2018 Strawberry Crème Brûlée Intersectional Peony at Spring Hill Nursery

I have been looking for 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée' Intersectional Peony for a few years now. I never wrote about it on here before since it was a sad story, but a reader of mine gave me a hint about where he had purchased some of his intersectional peonies - from a nursery in Canada called Select Plus Lilac Nursery. I placed a small order for three small intersectional peony roots, one of the varieties being 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée'. Sadly I never received my peony root order since the owner and proprietor of the nursery passed away before my order was scheduled to ship. :(


Spring Hill Nursery
Unregistered Intersectional Peony Offerings
That was in 2015. For some reason I just decided to search for 'Strawberry Creme Brulee' peony again this fall, and I found it at Spring Hill Nursery. I have ordered a couple peonies from Spring Hill Nursery in the past, a long, long time ago (2005), and the peonies I ordered seemed to be labeled correctly. So I thought I might take a chance on this one too. Intersectional Peony 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée' was hybridized by Don R. Smith, but it does not appear to have ever been registered. While I was poking around the Spring Hill web site, I noticed they had two other Itoh peonies I had never heard of for sale, 'Oochigeas' Itoh Peony and 'Pastel Lilas' Itoh Peony. I'm wondering if these two varieties are also Don Smith introductions that have never been formally registered with the APS. I guess you could say my curiosity got the better of me... I had to place an order. :P (If your curiosity is piqued as well, Spring Hill Nursery also has coupons out for $100 off $200. So find a small item to put in your basket with these to save almost 50% off.)

2018 Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' Arrives from Ebay

Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' Root from Ebay
The 2018 Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay that I ordered last week arrived yesterday. The root itself, not just the variety, was luxuriant as well. This root was huge! It was advertised as a 6-7 eye root, but it actually had more like 8-9 eyes on it. It was quite long and quite heavy as well. The root measured over 10 inches, with a stem at the top as well, bringing the total length to over 13 inches. The root itself was quite firm, seemingly freshly dug. I'm hoping this one will establish quickly. It would be nice to get a bloom from this Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' this coming spring 2019, but we'll see. I'm guessing that might depend on what kind of winter and spring warm up we get around here.


Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' Eyes
The root was packed very well in peat, and not one piece of it broke off during shipment. It was shipped via USPS Priority Mail and arrived here within 3 days of shipment. The bright pink eyes on this root are very firm and full. It definitely looks ready to grow. I made it a nice spot in my intersectional peony bed, dug in a bit of organic top soil, a scoop of natural fertilizer and a small scoop of lime. I also mixed in the peat that it was shipped in, to add a bit more organic matter to the soil as well. Let's see what this beauty brings next spring...


Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' Close Up

Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' Planted

2018 Adelman Peony Gardens Black Friday Sale 50% Off

Wow! Apparently I'm a little late to this party, but it looks like Adelman Peony Gardens is having a Black Friday Sale. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a sale like this before. They have 50% off all peonies left in stock: tree, intersectional, and herbaceous. There's not a lot left now, but still lots of good stuff. I'm not sure how many items there were to choose from originally (since it looks like the sale started 2 days ago), but it looks like they still have 28 varieties to choose from right now. Also not only do you get half off all roots, but you can also get free shipping if you place a $100 order or more, just use coupon code "freeship" at checkout. If you don't want to be out fighting crowds for deals this weekend, just stay in and order peonies instead. :D


Adelman Peony Gardens Black Friday Sale

2018 Southern Peony NOT Selling on Ebay

Southern Peony NOT Selling on Ebay
So this happened... Someone decided to use a photo of mine to sell something on Ebay (without my permission). I just wanted to make sure everyone knows this is not me selling peonies on Ebay. If I decided to sell peony roots on Ebay, you all would be the first to know! I have purchased one root from this seller in 2015, which is mentioned in my 2018 Ebay Peony Seller Reviews, but I am not yet certain of its identity. I sent the seller a nice note asking them to either give Southern Peony credit for the photo and add a disclaimer that we were not selling this peony or to take the photo down. If the seller does not respond, my next step will be to contact Ebay. Let's see how this one turns out...

