Wizard of Oz

Wizard of Oz is one of those varieties whose paperwork dissolved somewhere along the way; a 1942 origin circulates, but none of our lookups could confirm a year or a breeder. Its second life is thoroughly modern. FAM Flower Farm notes it is very popular on Instagram, where a perfect pink honeycomb sphere is algorithm catnip, and the research trail shows it sold out at multiple vendors in recent seasons. Dutch wholesale supply keeps it from true scarcity, but the prettiest pompon photos on the internet keep emptying individual shops anyway. Some flowers are simply built for the camera.

Wizard of Oz is a pompon with honeycombed blooms around 2 to 3 inches, 5 to 8 centimeters per My Dahlia Society, on plants near 90 centimeters, call it 32 to 36 inches. It often carries 2 to 3 flowers per stem, which makes for fast bunching at market even if purists disbud for singles. Like all pompons it rewards constant cutting and resents being left to blow open. The pale pink fades fastest in hard sun, so cut early in the day and keep buckets cool. Small World is its closest running mate at the same scale; choose Small World for white wedding work and Wizard of Oz when the brief says blush.