Bright, Dimmable LED Bulb and Plug-in Dimmer Combination that Works?

Hello,

I have a lamp that I want to be as bright as possible, but that I would also like to have dimming control over. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any 125W-equivalent smart bulbs. Instead, I purchased the Cree dimmable 125W bulb and the GE 45852GE Zigbee dimmer (125 Watt Replacement Soft White Gen6 - Standard A-Type - Products, GE 45852GE control via MQTT | Zigbee2MQTT).

This combination does not work well. There is no appreciable reduction in brightness until I get to 30% or less on the dimmer, and at anything less than full brightness, there is intermittent flickering in the light intensity that is incredibly annoying. The dimmer works fine with an incandescent bulb, but I would rather avoid using one of those.

Has anyone had success with any combination of a dimmable, high-CRI, high-intensity LED bulb and a smart plug-in dimmer? I live in an apartment, so replacing the plug is not a preferable option.

I could go WiFi or Zigbee (but it seems that the dimmer I have is the only one listed as supported by Zigbee2MQTT). I might be able to use a Shelly dimmer module in some sort of extension cord enclosure, but would like to know if that would appropriately dim an LED bulb before going in on doing that project.