Simply put, Kelsey Hall decided to boldly go.
As she stared at what appeared to be a brand-new flower last August, Hall knew immediately that it was full of enormous potential — and risk. Would it bring fame to the Cattle & Cut Flowers? Was it dangerous to her crops and sales? Or is this a happy accident of Mother Nature, here one day and then gone forever the next?
Lady Luck appears to be on her side so far.
Hall never expected to be a flower farmer. Her family started her Enumclaw farm in 2017 as a way to live sustainably through the sale of chicken eggs and highland cow leases.
But then she was gifted a few tubers in 2018, and “I got really bit by the dahlia bug,” she said.
The initial batch of 30 tubers has now grown to sales of more than 4,000 a year, featuring up to 200 varieties, Hall said.
Dahlias are considered genetically diverse, given they’ve got eight chromosomes (as opposed to the two most plants and animals have). Additionally, their genetic material is considered “mobile,” which means its genes move from place to place within their DNA sequence, further adding unpredictability into the mix of flower size, shape and color.
This all means that when it comes to reproducing dahlias via seeds, children dahlias can look extremely different than the parent plant.
Reproducing the flowers via tubers are a totally different story, as the children plants are supposed to be identical to the mother plant.
But that’s not what happened here.
At first, the ball dahlia that Hall was growing via a tuber appeared normal, with its petals pulling back to form that titular sphere. However, last August, she noticed half the flowers of the plant were dramatically altered with the center petals turned inward, forming a cup.
The “daffodahlia” received its name because the inward petals, which were supposed to curl outward, decided to instead curl inward and create a daffodil-like cup. Photo courtesy Kelsey Hall
The surprise was not well received by Hall.
“Honestly, when I first saw it, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s a disease; it’s going to ruin my soil and… all the other dahlias…,” she said. Her fears were likely exacerbated due to the fact that rot had affected some dahlias earlier this year.
Hall also recognized the possibility that this new dahlia “could be life changing” for her farm, so she consulted with her close-knit flower expert group to discuss the phenomenon.
Hall also had the flower tested by the Washington State University Department of Horticulture to determine if the mutation was caused by any common dahlia disease or virus.
The tests came back clean, so with those fears were allayed, Hall shared the flower with the world via social media. It was on Instagram where a commenter coined the name “daffodahlia” for the flower, and it has stuck since.
Hall believed the discovery would be popular among the cut-flower world when she posted photos. She did not expect how viral her post would become, and both the positive and negative attention she and her farm would receive.
“It’s gone absolutely bonkers,” she said.
The popularity of the flower has been good for her business, especially when it caught the attention of Martha Stewart.
“Meet the Daffodahlia — a mysterious new flower that’s never been seen before,” Stewart posted on her Instagram. Since then, the post has received more than 177,000 likes and counting.
Hall said that numerous bulk flower sellers have contacted her for sales, though she said that it’ll take additional genetic testing and several years of reproduction — if that’s even possible — before there will be enough of daffodahlias to finally make it to the market.
But this newfound fame has a darker side, including at least a few instances of people trespassing on her property “demanding to see the flowers.”
Because the flower is so new, the American Dahlia Society, which has 70 chapters around the U.S. and Canada devoted to “stimulating interest in, disseminating information about, and promoting the culture and development of, the dahlia” hasn’t come out with an official stance about the flower.
The only public opinion that has come out of the organization so far is from PR Coordinator Larry Smith, who said in an email interview that “I wouldn’t be interested in growing it in my personal garden.”
If Hall wants to get the daffodahlia recognized by the ADS, Smith said, she will first have to continue to grow it for a few years before sending the flower to a trial garden, where judges would evaluate it for show potential. Smith said, based on the photo, that it could fit into one of the ADS’ “novel” categories for judging.
If approved, the ADS would officially recognize the daffodahlia as a garden dahlia, which could improve Hall’s fame and sales of the flower.
But there’s no certainty any of this can happen, as there are still many questions to be answered, including: how did this happen?
“That’s the million dollar question. There isn’t really an answer to that at this time… I have some guesses and theories as to why it maybe [mutated], environmental things,” Hall said. “But we don’t know 100% yet, and it’s probably going to take several growing seasons to test different theories to see if it comes back true to form.”
If further testing comes back positive and the flowers continue to reproduce, Hall said the flowers can hit the market by 2028.
But until then, you can shop for Cattle & Cut Flowers on their website at cattleandcutflowers.com, where you can also make reservations for weddings, events, and photography sessions and sign up for various workshops.
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