Ryecroft Jan

Ryecroft Jan was introduced in 2001, and Gager Estate credits Phillip Godsmark of the United Kingdom, though that attribution rests on that single source; I Love Dahlias corroborates the year and says only that it came from a grower in the UK. I Love Dahlias also reports that it won 47 awards at dahlia society shows across North America in 2022 and earned a place on the Cream of the Crop list, a claim that again comes from one seller and is repeated here as theirs. The Ryecroft prefix belongs to a British line, and this is another variety where British and American classification traditions disagree: the ADS-style record files it formal decorative, while British listings and several growers call it a ball.

Ryecroft Jan is a small white grown for volume, and the grower testimony is emphatic: Sunset View calls it one of the most prolific varieties they have encountered, and Three Sprouts rates it highly productive. A tidy white miniature that produces heavily is close to the most useful thing a mixed cut flower grower can plant, because white goes into everything. Blooms run 2.5 to 4 inches. Height is the badly unresolved field, with credible reports from about 3.3 feet on British listings up to 6.5 feet at Three Sprouts; the American cluster sits around 4 to 5 feet, which is what is recorded here, but plan to stake and be ready for a taller plant. Pinch at 12 inches. Sources also split on whether it starts early or midseason.