Melody Lizza

Dahlia

Variety Description

Varieties used for comparison: 'Melody Dixie' and 'Gallery Salvador'

Summary: 'Melody Lizza' has taller plants and longer peduncles than the reference varieties. The leaf blades of 'Melody Lizza' have deeper incisions of the margins than those of 'Melody Dixie'. The flowers produced by 'Melody Lizza' are larger with longer ray florets than those of 'Melody Dixie'. The ray floret tips of 'Melody Lizza' are dentate while those of 'Melody Dixie' are notched. The flower head colour group for 'Melody Lizza' is dark pink while it is purple pink for 'Melody Dixie' and light pink for 'Gallery Salvador'. The ray florets of 'Melody Lizza' have a blend type colour pattern while those of 'Melody Dixie' have a regular bicolour pattern

Description:

'Melody Lizza' has an upright plant growth habit. The stem is light green with strong anthocyanin colouration. The mostly compound leaves are dark green and have a low length:width ratio. There are one, three or five leaflets per leaf and wings on the petioles or rachis are present. The upper surface of the leaves has a weakly rugose texture, weak glossiness and raised venation. The margins of the leaf blades have many, deep incisions. The peduncles are long with strong to very strong anthocyanin colouration.

'Melody Lizza' has dark pink, daisy-eyed double type flowers which belong to the decorative group. They are displayed above the foliage in an upright position relative to the peduncle. The flower heads are medium in height and the ray florets are dense. The ray floret length:width ratio is medium. The ray florets are straight to reflexed along the longitudinal axis. In cross-section, the mid-point of the outer ray florets is flat to weakly convex (in U-shape) and the mid-point of the inner ray florets is weakly folded inward (in V-shape). The lateral margin at the middle of the ray florets is revolute and the shape of the tip is dentate. The colour distribution on each ray floret is uneven. The colour of the ray florets is a blend of bright purple to blue pink with white ground colour on the upper side and bright purple to blue pink with violet apex and white base on the lower side.

Origin & Breeding History: 'Melody Lizza' originated from the open pollination of the proprietary dahlia selection designated 'Vd-0-9' which is characterized by its purple flowers. The pollination was made in a controlled breeding program which took place in Lisse, The Netherlands during 1997. The initial selection of 'Melody Lizza' took place in September of 1998. Since that time, asexual propagation has been through the use of vegetative cuttings.

Tests & Trials: The test and trial for 'Melody Lizza' was conducted in a polyhouse during the spring/summer of 2004 in St. Thomas, Ontario. The trial included 15 plants of each variety. All plants were grown from rooted cuttings, planted into 11 cm pots on April 22, 2004 and transplanted to 23 cm pots on June 4, 2004. All colour characteristics were determined using the 2001 RHS colour chart and measured characteristics were based on ten plant measurements.

Comparison tables for 'Melody Lizza' with reference varieties 'Melody Dixie' and 'Gallery Salvador'

Plant height (cm)

Flower diameter (cm)

Colour of ray florets (RHS)

Ray floret length (mm)