Dahlia eaten by slugs or snails

Q: One flower among our dahlias last summer was different from the rest. My friend thought it was slug damage, but I’m not so sure. Also, my friend had a red dahlia in the middle of yellow ones.


A: The dahlia in your picture certainly looked like a fancy new variety with pinked petal edges. However, your friend was correct in assuming slug or snail damage. It is likely that the snail attacked the bud before it began to open, eating its way down into the softest part at its centre. As a result, all the petals – which curve inwards in the bud – were shortened, giving the flower its strange, cropped appearance.
The red dahlia is also easy to explain. If a new flower colour turns up on the yellow-flowered plant, it is a ‘sport.’ This is a spontaneous production of a different variety, arising from a single shoot. Cuttings taken from a sported shoot would come true, enabling you to propagate the new variety.
The rose ‘Kathleen Harrow’ iss a pale pink sport from the darker, purple-pink ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ and the enchanting Korean chrysanthemums, ‘Nantyderry Sunshine’ (yellow) and ‘Bronze Elegance’ are sports of the pink-flowered ‘Mei-Kyo’.