if I had a dime for every time I have heard of "mis-marked" dahlias from big box stores. The sad thing is, those Dutch growers are rolling in cash by selling to Wal-mart, home depot, etc etc...

I would highly suggest checking out U.S. grown dahlias listed in the Colorado Dahlia society "Big List" (if you haven't already). On that site you'll see links to most U.S. dahlia suppliers. You will also see a link to the Dahlia Gold list. That's a good place to start to look for reliable varieties. The "dinnerplate" varieties are the AA or A sized ones.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Big List

My Rosella from a box store is the same as yours, half the size.

Thanks to both of you. Collie - that is exactly what I needed to hear. It (maybe) wasn't something I did to it to cause it to grow so small.

Honnat - thanks also for the reply. I grow close to 100 dahlias now and have ordered from maybe 8-10 different AMERICAN vendors over the years. In all honesty, many of them have never sprouted or bloomed (maybe 25%) so I don't see USA growers being that much better. More accurate yes but not necessarily fool-proof bloomers.

And the reason I even fall for the box store varieties is because you can plant them right now! As it is, unless I want to pay extra, the 15 tubers i ordered this year won't arrive until early to mid April and some of my dahlias start blooming in May, so I hate to plant in late April or even early May. Hence, the box stores blues!