Dahlie 'Kotara' Knolle

The petals on this one are unreal—layered like silk and shifting from blush to buttercream as the bloom opens. It's easily the showstopper in my cutting garden, and the size lives up to the dinnerplate name.

I've never seen a dahlia with such a soft, romantic color palette—each bloom seems to shift between pale pink and creamy ivory. The petals are so layered and ruffled that the flowers look almost like giant, elegant peonies in my garden.

The "Kotara" tubers I planted grew into massive dinnerplate blooms, and each flower actually shifted from pale apricot to creamy ivory over a week. The petals have that soft, ruffled texture that makes the whole dahlia look like a delicate watercolor painting.