Growing ‘Gay Princess’ Dahlia

Hi Lovelies,

Well, it’s day four of Blog-tober and we’re still going strong – though admittedly, I may or may not be extremely worried about running out of ideas within the next week. Today we’ll be taking a look at another dahlia that I grew this season.

In an effort to keep these reviews completely honest, I have to say the shape of this dahlia is one to which I am never drawn. In fact, it’s the only one in my entire garden with those toothy-type edges, and if it had not been given to me – I most likely would not have grown it. Alas, I was hoping for a pleasant surprise.

As with many varieties, variation was an issue with this plant. ‘Gay Princess’ produces pink flowers which fade and glow yellow towards the center. However, the shade of pink that I got in the garden was quite unpredictable. Many times, the flowers were a rather pale (almost dirty) color. On rare occasions I was given a nice bright, extremely saturated pink. If the latter had been more consistent, this flower would have been a winner for me! I never like writing a negative review for many reasons. It’s easy to have different experiences in one garden from year to year, and even more likely that another person will have a completely different experience than me in their own garden.

While I did get a couple of nice 5″ blooms, as described, the size of the flowers diminished greatly as the season continued – to the point that I didn’t even use them. I’m sure this could be my fault somehow, but other dahlias living in the same bed didn’t seem to have a problem continuing to put on a show well into the fall. On the positive side, bushes were strong and reached nearly 4ft tall, staked. The stems also easily grew long enough for cutting, and produced a decent number of blooms – though not a top performer in the row. When I did cut flowers from the plant, they seemed to last a few days longer in the vase than other varieties, which was a nice bonus.

Overall, I think ‘Gay Princess’ in worth trying. It may do very well in another garden. As for me, I don’t plan on multiplying my stock of this tuber. I think I’ll keep her around in small numbers, just to enjoy the stray beautiful bloom – but this one, unfortunately, won’t be making my favorites list anytime soon.

Have you grown this one? What did you think? What varieties should I try next year? Who is your favorite tuber supplier? Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you have a great day! Much love!