The queen of the lovely dahlia - Imperialis - charms all eyes. This stately plant rises eight to twelve feet. It has no branches below, but the broad, pinnate, compound leaves start directly from the stem and grow all around it.
A few feet from the top, the slender flower branches appear, bearing spreading panicles of large ...flowers of a soft, light, porcelain-violet shade, lined outside with old pink....
It measures eight inches, from tip-to-tip of the petals. These charming blossoms droop most gracefully on slender stems, and sway with every movement of the air. To one looking up into their heart from below, or from a distance observing the general effect, they are indescribably beautiful - and by moonlight, they are most fairy-like.
~ Theodora Shepard, Land of Sunshine, 1894
