Brand new dahlia hybrid discovered at Washington flower farm

A never-before-seen flower has been discovered at a dahlia farm in Enumclaw, WA. The so-called ‘Daffodahlia’ takes the form of a ball dahlia, with a distinctive trumpet-like shape at its center.

There are more than 40 species of dahlia globally, and thousands of dahlia varieties, but this brand new hybrid was discovered last month by flower grower Kelsey Hall, who runs Cattle & Cut Flowers with her husband, Kellen. Since then, the couple have been inundated with interest in this mysterious new dahlia from around the globe.

Speaking to H&G, Kelsey said she thought her eyes were playing tricks on her when she first saw the flower. 'I didn’t tell anyone about it for days because even looking at it a million times I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.' She says they will be testing several theories throughout the next growing season to try and find out how it happened, but in the meantime Kelsey tells us, 'the future for our farm will be hybridizing dahlias'.

After she first discovered it, Kelsey monitored the unusual flower over four weeks and found more Daffodahlia forms starting to bloom.

She says: 'We had 35 of this dahlia variety planted and 6 of the 35 plants started to push blooms in varying degrees of the Daffodahlia shape. In total, we saw around 40 of these blooms.'

After having the flowers tested at Washington State University, the Daffodahlia was found not to contain any known diseases or viruses. As a result, Kelsey has decided to embark on breeding her new discovery at the farm, and is working to find out if the flower mutation can be stabilized.

'We are letting the blooms stay on the plants and saving seeds to see if the plants can pass the genetics on next season through seed,' she explains in a recent Instagram post. 'We have leaf cuttings rooted in our grow room from plants currently creating the daffodil-like blooms. We will be growing dahlias in the grow room through the winter and would expect these to bloom sometime in late winter.'

What does the future hold for the Daffodahlia?

The Daffodahlia is not currently available for sale, and won’t be until the Halls can confirm the breed is genetically stable.

'We have tested in house and are monitoring the plants and will continue to do that as we pull the dahlia tuber clumps up,' she says. 'If the form returns and we can stabilize it, we will be putting the plants through more testing before we ever sell the stock to the public.'

Since the flower farm began in 2018, the team have never attempted any hybridizing of dahlias. But this discovery appears to be the catalyst for Kelsey to move into that space.

Kelsey tells H&G: 'We have sold dahlia seeds in the past and encouraged others to do hybridizing with our seed stock. We have wanted to move into selling dahlia tubers and seeds, cutting out some of the other things we do, so this was the push we needed. The future for our farm will be hybridizing dahlias.'

The Cattle & Cut Flowers team have made clear that should the form prove stable, it would not be available to purchase for a minimum of three to four years.

'We have no idea, nor does anyone, if the Daffodahlia will return next season,’ explains Kelsey. ‘This may have been a one time miracle of Mother Nature. We are doing what we can to try to get it to return by taking cuttings to grow through winter, saving seeds, and the tubers. If the form returns, we will take the steps to preserve it and grow it out to take to market. The reality is it wouldn’t be until 2028/29.’

There is, however, one way of getting a step closer to a Daffodahlias. The team is selling seeds from the tunnel where the flowers are growing, meaning there would be a small chance of cross pollination with these exquisite, unusual blooms.

Knowing how to grow dahlias successfully can take a bit of research and practice, but once you get some established plants, the huge, long-lasting flowers are just rewards. At this time of year, it's also useful to understand how to overwinter dahlias and whether you need to dig up tubers before the frosts and colder weather hit your area.