Emory Paul

Emory Paul is a perennial entry on every list of the biggest dahlias, the variety people grow to win the largest-bloom class or just to startle the neighbors. Reports of foot-wide flowers are common, and Big Dahlias, the only US seller focused entirely on the giant classes, carries it. KA's Khaleesi is the other giant people chase, a clean white where Emory Paul is hot magenta, so the two cover opposite ends of the dinnerplate palette. Its origins are murky in the sources we checked, which is honest to flag: a famous flower with an unverified paper trail.

Emory Paul is grown for one thing: size. It is a giant AA informal decorative that can push past a foot across when disbudded and fed hard. That means serious support, a single bloom per stem, rich soil, and steady water, since a stressed giant simply makes smaller flowers. It is not a market workhorse. It is a show-and-spectacle plant for the gardener who wants the biggest bloom on the block. Big Dahlias, the giants specialist, sells out of it. We could not source a hybridizer or registration year, so those stay open.