2010 American Peony Society Convention Registration

I just registered for the 2010 American Peony Society Convention. The dates for the convention are June 3-6, 2010, and it is in Janesville, WI. I don't know where I'm going to be staying yet, but I have a flight, a rental car, and my APS registration completed. I am so excited. This year they are going to tour Khlem's Song Sparrow Farm and Nursery. This is one of my favorite peony vendors. I am thrilled to be able to visit them, and I hope to learn a lot on this trip. Their peonies are a bit pricier than others, but their quality and end product is exceptional. I like their business model and am interested to learn more about it. Also there are going to be several seminars about peonies during the convention to learn from. I am also looking forward to having 2 "peony seasons" this year since my peony season is now over for the year. All of the flowers in Wisconsin should be in full bloom. Awesome! Instead of recording and documenting the peonies, it will be nice to just be able to photograph and enjoy the flowers. Ahh!

2010 Rain on Peonies

Rain sure can put a damper on things. I am so grateful for the rain, though. Everything was drying up around here. The grass was getting so dry. So I am sure the peonies appreciate the rain since I don't usually give them any extra water besides what Mother Nature provides. I have watered them on rare occasions in the summer when they've looked so droopy and desperate. Let's hope they don't get that way this year. Right now however we are dealing with a wet spell... I'm curious to see what affect this rain has on the foliage, since it seems most of the peonies have been disease free in the dry spell. Here's a picture of what were some lovely blooms all turned to mush from a couple days of rain...

2010 Peony Blooms - Week 6

The last week of peony blooms are here. Usually there are about 7 weeks of bloom with peonies. Either I don't have enough of the first week early season bloomers or the hot dry weather shortened the season this year (maybe both). These late season beauties keep the peonies coming for a bit longer. Peony 'Nymphe' and Peony 'Uncle Tom' both bloomed for the first time for me this year. So I am slowing extending my peony bloom season in form and color. Enjoy!

Peony 'Nymphe'	Peony 'Uncle Tom'
Peony 'Felix Supreme'	Peony 'Rozella'

2010 Peony Blooms - Week 5

There were 41 varieties of peonies that bloomed this week. So it was another stellar week for the peonies. However, they have been suffering due to the dry spell. The blooms are beautiful, but they don't last very long and start to shrivel faster than normal. Here are some beautiful pictures of a few of the varieties that bloomed this week...

Peony 'Raspberry Sundae'	Peony 'Angel Cheeks'
Peony 'Gay Paree'	Peony 'Yellow Crown'

Here's a picture of a row of some of my most mature plantings from this week. So many blooms. Aren't they gorgeous?

2010 Happy Mother's Day Peony Bouquets

Happy Mother's Day! I spent the morning cutting flowers for Mother's Day. Aren't the cut flowers in the basket beautiful? I made several arrangements with them, and gave the largest pink arrangement to my mother.

2010 Peony Blooms - Week 4

There were so many peonies that bloomed this week, 44 varieties in all. Just to compare there were 23 varieties that bloomed in weeks 1-3. So there were almost double the number of peonies blooming this week than the first 3 weeks combined. It seems like the long hot dry spell caused many of the peonies to start blooming this week. These are some of my favorite shots of those peonies...

Peony 'Coral Charm'	Peony 'Do Tell'
Peony 'Prairie Moon'	Peony 'Cherry Charm'