2018 Tree Peony Seeds from Luoyang, China

Tree Peony Seeds fron Luoyang, China
So there's one thing I didn't mention much about my trip to China this year, the peony seeds I purchased! I got a few here and a few there. Most of the seeds I purchased were just outside the garden gates during my 2018 Southern Peony Visits Luoyang National Peony Garden 洛阳国家牡丹园 (North). The seeds in the tiny plastic zip bags are the ones that came from the Luoyang National Peony Garden. You can see the table they had set up to sell the seeds below. I felt a bit skeptical as to whether these tree peony seeds actually came from the varieties pictured in the packets, but for 1 yuan (17 cents) for 10 packets, how can you go wrong? So I bought two different sets of them. My guess is they may be all the same variety, maybe even herbaceous or p. ostii. Who knows? I must say I am very curious, though to find out. Of course, it will probably take me five years or more to see any blooms from these.


Table of Tree Peony Seeds for Sale

Woman Selling Tree Peony Seeds
The photo above it the woman who sold me the seeds. She told my husband (in Chinese) that she and her husband have their own peony farm. I have no idea if it is true, but it sounds neat. They were also selling several varieties of potted tree (and herbaceous) peonies in full bloom as well. I wish I could have purchased a few of those tree peonies to bring back home! They also showed us how to sprout the tree peony seeds. They just used a plastic water bottle with and inch or inch and a half of water in it. I'm not sure if they put the seeds in the fridge to get them to sprout their roots first or just sprouted both the roots and the leaves in the bottle. That was certainly wild. I wish I could have found out more about how they did it. Maybe I will try a few of my seeds that way just to see what happens. I usually don't have much luck sprouting seeds that aren't in the dirt. I guess I just haven't tried or practiced it enough. I usually end up with mold of some sort.


Peony Seeds Sprouting in Water Bottle

Chinese Tree Peony Seeds
Here are a few more close up photos of the seeds I purchased (front and back of the packaging). You can click any of these photos to see a larger version. I don't know what any of them say. I guess I need to enlist my husband to help me translate them. I just can't decide if it is worth the time and effort to do so. The last time I had him take the time to meticulously translate each and every variety (and make a separate label for each), 2013 Ali Express Chinese Tree Peony Seeds, none of them sprouted!!! (I've placed more than one order for Chinese tree peony seeds in the past, and the other one from Ebay did sprout, 2013 Chinese Peony Seeds from Ebay , 2014 Chinese Tree Peony Seeds Starting to Sprout.) So who knows what these tree peony seeds will do, if they even sprout (I hope so!), or what color they will be, but I am definitely interested to find out!


Chinese Tree Peony Seeds

Chinese Tree Peony Seeds

2018 Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay

When I saw the chance to pick up Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay for a better price than I've yet to see on my 2018 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List, I jumped. Also I have purchased from this seller, jackshouse2008, before. So I'm hoping this will be another positive experience as well. As you can see from my 2018 Ebay Peony Seller Reviews, I purchased Intersectional Peony 'Lemon Dream' from them in 2014, and it turned out to be correct. I featured some photos of that Peony 'Lemon Dream' in my 2018 How to Take Awesome Photos of Peonies (or Any Other Flower) article.


Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay
I have never grown peony 'Luxuriant' before. So I am excited to try it. The coloring of it looks similar to intersectional peony 'Cora Louise', perhaps with a slight more tinge of pink. The petals appear to be more symmetrical and even, fewer of them, with perhaps more substance. You can only tell so much from a photo, but I am excited to take some photos of my own. Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' was hybridized by Roger Anderson and registered in 1986. I'm surprised it's not in wider distribution by now, since it looks like quite a nice intersectional peony flower.

I don't see another Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay from jackshouse2008 for sale right now, but I do see a couple other peonies. They are currently selling Peony 'Lemon Chiffon', which I highly recommend if you don't yet grow it. They are also selling Intersectional Peony 'Chief Black Hawk', which I do not yet grow. I'd be curious to grow this one since it is supposed to be quite dark in coloring, but the price is still quite expensive. So I have not yet tried it. They also have a Paeonia lutea 'delavayi' yellow peony for sale. I haven't had much luck with P. delavayis yet, but I would like to keep trying. Perhaps I will order this one in the future. They seem to grow so well in Austria, 2016 University of Vienna Botanical Garden Peonies, (almost as tall as me!), that I feel encouraged to try them again at some point...

2018 Ebay Peony Seller Reviews

Okay, so this article is about 3 years behind schedule, and while I have been procrastinating on posting it (due to wanting more information), I've finally decided that partial information is better than no information. I guess I will just update it later or create a new updated listing in the future as more information presents itself in my garden. I already see a need to reorganize the information by seller instead of by peony variety, but I will save that for a future article.


