Color story

Lavender & Purple dahlias

Cool lilacs through royal purple.

These palettes are our editorial groupings. The ADS classifies color separately with 15 formal classes; profiles note both where verified.

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Kees Nelis

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.

BallLimited supply
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Glenn Gitts, 1994

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.

Pompon PSells out fast
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Swan Island Dahlias, 2010

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.

Formal Decorative BBLimited supply
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Hybridizer unverified, 1929

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.

Formal DecorativeWidely available
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Hybridizer unverified

Parkland Rave

Lavender on a small incurved cactus, the spiky form curving inward for a sculptural, clasped look.

Incurved Cactus BBLimited supply
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Colin Walker, 2015

Kelsey Dwarf

A soft lavender on a tiny open-centered mignon single, one neat row of petals around an open eye.

Mignon Single MSLimited supply
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Hybridizer unverified, 2012

Fancy Pants

Lavender on an orchette, a delicate open form with rolled petals and a little inner collar.

OrchetteLimited supply
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Steve and Sandy Boley, 2025

Sandia Regal

A clear purple on a clean waterlily, the newest star from the Boley breeding program.

WaterlilyNearly impossible to find
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Kristine Albrecht

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.

Miniature Ball MLimited supply