Bear in mind, some varieties grow better in some areas, and there are even differences between gardens. With that caviat, my favorites (10 out of 10) are: Show and Tell, Gloriousa, Baron Katie, Audrey Grace, and Sharky. There must be some others because I have a garden full of "have to haves."

Just Married, Pee Gee, Farmer John and Aslan. Kiara Pompadour and Lovely Lana. Steve in Stevens County

My favorites are
Grand Finale
I'm a Hottie
Moonlight Sonata
Show-n-tell
Bewitched
Raspberry Punch
Junkyard Dog

I do have some that don't look anything like the pictures. Sonic bloom is one of them, it looks very coral colored in the picture but mine is mostly purple. Its pretty though, just not what I thought it would be.

Cafe Au Lait
Peaches and Cream
Just Peachy
Mingus Toni
Vessio Meggos
Blutiful (Swan Island)
Paticia Ann's Sunset (SI)
Diva (SI)
Islander
Fuzzy Wuzzy

It would be Hakoyou and Envy! They are an awesome dahlia flower duo.

Alfred Grille
Bee Happy
Canby Centennial
Gitt's Perfection
Hollyhill Spider Woman
Hy Patti
Rejman's Polish Kid
Star's Favorite
Tempest

These are a few I can think of off the top of my head that have great blooms.

I know this is an older post but I thought it was fun and I wanted to jump in with an answer:

Spartacus-always nice

Verda-prettier in person than any picture

Hart's Lora Ann-an unexpected freebie tuber that became my favorite dahlia of last summer, although it would fade a bit on some of the petal edges when it really got hot. When it.s nice, it's NICE.

Wyn's Farmer John-I was shocked that the lavender blush held up in my extreme heat. I thought that that would fade like so many blushed roses do, but it didn't. It held up quite well in heat.

G. Whiz-what a workhorse in my garden and although it was a little more orange than I thought by the photos of it on Accent's website, it is still very nice in color and its form was always what it should be.

Akita-some of the early blooms have really short stems but the flowers were beautiful. After the initial blooms the stems got longer and longer. I don't know if that is a quirk of the variety or just something about my caretaking.

Wanda's Capella-another favorite this past summer. It's a nice big yellow. Its stems were even pretty, there was just something about them that struck me.

Croydon Masterpiece-love it! I want to plant every tuber I get out of the clumps. Some of the less appealing varieties will have to go to make room. Goodbye, September Morn, with your small size and always open center!

Annabeth

Looking back at last year's growing season one of my absolute favorites was Hot Tamale. I didn't add that one on my previous list (probably cuz it hadn't bloomed at that time). It has beautiful flowers that hold up well even when cut and it bloomed a lot!

Linda

That's a shame about your "Alfred Grille" the one I grew in 2010 looked as good as any of the pictures I'd see of it. Here's a few of my favorite blooms.

Alpen Diamond
Formby Perfection
Gitt's Perfection
High Plains Majesty
Hy Patti
Kenora Fantastic
Rejman's Polish Kid
Trooper Dan
Verrone's Obsidian

Haha, I just noticed I had already replied to this awhile ago and now I feel silly. Winter makes me stir-crazy. Hurry up already, Spring.

Ironically I was just looking at Akita in the new Swan Island catalog. It's a beauty.

One of my best performers has to be Tyler James

Here is a link that might be useful: Tyler James

edewitt, don't feel silly, I noticed you changed some of your selections. I added another one to my original post too. I agree with you about spring... I am getting spring fever already and the sad thing is we just got our first big snowstorm yesterday here in Utah. I have a feeling its gonna be a long while before spring is here. I am already planning which ones I am going to start early in the house. Not sure when I will do that...probably sometime in March.

Linda

"That's a shame about your "Alfred Grille" the one I grew in 2010 looked as good as any of the pictures I'd see of it."

Alfred Grille is variable: there is good stock and bad stock of it out there. When it is good, it is one of the old timers that really looks good.

I love the fact that every single list here is completely different! I am up to about 30 different types of tubers, and I only see 2 or 3 of them on anyones lists.

I guess that means there are hundreds of "must have" favorite tubers out there for me to discover.

Last years faves in my garden:

Inland Dynasty
Beach Bum
Dr. John Kaiser
Juul's Allstar
Lucca Johanna
Marlene

Since the new growing season has started I will add my two cents. I like in my garden Hakoyou, Envy , and Farmer John. They were the bigest and showest flowers I had.

My favorite was Blown Dry last season:

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Prior to that it was Bliss, but my tuber didn't survive so I ordered one for this year. It fills in cut arrangements so nicely.

There seems to be a combination of of what you like and what is available to the average gardener. With a little bit of searching there are varieties that may exceed your expectations but are not yet well distributed. If they were more available, I am certain that they would be on these lists. An example is Sorbet, a beautiful semi cactus in white with glowing purple-magenta tips.

Link to picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28188015@N05/6074014474/

Others that are well worth trying are Kenora Wow, RC Diane Brazil, Carmen Bunky, Rejmans Polish Kid and a lot more.

I would have a different list every day! As I have been going through mine digging the ones that need dividing I notice others I didn't think of when I last posted a list. Here is the March 2012 version of the ones I can't wait to see again...

Carmen Bunky
Newaukum Grape
Diva
Jordan Nicole
Sheer Heavens
October Skies,
All that Jazz
Merlot
Wyoming Wedding
Lemon Kiss
Cyma Warrior.

Ask me tomorrow and I will have a different list! This makes it really hard to pick 20 to eliminate to make room for new ones. THe only one I know of yet to eliminate is Ahoy Matey, And a Purple that always had a blank center last year. The rest are going to be really hard! Some will probably be moved up around the house.

Now we have to go to the web and look up your new list of favorites lizalily. LOL

Carmen Bunky
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Newaukum Grape
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Diva
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Jordan Nicole
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Sheer Heavens
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October Skies,
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All that Jazz
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Merlot
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Wyoming Wedding
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Lemon Kiss
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Cyma Warrior.
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Carmen Bunky, bbWL. Always a deep intense blued pink. Actually all of them are bb down to Merlot which I think it a B. I love how its petals curve upwards like they are taking off in flight! Lemon Kiss and Cyma Warrior can reach B sized also.

I am mostly interested in cut flowers, hence the small ones.
Oh for a bouquet of fresh "Merlot"(the flower) on my table today!

Carmen Bunky, bbWL. Always a deep intense blued pink. Actually all of them are bb down to Merlot which I think it a B. I love how its petals curve upwards like they are taking off in flight! Lemon Kiss and Cyma Warrior can reach B sized also.

I am mostly interested in cut flowers, hence the small ones.
Oh for a bouquet of fresh "Merlot"(the flower) on my table today!

Lizalily and Dahlialove--What luscious pictures!

It's so difficult to name a "best-looking" one. Here are some I especially enjoyed last year, and I don't enjoy them unless they produce well too. I hope I'm not violating decorum by posting outside of the gallery.

COLORADO CLASSIC
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KARMA SANGRIA
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KORB SUMMER GALA
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SEPTEMBER MORN (probably my fave from last year, but I don't grow as many others here)
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Ah yes! All that Jazz, love all the colors she displays! Mine was so slow getting going last year with our cold gray summer but I did have some nice ones before frost, and will certainly plant it this year. Another nice one is "September Morn". I have to stop and think which is which between those two as they both show blends of nice autumn colors that go well with other flowers. Its nice to see what form "All that Jazz"could live up to if it got in gear here!

I should have gone to bed before that last post, LOL. I'm still royally confused between these two but I love them both...lovely autumn colors!