Mislabeled Intersectional Peony
(Sold to Me as Peony 'Lollipop')
In hopes that you may learn something from Ebay sellers I've purchased from over the years, I decided to create this reference for which sellers send the actual peony stated and which sellers do not - especially since an initial investment in a peony root can take years to show its true colors. Also if you have some direct experience with these same Ebay sellers or different sellers, please leave any concrete information you may have in the comment section below so that we may all benefit from our combined peony purchasing experiences.


Mislabeled Intersectional Peony
(Sold to Me as Peony 'Scarlet Heaven')

Review Key
✓	right	bloomed with the correct color and form
:(	died	died before blooming
X	wrong	bloomed with an incorrect color and/or form

Ebay Peony Seller Reviews
Peony	Seller	Year	Review
Adolphe Rousseau	Ebay - greenerpastures101	2006
Bartzella (Intersectional)	Ebay - mcgper1	2007	✓ right
Benjamin Franklin	Ebay - willowcreekgardens	2007	✓ right
Berry Garcia (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Berry Garcia (Intersectional)	Ebay - irislady55 (Joni L. Renshaw, Joni's Dance-In-The-Wind Iris Garden - Tekamah, NE)	2015
Black Lotus (Hatsugarasu) (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong tree peony white
Bowl of Cream	Ebay - luckybusya	2007	✓ right
Canary Brilliants (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	:( died
Canary Brilliants (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Chocolate Soldier	Ebay - bigmikek	2007	✓ right
Chojuraku 長寿楽 (Longevity Music) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2016
Coral Fay	Ebay	2004	✓ right
Coral 'N Gold	Ebay - mr.greengenes1	2007	✓ right
Coral Sunset	Ebay - nielsvnoort2c2z (Niels L. Van Noort - Woodland, WA)	2015
Dinner Plate	Ebay - luckybusya	2007	✓ right
Dr. Alexander Fleming	Ebay - willowcreekgardens	2007
Duchesse de Nemours	Ebay - luckybusya	2004	✓ right
Flame	Ebay - superchukcha	2007	✓ right
Fragrant Jade (Xiang Yu) (Tree)	Ebay - hungsupplysolutions	2013	✓ right
Golden Wheel (Huang Jin Lun)	Ebay - beautifulpeony	2007	✓ right
Goldmine (Huang Jin Lun)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2016
Hanakisoi 花競 (Floral Rivalry) (Tree)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2016
Houki 芳紀 (Charming Age) (Tree)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2016
High Noon (Tree)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2018
Hillary (Intersectional)	Ebay - ricknken03cw	2007	✓ right
Impossible Dream (Intersectional)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong itoh yellow
Joannna Marlene (Intersectional)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2015
Julia Rose (Intersectional)	Ebay - ricknken03cw	2007	✓ right
Kamata-nishiki 鎌田錦 (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	:( died
Kamata-nishiki 鎌田錦 (Tree)	Ebay - orientalpeony (Yongdong Wu - Upper Malboro, MD)	2016	✓ right
Karl Rosenfield	Ebay - willowcreekgardens	2007
Kinkaku (Souvenir de Maxime Cornu) (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong tree peony white
Koukamon 皇嘉門 (Floral Gate) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2017
Lemon Dream (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	:( died
Lemon Dream (Intersectional)	Ebay - jackshouse2008 (Therese Sprauer - Brooks, OR)	2014	✓ right
Lollipop (Intersectional)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong itoh yellow
Love Affair (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Mother's Choice	Ebay - mcgper1	2005	✓ right
Mr. Ed	Ebay - hostagardens	2007	✓ right
Nymphe	Ebay - superchukcha	2007	✓ right
Old Rose Dandy (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	✓ right
Paeonia delavayi var lutea ludlowii (Tree)	Ebay - dogwooderitternet	2013	:( died
Paeonia rockii (Tree)	Ebay - zwan2392 (Zuncai Wang)	2013	✓ right
Paula Fay	Ebay - mr.greengenes1	2007	✓ right
Petticoat Flounce	Ebay - bigmikek	2007
Pink Firefly	Ebay - hostagardens	2007	✓ right
Pink Jazz	Ebay - luckybusya	2004	✓ right
Prairie Charm (Intersectional)	Ebay - vasyl_svet (Sergei Snitkovskiy - Brooklyn, NY)	2015
Prairie Charm (Intersectional)	Ebay - orientalpeony (Yongdong Wu - Upper Malboro, MD)	2016
Raspberry Firefly	Ebay - greenatlatl	2007	✓ right
Red Double Fernleaf	Ebay - hanskaflowers	2006
Red Dwarf Single Fernleaf	Ebay - bigmikek	2007
Reine Hortense	Ebay - luckybusya	2005
Scarlet Heaven (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	X wrong - wrong itoh old rose dandy?
Scarlet O'Hara	Ebay - mr.greengenes1	2007	✓ right
Sorbet	Ebay	2004	✓ right
Shimadaijin 島大臣 (Island Minister) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2016	✓ right
Shimanishiki 島錦 (Island Brocade) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2017
Taiyo 太陽 (The Sun) (Tree)	Ebay - tyebrook (Samuel Saunders - Lovingston, Virginia)	2016	✓ right
Tom Eckhardt	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2007
Tria (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong tree peony white
White Phoenix (Feng Dan Bai) (Tree)	Ebay - easyplantingli	2013	✓ right
White Phoenix (Feng Dan Bai) (Tree)	Ebay - hungsupplysolutions (Henry Hung, Hicksville, NY)	2016	✓ right
Yao's Yellow (Tree)	Ebay - orientalpeony (Yongdong Wu - Upper Malboro, MD)	2016	✓ right
Yellow Crown (Intersectional)	Ebay - mcgper1	2007	✓ right
Yellow Heaven (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Yellow Waterlily (Intersectional)	Ebay - craftygalinmi (Kathy Carrigan, Lacy Creek Growers - Vermontville, MI)	2015
Yumi ?? (Possess Beauty) - Yellow Doodle Dandy (Intersectional)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong itoh peony prairie charm?
Yumi (Possess Beauty) - Yellow Doodle Dandy (Intersectional)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2016	✓ right

