Special Dahlia Vocabulary

Close-up of a vibrant pink and white dahlia flower with yellow center, surrounded by green leaves in a garden.

Popped or Blown Center

Popped or blown center means the pollen shows on an overly mature fully double bloom. The petals will soon begin to fall off and the bloom is past its peak. Blooms with popped or blown centers should not be entered in a dahlia competition.

Bright pink flower with pointed petals surrounded by green leaves.

Staghorn Petal

Staghorn petals are when an incurved cactus petal has an elbow instead of a smooth arc to its bend.

A close-up of a yellow flower with pointed petals and a dark red and yellow central disc, on dark foliage background.

Ray Floret

A broad petal of an open-centered dahlia.

A close-up photo of a yellow and orange dahlia flower with layered petals and red-edged tips, held by a person's hand with a blurred green background.

Picotee

Fine line of contrasting color found on the margin of the ray floret.

(example: Stevie O, pictured)

Close-up of pink and orange dahlia flowers with blurred green background.

Bullnose

Petals do not grow over the center. Blooms with a bull nose should not be entered in a dahlia competition.

Close-up of a vibrant red dahlia flower with multiple petals, some of which are pointed and slightly curved, surrounded by green leaves and a plant stake in the background.

Wolf Petal

A random petal of a different color.

Close-up of a deep purple or magenta spherical flower with tightly packed, cup-shaped petals and a soft focus background.

Reflex

The layers of petals go back toward the stem. Balls reflex all the way back, hiding the top of the stem.

Close-up of pink and white dahlias with green foliage in the background.

Involute

Petals roll in. If you plucked one, it would be like a canoe.

Colorful dahlia flower with yellow, red and white striped petals partially hidden among green leafy plants.

Crotchbound

Bloom grows on short stem deep within the plant.

Cutting vs. Seedling:

A CUTTING either comes from a tuber sprout or off a growing plant. It is cut off. It is put in a light soil+perlite mixture to root under lights. Genetically speaking, a cutting is a clone—an exact genetic copy of the plant or tuber it came from.

A SEEDLING is a new combination of chromosomes coming from a dried seed head. No one knows what it looks like until it blooms for the first time. A seed planted this April will bloom this season and produce tubers at the end of 2026. It will be an entirely new genetic entity. A cutting will also bloom this season and produce small tubers this season. A cutting should look EXACTLY like its parent plant.