Betty Collette (2023) 3” ID warm toned, moderate to light pink on an open 4’ plant bloom throughout the season. Petals are often lightly tipped in gold when the flower opens and the whole thing fades to a softer pink as it ages. Even when we haven’t had much rain to speak of, this one keeps putting out blooms. Long stems and a great vase life on this little one make it a great cut flower.

Sometimes I let my friends name my dahlias and when we took buckets of dahlias to play with on a weekend visit to my friends Ricky and Dan’s Wildwood, Ga home, Ricky fell in love with this one and named it after his grandmother. During our stay in their beautifully renovated 1830’s farmhouse, we filled crystal bowls with pastel beauties, adorned antique tables laden with silver and dined on beef bourguignon by candlelight beneath portraits of ladies dressed in pink ball gowns. Betty Collette, the flower, was right at home.