picture.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/68423546@N08/48527768662/in/photolist-dPumR-2nv8HLQ-2k48ic4-2oEzKdA-2jWSkoK-2jhsKnt-2jVYn2j-2mDsNoi-2k7qDto-2mSTM1t-2gWC2BQ-W99ez3-MBqzAX-cNqTZs-dhVkho-YQ83F7-dX8rJ5-ddjr1m-hCk7BP-2UsT1x-56aePL-hCiwJH-hCiyjM-2gWeuWA-8o9TPv-6guxAc-dg6sQ-omvqvA-2mkXGaX-aQWp4a-vv3eiM
Better picture as far as color but still not as intense as the one that won.
I’m looking forward to Jennie this year too! Mine seems to still have a while though…
Juliarugula She’s new to me this year so I’ve been extra excited to see this bloom.
