Isabel Dahlia Tuber
Okay, the Cornel Family. Let's talk about it.
There are, to my knowledge, 5 dahlias that are all sports* of the original Cornel. All of them with the same great, practically weather-proof ball form, epic productivity, super long strong stems that don't require support (though it is recommended if you're in a windy spot), and nearly winter-proof tuber storage.
These are:
- Cornel (Red)
- Cornel Bronze (Bronze)
- Ivanetti (Wine red)
- Caitlin's Joy (Pink) (though really, way cooler than just pink!)
- Isabel (Lavender)
If you're a grower looking for beautiful, relatively easy, production-flowers that will yield an mind-blowing amount of salable blooms in the perfect size for bouquets without any of the fussiness of larger blooms, these are your go to. This is where I recommend all new growers start.
Or if you're a gardener who just wants something pretty and easy that will bloom their heads off for you all season in a great display of color, any of these are going to fit the bill, and be a great starting place for your dahlia collection.
Isabel specifically is rather similar to Caitlin's Joy, in the same way Cornel is similar to Ivanetti. One's warm and one's cool. Isabel is classed as lavender, and certainly she's got those cooler tones, but she also has this amazing and subtle bronze edging to her petals that give tremendous depth and a very unique ability to go with warm and cool palettes, which is so rare, and makes Isabel an incredibly versatile flower in the cutting garden. From a distance I think she reads more pink than lavender.
Many of my photos show Isabel and Caitlin's Joy together, and occasionally with more of the Cornel family, she's always the more purple one, or cooler-toned pink one.
*A sport is a spontaneous genetic mutation without much rhyme or reason. From what I have observed in my gardens over the years, sporting often has to do with coloring, while much of the rest of the traits of the dahlia remain the same.