Color story
Lavender & Purple dahlias
Cool lilacs through royal purple.
12 varieties profiled
These palettes are our editorial groupings. The ADS classifies color separately with 15 formal classes; profiles note both where verified.
Genova
Soft lilac lavender with petals that look dipped in darker plum toward a deeper pink center. The two-tone effect is subtle up close and unmistakable across a field.
Koko Puff
Smoky mauve. Idlewild Blooms calls it a stunning dusty rose pompon that looks more lavender in some weather, and that indecision between rose and lavender is the entire appeal.
Diva
ADS color class purple. Vendors describe deep burgundy-plum petals with an iridescent purple sheen that shifts in the light, darker and moodier than the typical purple decorative.
Thomas Edison
Velvety deep purple. Old House Gardens calls it the truest deep purple of all dahlias, a color photos cannot quite capture and one modern breeders still envy.
Parkland Rave
Lavender on a small incurved cactus, the spiky form curving inward for a sculptural, clasped look.
Kelsey Dwarf
A soft lavender on a tiny open-centered mignon single, one neat row of petals around an open eye.
Fancy Pants
Lavender on an orchette, a delicate open form with rolled petals and a little inner collar.
Sandia Regal
A clear purple on a clean waterlily, the newest star from the Boley breeding program.
KA's Tiny E
Glowing fuchsia, the bright, saturated tone that defines Albrecht's Bright Series. The color is the point, vivid and clear where many small dahlias go muddy.
Vassio Meggos
Deep lilac purple that reads plum in flat light and closer to amethyst in sun. Growers reach for different words on the same flower: Swan Island calls it lavender pink, Floret pale plum, Idlewild amethyst, and Heirloom Soul deep lilac purple. The ADS files it as lavender, color chip LV10.
Cryfield Harmony
Deep magenta leaning purple, saturated rather than soft. The ADS files it under the purple color class, chip PR26, and Heirloom Soul calls it deep magenta, which is the same flower described from the pink side of the boundary.
Isabel
This one changes, and every source says so in different words. Idlewild sees lilac with flashes of tangerine orange and notes every bloom is different; Fivefork calls it a dusty lavender rose and mauve with bronzy undertones, not quite purple but not pink either; Summer Dreams describes chameleon lavender with deep dusty rose toward the center and says it can throw anything from mauve rose to salmon; Heirloom Soul reads it as deep pink purple. The ADS files it as lavender. Treat that as the center of a moving target rather than a promise.