Ahh, so that's what it looks like. Mine never did open, the pokey thing.
It is lovely, thanks for sharing.

Smokey in its true splashy form. Have you had a chance to see it vary through the season Sharon? Last year it had several incarnations with wide variation in the purple vs white on blooms. Tended to be more purple than white in late season. I still love the surprise splashes on each flower.
Granny those tubers of Smokey are huge. If you want another and I get one, I'd be glad to send it. I'd try cutting it in half before planting, for earlier plant production and less leaching off that big tuber instead of growing green shoots. I tried that with a couple Mazama tubers, and they grew better than the ones I left with whole huge tubers.

I had one other bloom on a plant in a pot. The stem broke and it took a while to grow another. The bloom in the photo is the first one for this plant in the ground. The stem is taller than me. at least 6 feet tall. I hope those other two buds get a chance to open. So no I haven't had a chance to see a color variation over the season.

I didn't know that you could cut the tubers up like potatoes. I'll keep that in mind. I really would like this dahlia to speed up. It seems a shame to see so striking a bloom, for such a short time. Wish it was more like my Gerri Hoek with enough blooms to challenge a rose bush. I removed a dozen blooms from Gerri Hoek two weeks ago for Thanksgiving (ours is a month earlier than yours), and it is still full of blooms.

Sharon

Sharon, it is more like cutting off the bulk of a fat tuber so it is tempted to send out eye growth rather than sit and diddle around living off the tuber's stored energy before getting on with life. A couple of my Smokey tubers were over a pound I bet; huge 3 inch diameters. Just leave the eye/stem end and 1/3- 1/2 of the tuber bulk. Spray the cut, if you like, with Lysol or dip in a bleach soak. Let it dry and scab over, then plant as usual.

Smokey is indeed a tall monster, over 6 ft here too; always in the back row. I hope you get to see your other buds!

My Smokey looks quite different. It has more fushia coloring and reaches about 4 ft. It always makes a big clump of tubors.