Correction: the petals should be wide, non-spider and non-quill.

Snow country is simply the best.

'Dinnerplate' is a misleading term, and is used by general plant sites to describe dahlias from four inches to sixteen inches wide. Here's the standard way of describing sizes within the dahlia world:

Size Codes

Size codes denote the approximate size of dahlia blooms that the tuber will produce. The sizes and their codes are:

• AA: Flowers over 10" or more. (Giant)

• A: Flowers 8" to 10" across (extra large)

• B: Flowers 6" to 8" across (large)

• BB: Flowers 4" to 6" across (medium)

• M: Flowers up to 4" across (small)

• P: Flowers up to 2" across

Cut flower producers typically prefer the medium or small blooms, as they tend to last longer in a vase. However, the larger blooms make great accent flowers, and are still used.

To find vendors and specific available varieties, try www.dahliaaddict.com. It's up-to-date of this writing, and is an awesome resource. Check out the different vendor's offerings, taking special note of the sizes.

Looks like you are most interested in the informal decorative and formal decorative forms, and would be better served by the BB sizes.

Some that might fit your preferences would be Gitts Attention, Blizzard, Wynn's Ghostie, Bride to Be.

Hope this helps you in your search.

CiCi

Oh, goodness... I might have mispoken on the parenthesised sizes. Can anyone help me with the proper 'new' sizes? From what I've heard, ADS is trying to simplify the letter sizing system so new growers can understand it easier, but I'm all mixed up now. :-D

I saw one site has A as Large, B as Medium, BB as small and M as Miniature. I'm not sure what the 'official' simplication is on the sizes.

Drat, the new owners of this forum took away our ability to edit our posts. I misspoke on an earlier post, so here is the correction:

giant (AA), large (A), medium (B), small (BB), miniature (M)

The American Dahlia Association is encouraging growers to refer to the sizes by the discription instead of the code, as many casual gardeners have no idea what 'AA' is, but 'giant' is self-explanatory.

Perhaps you've already found something great, but may I recommend Iceberg and Wyn's Ghostie. Stonehouse Dahlias sells live, rooted cuttings of both. I'll attach a pictures. Check out stonehousedahlias.com.