Sierra Glow

Sierra Glow was introduced in 1995 and the ADS classifies it 1111. No hybridizer is recorded anywhere we looked, and the negative evidence is unusually clear: Golden Hour Gardens prints a hybridizer field on its listing and leaves it empty, which means a grower who publishes that data looked and had nothing. The Dahlia Legacy Project returns no match for the name. Giant informal decoratives in the coral and bronze range are the flowers that sell dahlia festivals, and thirty years on this one is still carried by society-affiliated sellers, which is a better endorsement than any catalog adjective.

Sierra Glow is a full dinnerplate at 8 to 10 inches, and Petal Creek gives the most useful instruction in one line: the plants are 5 to 6 feet tall and require extra staking to support the 10 inch blooms. Take that literally. A bloom this size holds water after rain and will snap a stem or lay a plant over if it is not supported early, so stake at planting rather than in August. Heirloom Soul reports blooms as large as 12 inches in their field. Golden Hour measures 4.5 feet, Sunset View and Petal Creek about 5, so expect a tall plant. Pinch at 12 inches and space generously, because a plant carrying flowers this size needs the root run. This is a garden statement and an event flower rather than a workhorse for weekly bunches.