2018 Greensand, Vitamins for Peonies?

Organic Green Sand

After answering a question from a reader about fungus in my 2018 Question Growing Peonies in the Deep South, Dealing with Fungus article, I received a comment via email from another reader suggesting that greensand might be helpful to prevent/retard fungus. I was hoping that reader would add the comment to the article, but it doesn't look like they ever did, so I just added the comment to the post myself. Anyway I decided to purchase some to see if it would help my peonies. Greensand seems to contains minerals like potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and lot of others. So maybe it is kind of like vitamins for peonies. I'm not really sure since I've never used any in my garden, but I'm curious to see what it can do. I tried to find a local source for the larger bag, but it didn't seem to be very cost effective to order it locally. So I ended up purchasing it on Amazon. Do any of my current readers have experience with Greensand? Have you ever used it on your peonies? If so what results have you seen?

2018 Brooks Gardens Final Peony Root Sale 25% Off Everything

If you just *need* one more root (or a few) to sneak into your garden beds before spring hits, Brook Gardens appears to be having a great "final sale" to close out their season - 25% off everything. It looks like their Final Peony Root Sale of 2018 will last through the end of November, but there's not much time left in November. So you need to make up your mind quickly before the sale is over. One thing that's great about having a more Southern peony garden is that your ground is not yet frozen (unlike some of our Northern neighbors), so we definitely have the opportunity to take advantage of these last minute peony sales and still have time to get them planted this year.


Brooks Gardens Final Peony Root Sale 25% Off
Another great thing about this sale is getting an opportunity to pick up some intersectional peonies for a lower price. If you missed the 2018 Song Sparrow 25% Off All Itoh Peonies sale (which is now over), you have one more chance to pick up some intersectional peonies on sale. Intersectional peonies are very reliable increasers and bloomers here in our warmer climate, and they are quickly becoming the stars of our Southern Peony garden. Intersectional peonies are often priced much higher than traditional herbaceous peonies, 2018 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List. So this is a great opportunity to try a few new varieties (or purchase your very first intersectional peony). :-)

2018 Transplanting My First Tree Peony

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Bud
It was past time to move the first tree peony that I'd like to watch. That peony, a very vigorous pink-lavender P. Rockii peony is featured as the first peony in my recent 2018 Southern Peony Seedlings article. I've never moved a tree peony before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've always heard that tree peonies don't like to be moved. However I'm hoping this one won't be hurt since it is still a young plant and not fully established in its original location. I was a bit surprised to see that this tree peony still had some green leaves, as almost all of my other tree peonies have already died back. The first thing I did before I tried to dig it was create a planting hole for it. I also added a bit of EcoScraps fertilizer in the hole. I never fertilized the P. rockii tree peony seeds when I planted them. So I'm curious to see what this peony can do with some extra food and more sun. I decided to plant it in a nice, sunny spot right next to my bird feeder.


