White Perfection Dahlia Tuber
Okay, aside from the name leading to a lot of jokes about gated communities in the suburbs, this is a pretty great large-flowered white dahlia. Measuring about ten inches, I think the best part of this flower is their rock hard, slender, long stems! So often big flowers have weak stems that crack and bend, or huge, demanding stems that no one can work with, so this one is pretty awesome. They're also quite generous with the blooms for being so large (large blooms tend to make less flowers) which is not what I expected. The flower itself is nice enough to do the job, I don't find whites that interesting in general, there are a few gems out there, of course, but mostly we just gotta deal with them. (The wedding industry and all.)
And so, I'm always on the lookout for a good white that won't let me down, as no matter how many beautiful colors there are out there, white is still the beauty standard... in the wedding industry.
But I think this is a good one. These flowers are big and fluffy, but just don't seem as tender as some, with very little petal creasing when handled, which is pretty great, as whites can be so fragile--they typically show every bump and bruise!
They also just aren't needy, which is refreshing. They do well in poor soil, they don't require as much hand-holding and support just to get through a windy day, and they can take a little heat and dryness without collapsing into a heap, and needing others to pick them up off the pathway. And when we're dealing with a rough season of climate change and systemic grasshopper pressures, even though they didn't seem phased by it at all, which was shocking, they didn't gaslight us by trying to say it wasn't happening all around them, nor did they ask for the manager--not once!
This big white beauty seems to have done some of the work and has gotten enough strength of character to be a good member of the community, you know? Working toward all of us doing better by setting the bar a little higher than the bare minimum of petal-deep prettiness. A great ally in the cutting garden.