Rainfall B size Formal Decorative

The first time I saw Formby Perfection at a dahlia show, my heart skipped a beat. It was aptly named. It was a B size (6-8”) Formal Decorative with perfect symmetry and an insane amount of petal count. I was fortunate enough to get a cutting from Ray Phillips and thus began my obsession with large formal decorative. What I found is that the “look” I’m searching for is mostly popular with Australian cultivars. In answer to my question about the Formal Decorative form between Australia and America, Ted Kennedy (Hollyhill hybridizer) said that many of the American ones would be considered as semi-decorative in Australia. The US cultivars are almost half ball form and tend to be smaller too. Therefore, my goal is to hybridize large (B and larger) Formal Decorative with high petal count and perfect symmetry.

A note on the size: the ADS classifies 6” to 8” blooms as a B size - meaning Medium in their definition. However, to me personally 6-8” is about as large as I would like my formal decorative to be. So when I say large as a reference, I really mean 6-8” 

Form:

• Ray florets are generally flat, broad, and smooth in a regular arrangement that gradually recurve toward the stem.
• Each ray floret row should convey uniform and regular size arrangement with the tips preferably round or extending to a slight point.
• The ideal depth is three-quarters the diameter of the bloom and should not be greater than its diameter 

Color: As with the Aisling Waterlily breeding program, I’m using the same palette inspired by the rich saturated tones of paint pigments. It’s easier to show the colors than to describe them so you can check out some paint colors by Winsor & Newton here. Additionally, I’m looking for uniformed color, smoky effect, and no reverting back to dominant colors like yellow.

Heat, Virus, and Disease Resistance: Many heirloom cultivars such as Formby Perfection (1975) will be used as both seed parent and pollen parent. Heirloom dahlias are those 45 year old or older and have shown great resilience and resistance to virus, disease and pest pressure. I'm hoping that by crossing these good genes, my seedlings will carry the same great tolerance 

Naming: The results from this breeding program will have the Rainfall prefix. 

Example of my breeding goals, photos are from The Rook Bloom website