P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Tagged for Watching

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Leaves

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Planting Hole
I tried to be very careful when digging it out, especially since it was very crowded (and I mean very) in original location. I put the original seeds in my peony seedling bed about 2-3 inches apart when I originally planted them. (I know, I know - that is too close, but I wasn't even sure if they would sprout or not since I'd previously not had much luck growing tree peonies from seed.) It's a wonder these tree peonies are able to grow at all, much less bloom with that much competition. However this particularly vigorous seedling was the tallest of all its siblings, and it had pretty much figured out how to beat the system. It had sent out a very long lateral root that was actually taller than the plant itself. The root was growing past all of the other sibling tree peonies out of the peony seedling bed. I tried to get all of it out, but it looks like I still lost a bit of the root at the tip.


Digging P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Roots

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Root Length

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Stem Height
The root actually ended up being even longer than the tree peony was tall. The root (what I got of it) was 30" long! So that means it would have been even longer if I hadn't snapped the end off. The tallest stem was 28.5" tall. I'm curious to see how tall this tree peony grows with time. Since the hole I dug for the root was not 3 feet wide (or larger), I decided to dig a trench for the long lateral root next to my planting hole. Maybe that's not the best solution, but that's what I decided to do. I don't really have the time or energy to dig a hole that big anyway! I am really, really excited to see what this tree peony can do next year. I also planted a newly purchased tree peony 'Leda' that I just decided to purchase this fall from Song Sparrow near it. It won the APS Gold Medal in 2014, but I never bought it until now. I am curious to see how these two tree peonies compare as they grow...


P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony in Its New Home

Transplanted P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony

2018 Southern Peony Seedlings

Well, this year was a gorgeous year to capture some peony seedling photos. The neatest thing about seedlings is knowing that no one else in the world had the same peony as you. Deciding which ones are good enough to share with the world (and hopefully convince others of that same idea) is the hard part. I'm not sure how close I am into my first foray in that arena, but I thought I'd give you all a taste of what's growing in my peony seedling beds right now that excites me... These peonies are in order of bloom date.

Peony Seedling: P. Rockii Lavender

---

Bloom Date: Week 1 (Very Early)
RHS Color: Pink Violet 75C
Seed Planted: 2013
First Year Bloomed: 2017
Parents: Unknown (Purchased Seed)


P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Seedling
This gorgeous P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Seedling came from seed I purchased on Ebay from Cricket Hill Garden in 2013. It was the very first plant to bloom from the seeds they sent me. It actually first bloomed last year in 2017 (and somehow I missed getting an open bloom photo in its first year of bloom). Its first year sprouting was in 2014. So it bloomed in just 3 years! Also of all the seedlings they sent me, this one is the tallest. So this early blooming activity and increased height and size compared to its siblings really speaks to its vigor. I am planning to move this one this fall to a spot with more room, and a bit more sun to see what it can really do! This peony is a delight to grow since it is a very early bloomer, being only the 3rd peony of all my varieties to bloom in the spring. This gorgeous lavender pink color so early in the season is a welcome sight for sore eyes! Also none of the buds (so far) have suffered from a late spring frost. Wow! (Although it has only bloomed 2 years now, so I will have to continue to track its blooming habits.)

2013 P. Rockii Peony Seeds from Cricket Hill Garden
2018 P. Rockii Peony Seedling Has 2 Buds in Second Year of Bloom
2018 Third Peony Bloom of the Season - P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Seedling


P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Seedling

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Seedling

Peony Seedling: Early Pale Pink Double

---

Bloom Date: Week 3 (Early Mid)
RHS Color: Not Yet Rated
Seed Planted: 2008
First Year Bloomed: ? (first year double 2018)
Parents: 'Lavender Princess' X ?


Pale Pink Double Peony Seedling (Early)
I know this bloom photo looks a bit sad. I'm not sure if I caught a great photo of it or not. I'm hoping once I move this one it might do better. So the flower itself is not what interests me the most on this one, especially since this is the first time I've seen it bloom double. The most interesting thing about this seedling is the fact that it was the only double blooming in my yard at the time, April 22, 2018. No other double had yet to bloom. So this makes it seem like a rare occurrence to get such an early blooming lactiflora peony. Since this was the first year I've seen it bloom double, I need to move it to see if it continues to bloom double and bloom so early in the season. Also the flower and bush form needs to be checked when it is growing with adequate space.


