Bessie commented that she obtained a new dahlia bred by Wayne Holland of Canada. Wayne in a previous life was a professional plant breeder and for many years bred dahlias in semi-retirement. He moved from the area near Ferncliff, near Vancouver BC. to "Okanogan" country to the East. He was rumored to be breeding grapes.
Wayne hand crosses his dahlias and was one of the first to explain how to do it on his "website" (never a fully functional site but a collection of articles and pictures). We followed his instructions carefully and still do pollinating the same way. Wayne was also interested in the genetics of color in dahlias and explained how it works in his articles. His explanations were "old school" meaning they were not based on the chemical basis of color but rather on how to breed for color.
If you use one of his flowers for breeding, you know it has some good genes.
