Swan Island Dahlias, 2010
Nicholas
Bred by Swan Island in 2010, Nicholas is a late peach informal decorative dahlia, blooms 4 to 6 inches on plants 30 to 48 inches tall.
The ADS files it as orange, chip OR4, and Swan Island and Sunset View both record orange in their spec fields. Every description of the actual flower reaches for peach instead: Heirloom Soul calls it sunset peach tones, Sunset View peachy, Triple Wren warm. Filed here under peach and apricot because that is where a buyer would look for it, with the registered orange class noted.
More peach & apricot dahlias- Hybridizer
- Swan Island Dahlias
- Introduced
- 2010
- ADS size
- BB (Small, over 4 and up to 6 inch blooms)
- Bloom
- 4 to 6 inches
- Height
- 30 to 48 inches
- Bloom season
- late season
- Days to bloom
- ~120 days
Why people hunt it
Swan Island Dahlias bred and introduced Nicholas in 2010, and their listing marks it S.I.D. Created, their flag for their own originations. The ADS classifies it 3103. The variety sits in an odd spot in the naming: it is registered as an informal decorative and orange, but almost everyone who grows it describes a peachy waterlily. That is not carelessness so much as the gap between a registry that needs consistent bins and a flower that does not care about them. Idlewild's own product copy misspells it Nicolas, which is worth knowing when searching for it.
Growing notes, including the hard parts
Nicholas is a late season peach informal decorative that Heirloom Soul calls the most underrated dahlia in their field, on huge waterlily-like blooms and strong sturdy plants. Swan Island, who bred it, times it at 120 days, which makes it a properly late variety: in a short season it is the plant still producing when the early ones have finished, and in a very short season it may not get going at all. Plan for that before ordering. Blooms are recorded at 4 to 6 inches by the ADS class, a flat 6 by Swan Island and Triple Wren, and 6 to 8 by Heirloom Soul, so expect a large flower. Height splits oddly between 4 feet at Swan Island and Sunset View and 30 to 36 inches at Triple Wren. Swan Island rates it yes for exhibition and yes as an excellent cut flower, a combination not many varieties earn.
Sources and references
Some fields on this profile are not yet verified and are shown as such rather than guessed. See how we source.
Stay in the loop
From the Almanac
Updates from Dahlia Almanac, when there is something worth sharing.