Garden Variety Stunners
I grow a lot of dahlias for production purposes but even I keep a few varieties around simply because they make you go — Ohhhh look at that! So here are my top garden variety stunners! These will make all your visitors stop and stare!
Hollyhill Black Beauty- my favorite burgundy dahlia- is she as productive as others, no- but she’s worth it! The fluffy skirt her petals make as she opens is to die for!
Hapet Champagne- So. Many. Petals! And her color change is fun- starts off soft yellow with a pinky center in high heat and then goes to peachy perfection with pink highlights as the weather cools.
Hilltop Lost Treasure- This is a dahlia that you need to see in person. That’s what several people told me after our Dahlia Days Tour- Hilltop Lost Treasure totally changed their mind about semi-cactus dahlias. I love her twisty cactus like petals! She has a great color fade too- very vibrant in the field and then fades to more muted tones in the vase - it’s beautiful!
Tahoma Curve- It thrives in warm climate gardens. It really keeps up with the heat, produces blooms regularly and has beautiful coloring
3 New Varieties from our Test Garden
We grow out each variety we offer for at least 3 years before selling. And this year and next, I’ve got several that have made the grade. I’d like you to meet 3 new varieties we are offering as rooted cuttings this year. (Tubers in future years once we build up more stock)
Ferncliff Apricot- I’d been looking for a solid “Fall Color” peach- something that had an autumnal tone to it and not so spring looking when I found Ferncliff Apricot. Ferncliff dahlias are bred in Canada so sometimes I’m hesitant to try them because the climate is so different but this beauty impressed me from the start. Nice strong dark color stems, great form- holds it’s center even in heat. The peachy color is perfect- warm and inviting without being too orange.
Mikayla Miranda- This dahlia is no stranger, she’s been around for a long time. But it’s the first time I’ve ever grown her. She’s definitely one of those who looks better in person than in a picture. My employee picked her out actually- I probably wouldn’t have been inclined to try her. But I love her pillowy softness as she opens fully. Definitely one for design work with the added fluffiness but will also look great in a garden because she holds well on the plant. I love her size too- large but not in your face large. It’s nice to have some larger dahlias to choose from in our new varieties because we lost so many to deer pressure in the 2024 season.
Versa- I’m a sucker for a darker reverse petal dahlia. That’s why I loved Creme De Cassis but she doesn’t work well for production growing. But Versa might just fit the bill for a bit of fun! Visitors to the farm almost always commented on this one. I’m getting asked more and more for purples and lavenders these days so time to multiply these beauties.
All the White Dahlias- Pantone Color of the Year 2026: Cloud Dancer
Well love it or hate it- it’s here- the Pantone Color of the Year for 2026- “Cloud Dancer”. It’s a pretty fancy white color and since I grow a lot of white flowers- I figured why not show you some of my favorite white dahlias. Let’s go!
We’ll start with my two most faithful white dahlias- I can always rely on these two— Blizzard and Ryecroft Jan. If I’m looking for a non rounded shape then I go for Bridezilla and Karma Maarten Zwaan.
Bridezilla is especially pretty late in the season as it gets very creamy in color and very fluffy- almost peony like!
Roque Starburst
Roque Starburst has been a long time favorite when it comes to larger whites. Although not always the best tuber maker- I’ve had trouble keeping it some years which is why I rarely sell it.
Sterling Silver has become a new favorite this year- second year growing it and wow— talk about fluffy pillowy clouds of dahlias! It’s a bit later than my other whites but I think it’s worth it!
KA’s Snow Jo is a beautiful iridescent white. I can’t recommend this one for the South but if you don’t live down here- grow it! Prolific and gorgeous color hits on a white backdrop!
Beaucon White
Beaucon White is probably my favorite dahlia to recommend for wedding work if you want something along the decorative lines. It’s size is perfect - not so big that it steals the show but definitely still gets noticed.
Caramel Antique
From a color perspective- I love this dahlia but she makes the worst tubers that are impossible to store. Maybe grow it from cuttings each year. I finally had to give up on it even though I love it! Although I think I may have found a replacement ;)
So what’s your favorite white? I always love trying new white varieties because I can never have enough white dahlias!
2025 Dahlia Year In Review
2025 was a good year for dahlias. Was it a perfect one? Nope! But overall it was a good year.
Let’s break it down:
Win #1-The Horse Field- We broke in 3 new dahlia fields this year. We call this one the horse field because it used to be a horse field (original huh?) but at least everyone knows what I’m talking about. Originally I tilled it fall of 2024 and then we made our rows Spring of 2025 - raised them way up to get good drainage b/c the area is very flat. Lined our pathways with landscape fabric to deal with the weeds and then we planted. We used about 80% rooted cuttings- really only one variety (Sylvia) was primarily tubers because we lost our stock of that variety in the hurricane the previous year.
I think this field was probably our most productive and definitely the most uniform and consistent. That’s one of the great things about rooted cuttings— you get really uniform growth which is really helpful for keeping your pest control and fertilization consistent.
We dug a few rows of this field but most of it will stay for some early dahlias next year. But I’m happy to report that we had excellent tuber growth from those rooted cuttings. Nice high quality clumps just waiting to be divided this winter.
