Appleblossom

Appleblossom was hybridized in Holland in 1986, and there the certainty thins. No reliable breeder credit survives in our sources; a Kordonowy attribution circulates online but is unreliable, so the credit stays an open question. The appeal is easy to state. Triple Wren describes the petals as small watercolor paintings, light yellow washing into pale pink, and the open collarette face gives bouquets an airy, gathered from the garden look that heavy doubles cannot fake. It travels under two spellings, Appleblossom and Apple Blossom, which complicates the hunt. Triple Wren has sold it out, while Swan Island carries it under the single word name, so it is findable with patience rather than luck. Buy it knowing what it is, a day flower for events, not a market week flower.

Appleblossom is a collarette growing 48 to 60 inches, taller than its delicate 4 to 5 inch blooms suggest, so stake it like the big plant it actually is. Triple Wren reports an excellent re-bloomer that stays strong to the end of the season on fairly strong stems. The honest flaw is the vase. Like most open centered dahlias it has a shorter vase life, and Triple Wren frames it as an event flower, cut for the day rather than the week. Open centers also feed pollinators, so expect bees working the rows alongside you. Pinch at 8 to 12 inches and deadhead to keep the rebloom coming. It suits event florists, pollinator gardeners, and growers who want movement and delicacy in bouquets, and it frustrates anyone who needs a flower to last through a market week.