Does stem/ shoot colour tell anything about the flower colour? Dahlia problem.

I have pink and white Dinnerplate Dahlias that overwintered nicely in the garage and are now sprouting in the living room. The problem is that someone forgot to label the roots before chucking them all in a big cardboard box so no I have no clue which are pink and which are white.

The young shoots are very different, some have clear red/ purple tinge and some are bright green.

Is this a hint to tell which colour the flowers will be? The actual leaves are the same colour when grown.

I'm also noticing that mixed Cosmos seedlings have different coloured stems regardless of growing in exactly the same light conditions, even in the same pot.

Usually stem colour would depend on the light levels I think, but in the case where the plants are in the same situation but the colours are noticeably different perhaps the stem colour will tell something about the flower colour...?

 

Hi @Selleri it's certainly true that reddish staining on foxglove stems means purple flowers. I whip those out, leaving me just with white ones. So I would suspect you've got the same with the dahlias.

 

Thanks @CarolineL , I'll label them now and cross my fingers.