Dahlia 'Myrtle's Folly'

Remember this bud-about-to-open from last week?

Day 1 - July 30, 2011 - 7:30 am.

The bud  opened  and  I looked up my Breck's invoice to see what I had ordered.

No wonder I don't remember ordering this. Myrtle looks nothing like the picture I ordered from--not even remotely the right color. But I do love the rich raspberry color & the raggedy edges, so I am not terribly disappointed.

 I even like the odd light pink petals in the back. So far the only slight negative is that the flower is on the small side.

 I soon discovered that Myrtle was not what she appeared to be.

Just twelve hours after opening she's changing colors.  Her open twisted petals are revealing yellows with gentle brush strokes of orange...

Day 2 - July 31, 8:00 a.m. -

Day 2 - 12 hours later (July 31, 7:30 pm) - her fuzzy-looking petals are now more purple than raspberry. 

It looks like a fire is burning in the center and she's getting bigger.

Day 4 - August 2 - 6:30 a.m.  I run out before leaving for work to see what she looks like. .. pretty much the same as yesterday. She is triple the size of Day 1.  I put my outstretched hand behind her and took a picture.

You cannot even see my hand! 
 I got a tape measure to see how big she was. The ad I purchased from said she would be 8 inches.

It's pretty difficult to hold the tape measure and take a picture. I think she's about 7 inches--close enough for me.

4:00 pm- 8/2/11 -  Side view

Notice the raindrops?  Whooo Hoooo it's raining!

She finally ended up as a big 7-inch  yellow/pink/purple powder puff--totally different than when she first opened!

I have had such fun with Myrtle's Folly's first bloom. It was a thrill for me to go out each day to see what colors appeared and how much bigger she was.  

I am 100% happy with this dahlia from Breck's!

Update 8/6/2011 2pm :  Day 8 and Myrtle is still looking good.

I try to be very honest with reviews of the flowers I get from this company.  If they do good, I tell you. If they do bad, I tell you.  I ordered 3 different dahlias last fall.  I was really excited about this one, called 'Santa Claus'.

When I planted 'Santa Claus', the tubers did not look good--pretty skimpy.

I planted both  in one container.  I almost cried when NOTHING came up!  Zero, Zilch, Nada. A total waste of my hard-earned money.

So far I have had one good/one very bad. I still have one more to show you. Only one of the two tubers came up in the next dahlia, which is just beginning to bloom. It's a black star-shaped dahlia which is supposed to turn to a red color as it ages.  Two flowers just opened and they are indeed black. I am excited to see what happens with them. I will show you what happens next week.