Behind every success is a story.

Let me introduce you to the dahlia, Myrtle’s Folly. She is an remarkable shaped dahlia, fimbriated, fully double and colorful. The word, remarkable, used for it’s coloring of peach, pink, gold and it’s fringed masses of slightly-curled, flower petals.

One dahlia grower raved about the Myrtle’s Folly dahlias she had planted, revealing she only “expected to see flowers like this in heaven.”

“Best flower I have ever seen,” said another grower.

Yet another reviewer said, “They are indescribable in color.”

Bob’s wife followed him right into the dahlia world of flowers, a shared love and admiration, and soon their backyard was home to a thousand dahlias. Then fifteen hundred dahlias.

Next dahlia shows and breeding followed. A common pattern among dahlia enthusiasts. Bob told one reporter he had so many blooms to enter into a dahlia show one year, he rented a U-Haul to accommodate them all. He definitely was full of “dahlia drive,” and some fondly called Bob and his wife “their dahlia godparents.”

The woman who was at Bob’s side during all of their dahlia years, and his loving wife, was sweet Myrtle. Bob named three of his dahlia introductions after Myrtle and introduced over a dozen new varieties.

Myrtle’s Folly is theatre, an extravaganza. Once you’ve seen or grown this eight to ten-inch dahlia flower, you’ll understand. Bob could not think of anyone more dazzling than his wife. A true love story.

Bob Bloomfield received the American Dahlia Society Gold Medal which another grower fondly calls, “The lifetime achievement in dahliadom.”

Myrtle lived to one hundred and one and her namesake lives on and will always be a favorite.

Until tomorrow…Show your appreciation to those you love.