Yet again, you may want a dahlia looking bloom but the size of the plant and flower you are after are different… Finally, it may just be a personal curiosity, which we wish to satisfy, and so… Let’s see which varieties look like, but are not dahlias!

1. Double Peonies (Paeonia spp.)

Looking at the famous globular blooms of dahlias, we can see strong similarities with double peonies.

2. Double Zinnias (Zinnia spp.)

Of all the flowers in the world, those that look most like double, even pompon dahlias are double zinnias.

3. African Marigold (Tagetes Erects)

Yet another annual with globular blooms that can remind you of dahlias is African marigold.

4. Double Anemones (Anemone coronaria)

Many double anemone varieties have blooms that can look like those of dahlias. For example, the blue with a violet shade ‘Lord Lieutenant’ or the candid white ‘Mount Everest’.

5. Double Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum spp.)

Chrysanthemums are impressive bloomers and some double varieties really look like dahlias.

6. Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii and Gerbera garvinea)

Some gerbera daisies can look quite a bit like some double dahlias, especially collarette varieties.

7. Persian Buttercups (Ranunculus asiaticus)

Ok, the petals of sweet looking Persian buttercups are broad, unlike those of dahlias, but the overall globular, almost spherical shape of the bloom is quite similar indeed.

8. African Daisy 4D Series (Osteospermum ‘4D Series’)

The 4D series of African daisy cultivars is quite unique insofar as the blooms do look like collarette dahlias.

Flowers That Look Like Single Dahlias

Single dahlias are less unique than double ones, and there are quite a few lookalikes flowers that mimic the flower’s appearance.

But we picked the ones that are really more comparable, more alike, out of them all, and here they are.

9. Chocolate Cosmos (Cosmos astrosanguineus)

Called chocolate cosmos because of its smell, it looks like single daisies and it brings to your garden a deep velvety red color that makes its display really unique.

10. Japanese Anemone (Eriocapitella hupehensis)

Called Japanese anemone, thus flower us actually from China, and this is not the only confusion this herbaceous perennial has caused: in fact you could mistake it for a single dahlia!

11. Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Black-eyed Susan is similar to many varieties of single dahlias, including the astonishing ‘Moon fire’ with a dark purple center and petals that are bright red around it and then cream.

12. Painted Daisy (Chrysanthemum carinatum)

North Africa has given us a formidable annual that looks like a very artistic dahlia: painted daisy.