Around the Sound: ‘daffodahlia’ drives excitement at Cattle and Cut Flowers

ENUMCLAW, Wash. — A local flower farmer in Enumclaw is prepping flowers for her annual seed and dahlia tuber sales, and she spoke to KIRO 7 about one of her buzz-worth blooms.

Kelsey Hall owns Cattle & Cut Flowers. She’s known for her dreamy bouquets, her highland cows, and her fun-filled workshops.

And, of course, her dahlias.

“I just got totally bit by the Dahlia bug,” Kelsey told KIRO 7 News. “They’ve always been kind of my passion.”

As her love of the flower grew, so did flower fields.

“We went from growing about 30 of them the first year to over 4000 of them,” she said.

She says demand for her flowers and classes on how to grow them is higher than ever following the discovery of the daffodahlia.

In late August, six of her plants began producing blooms with a cup-like shape — like a daffodil. The petals curved forward rather than backward, but the colors stayed true to the original variety. She says not every bloom was affected, but more than half of each plant was showing the mutation.

“I have a few hunches about what’s going on, but I’ll need to wait until next season to test these theories and know for sure,” Kelsey wrote on her website.

She says she is saving seeds from these blooms, tubers, and taking cuttings to see if she can encourage them to return.

This year’s dahlia season has come and gone – but Kelsey is busy collecting and organizing tubers from her field for her online sale February 2. The daffodahlia will not be available for purchase because it’s being tested for future viability.

“For now, we’re staying hopeful and keeping a close eye on these beauties,” she said.

For those looking to develop a green thumb, Kelsey is hosting a virtual ‘Dahlia 101′ class online on November 3.

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