If you’re coming to the farm for an event this summer, you’re in for so much dahlia beauty! Prepare yourself! 😉 We’ve curated 700+ named varieties to grow in our fields in 2023, and aside from the beauty overload, having lots of varieties is so helpful to us for comparing similar blooms side by side for height, and vigor, and color.

These two gorgeous hybrids are similar in their unique and breathtaking color palette, but but they have some obvious differences.

Wyn’s N.E.W. Pastel has the same glowy, honey-peach palette as Bloomquist Alan, but these two dahlias, both hybridized right here in Whatcom county where we live and farm, have very different forms. Wyn’s N.E.W. Pastel takes up slightly more “real estate” in the vase with its 7”+ blooms, and is an informal decorative form dahlia. Bloomquist Alan produces steady 5-1/2”-6” blooms, and has a formal decorative form. It is too large to be considered a ball dahlia, however we do use it in our grocery program because it has the same sturdiness and petal-protective shape that makes it ship well. Both dahlias are productive, and keep giving the nicest, strongest stems when harvested regularly. (Remember with dahlias, the more you cut, the more they bloom!)

Did you know these two beauties were so similar in color? Sometimes it’s hard to know until you can compare them in your own garden. What other differences/similarities do you see in these two? ????