In this field we grew: Coseytown Gale, 20th Ave Gwen, Cafe Au Lait, Rock Run Ashley, KA Mocha Katie, Sylvia, Sweet Fabienne, Blizzard and Sweet Nathalie. We dug Coseytown Gale, KA Mocha Katie and Blizzard.
Loss #1: Broad Mite Infestation- We lost the majority of a row of Linda’s Baby plants to a serious broad mite infection. Thankfully we had 2 rows but it definitely hurt our production since that is such a good heat tolerant variety and one we rely pretty heavily on. The infection got so bad and the plants were really struggling so I decided to cut the plants back hard. These plants had been grown from tubers so I knew there was a possibility they could resprout but I also knew I could lose them all. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. But they were so poorly that it was really the only option- we had sprayed several times but couldn’t get it under control. We cut back and put all the foliage in a trash bag so as not to add the mites to our compost pile! I had maybe 10% of the cut back plants that survived.
What’s the lesson learned: We’ve been getting mites in around the same time for a couple of years now so we will begin spraying preventively for them instead of waiting to see the first signs. Left unchecked they quickly get out of control. But I definitely know the timing (early June) for my farm.
Win #2- The Hurricane tubers rebounded! We had some severe rot in one field after Hurricane Helene last fall. We lost 2 whole rows from that field but 2 of the rows were on 2nd year growth so I let them be over the winter, hoping that there were large tuber clumps underground. I really began to doubt when last Spring, only a few plants had sprouted(first photo below taken on May 20). But I gave it time— and turns out that’s what it needed. It took until mid June for the row to fully resprout. The previous year, I was harvesting blooms off this row in mid June. The middle phots below is from July 31. Third photo is September 24. All they needed was a little time!
Loss #2- Tuber rot on my new varieties- This one was frustrating but it could have been sooo much worse. I always plant all my new varieties in the same row. That way everything is in the same place when I’m ready to take notes/photos. I planted the tubers at the front of the row (left photo) and the rooted cuttings (right photo) in the back half. We lost about 80% of the tubers. Fortunately we had taken rooted cuttings of the majority of them. So we were able to evaluate and those cuttings made good tubers. More and more I’m seeing a high percentage of rot when I order in new tubers — it’s hard to acclimate new dahlias to my hot climate. So we are protecting our investments by making cutting backups!
Win #3- Dahlia Days Field Tour! I think this was my favorite part of the whole season. We were able to open our field for tours twice this Fall! I had so much fun and I think you all did too! You wanna talk about dahlia geek out fest??? Absolutely! Last weekend after our Sale opened, I had several of you tell me how much the tour influenced the varieties you chose to add to your gardens next Spring. How much you enjoyed getting to see the varieties in person, how you loved things you didn’t expect! We will definitely be doing it again next year!
There’s no such thing as a perfect dahlia season but this one came as close as any ever has! Yes, it had it’s struggles but we reached so many milestones that I’ve been reaching towards for many years!!
My Husband Flew Me to Paris to Buy Flowers For My Birthday
I had a birthday in October and my wonderful husband flew me all the way to Paris to buy me flowers from the oldest flower shop in Paris! And it was everything you would expect it to be— very hallmark movie experience!
Ok- so we didn’t fly to Paris just to buy flowers. We are farmers remember- we can’t afford to jet off to Paris just for flowers! But sometimes when you get the chance to write a really fantastical headline, you have to take it.
Here’s the real story. We have 11 wonderful nieces and nephews and over the past few years, we have been taking them on an international trip when they graduate high school. This year it was my nieces turn. She chose Paris (we also went to Iceland -24 hr stopover, London, and Scotland). So the running joke in our household was that my husband was flying me to Paris for my birthday since we were going in October.
For years, I’ve been following L’arrosoir on Instagram- I think I first heard about them on the Flower Podcast. The shop is owned by Adrienne Ryser, an American. I had to take advantage of the opportunity. On our first day in Paris, we struck out to visit the oldest flower shop in Paris.
As you approach, there are flowers spilling out on the sidewalk. It’s a display that will definitely stop you in your tracks. This display is created fresh each morning, the process is called La Vitrine.
As you enter the shop, you encounter the most sumptuous flower displays. So many textures and colors, all displayed beautifully!
I wondered for a few moments, just enjoying the beauty of it all. There was so much to choose from- lots of seasonal goodies. Rose hips, dahlias, hydrangeas, asters, cress, roses, scabiosa and amaranth. I even saw some aconitum- first time I’ve ever seen it in a floral shop. Makes a good cut flower but not commonly seen. It’s the tall blue flower seen through the window in the photo below.
After browsing for awhile, I began working with one of the florists to design a bouquet. We began chatting as flower people do. They enjoyed hearing about my flower farm and I enjoyed hearing about working in a florist in Paris. I chose a bouquet of warm fall colors which included some roses, lisianthus, crocosmia pods, eucalyptus, delphinium, pink clematis, rosehips, amaranth and astilbe. I actually declined the dahlias- I told her I had a few 1000 at home. I kinda wanted something different! After I chose my stems, the florist whipped it up into a beautiful bouquet! We enjoyed it in our air-bnb all week.
The shop is truly beautiful and everything you dream of in a Parisian flower shop. The light streaming through the windows is gorgeous! The smells are lovely and floral and the people are kind and welcoming.
If you ever get the chance, you absolutely must go! L’arrosoir- a flower lovers dream come true!
All photos by aforementioned wonderful husband, Joshua Smith.