Dahlia show report: in search of the color purple
Jim McKenney (Sat, 25 Sep 2004 15:02:15 PDT)

As promised, I went to the local Dahlia show today in search of the color
purple.

Sorry, I have to retrain myself to say "violet" instead of purple.

The result: well, I honestly don't know because the show was inside under
fluorescent lights. Some of the colors were peculiar, and none came
anywhere close to what I used to call purple.

But the dahlias were beautiful.

Our local Dahlia club has published its own color charts to help classify
the flowers. A member showed me these charts, and curiously there were
pages devoted to the color I used to call purple. When I pointed to those
colors, the dahlia person assured me that there were no dahlias in that
color range.

They do use the term purple, and when I asked the dahlia person to show me
a dahlia in that category, a dusky red one was pointed out. Oh, well...

Another member mentioned Dahlia 'Purple Joy' and said it was a very
distinctive lavender which really stood out in a planting of dahlias.

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I wonder how Lavandula
became lavender in English - I guess they couldn't spell any better back in
the old days than some of us do now.