2016 First Intersectional Peony Seeds!

First Intersectional Peony Seeds from Peony 'Martha W.'
Well, the seed pods from my first intersectional peony crosses (herbaceous peony X tree peony) finally popped open, and I found (drum roll, please - dun tah duh duh) - 7 seeds! I know it's not a lot, but it's something! Now I'm just trying to figure out where to plant them. I want to make sure they all live, but I'm definitely not up for keeping them indoors with grow lights. So I'm going to have to figure out the safest, most fertile, and most likely to germinate place to grow them. I'm thinking it should be somewhere close to the house so that they will be more protected from wildlife and also have soil with more moisture since the ground near the house gets some extra water run off from rain storms.
Failed Intersectional Seed Pod on Peony 'Martha W.'
Not all of the seed pods that swelled actually produced seed. There were some that swelled, but when they popped open, it was obvious that there were no viable seeds inside. The seed pod developed, but the seeds did not. You can see inside the failed seeds pods miniature seed like vessels hanging from each side of the pod wall. However even though not all swollen pods produced seed, I was able to successfully produce seed on two different herbaceous peony mother plants - Peony 'Martha W.' and Peony 'Lemon Chiffon'. There were 5 seeds from Peony 'Martha W.' and 2 seeds from Peony 'Lemon Chiffon'.
Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' with Tree Peony Pollen Tag
I can't wait to see what kinds of plants these seeds grow into. It just seems wild thinking about the unique genetic code that lies within each of these tiny seeds. I am so excited to see them sprout! Also these seeds were hybridized with tree peony pollen that was given to me. This year at the 2016 American Peony Society Convention, I was able to collect some tree peony pollen of my own, most of it coming from the 2016 APS Peony Convention Tour of Solaris Farms. There were a rainbow of tree peonies blooming in those beautiful gardens. It will be very exciting to see what and how many intersectional peony seeds I will be able to generate next year from the tree peony pollen I collected this year.
First Intersectional Peony Seeds from Peony 'Lemon Chiffon'