Hybridizer under verification, 2010
AC Ben
A soft light blend on a giant semi-cactus, a spiky dinnerplate at the very top of the size scale.
More blush & cream dahlias- Hybridizer
- not yet verified
- Introduced
- 2010
- Form
- Semi-Cactus
- ADS size
- AA (Giant, over 10 inch blooms)
- Bloom
- 10 to 12 inches
- Height
- not yet verified
Why people hunt it
AC Ben won the Stanley Johnson Medal in 2017 and ranks twelfth on the Fab 50 for 2025 with 111 ribbons, a giant-class staple that nearly every serious exhibitor grows. A 2010 introduction is on record. Giant semi-cactus is one of the hardest classes to win, since the form has to stay crisp at enormous size, and AC Ben's long run of ribbons shows it delivers. The AC prefix marks a breeder we could not confirm by name, so that stays flagged, but the show record is solid.
Growing notes, including the hard parts
AC Ben is a giant semi-cactus in a soft light blend, a spiky flower at full dinnerplate scale and beyond. Growing a giant cactus well is a real project: heavy staking, disbudding to a single bloom, rich soil, and steady water, because any stress shows up as a smaller, looser flower. The reward is one of the most impressive blooms in the garden. Exhibitors treat it as a giant-class staple. AC Ben sits with Clearview Edie and Jonas in the big show-cactus group. We could not confirm the hybridizer behind the AC prefix.
Sold out? Closest alternatives
No substitute is exact, and we say so in each profile. These are the varieties growers reach for when AC Ben is gone.
Clearview Edie
A clean white on a large semi-cactus, ADS class A SC, the spiky form at near-dinnerplate scale.
Clearview Jonas
A soft light blend on a large semi-cactus, the spiky form in gentle pastel tones.
Sources and references
Some fields on this profile are not yet verified and are shown as such rather than guessed. See how we source.