Early Pale Pink Double Peony Seedling
at Bottom Center of Peony Seedling Bed

Peony Seedling: Mid Light Pink Semi-Double

---

Bloom Date: Week 5 (Mid Late)
RHS Color: Not Yet Rated
Seed Planted: ?
First Year Bloomed: ?
Parents: ?


Light Pink Semi-Double Peony Seedling (Mid)
This peony is also an early blooming seedling, this one being semi-double. It seems I failed to mark and capture data on this peony this year. So I'll need to pay better attention to it this spring to check the location and identity of this seedling. The semi-double light pink bloom is just gorgeous, and I can't wait to see how this one develops (and how the bush looks with lots of blooms on it). In this photo it kind of reminds me of Peony 'Silvia Saunders' (which I do not yet grow, so have only seen in photographs).

Peony Seedling: Mid White Anemone

---

Bloom Date: Week 5 (Mid Late)
RHS Color: White 155D
Seed Planted: 2013
First Year Bloomed: 2018
Parents: 'Pink Princess' X ?


White Anemone Peony Seedling (Mid)
1st Day Bloom
This pretty white peony seemed to 'pop' out of nowhere. This peony was the first to herbaceous seedling to bloom in my newer seedling bed, which I started planting in 2013. It is a cute anemone type peony, and it kind of reminds me of a white 'Gay Paree'. This is the first year it has bloomed, so I'm curious to see if it will change form next year.


White Anemone Peony Seedling (Mid)
2nd Day Bloom

Peony Seedling: Mid Late 'Lavender Ruffles' Semi-Double to Double

---

Bloom Date: Week 5-6 (Mid Late to Late)
RHS Color: Purple Pink N74C
Seed Planted: 2008
First Year Bloomed: 2014
Parents: 'Lavender Princess' X ?


'Lavender Ruffles' Peony Seedling
This peony which I've nicknamed 'Lavender Ruffles' has been a longtime favorite seedling of mine. It first impressed me with a semi-double bloom in 2014. Since that time it has been double and then back to semi-double and then it has even had some double, some semi-double on the same bush. I can't wait to see what it does next year! Maybe I will divide it next year to see how well it does with propagation. Peony 'Lavender Ruffles' is a seedling of 'Lavender Princess' from 2008. This peony is a later blooming peony. It is so nice to have a color like 'Lavender' with so many petals at a later time in the season! This peony seems to be quite floriferous with several blooms on each stem. Despite the multitude of blooms, the flowers seem to be able to stay off the ground. This one seems to be quite promising!

2014 Favorite Peony Seedling - Semi-Double Pink Violet
2014 Transplant Lavender Ruffles Peony Seedling
2015 Lavender Ruffles Peony Seedling Becomes Double


'Lavender Ruffles' Peony Seedling

'Lavender Ruffles' Peony Seedling

'Lavender Ruffles' Peony Seedling

Peony Seedling: Mid Late Light Pink Double

---

Bloom Date: Week 6 (Late)
RHS Color: Not Yet Rated
Seed Planted: ?
First Year Bloomed: ?
Parents: ?


Light Pink Double Peony Seedling
This peony is newly double for me. I'm not sure exactly when it started blooming, but it did have 3 large size very double blooms all on one stem this year. The flowers were so big and so heavy that all three of the massively-petaled flowers weighed down the single stem they were carried on until they bent the stem under their weight. I'm not sure if I noticed these blooms upon first opening. So I didn't bother taking a color reading until perhaps next year. It looks like I need to capture a few more data points about this seedling too.

Peony Seedling: Mid Late Hot Pink Double / Bomb

---

Bloom Date: Week 6 (Late)
RHS Color: Not Yet Rated
Seed Planted:
First Year Bloomed:
Parents: ?

This peony has a nice bright hot pink color (which I haven't seem to have color matched yet), and I like how late it blooms, but I'm just not sure about how well it can keep the flowers off the ground. I like that it has a late bloom season to add some color to the garden when the other peonies have finished. It kind of reminds me of 'Karl Rosenfield'. So I'd like to see how this one might be able to differentiate itself. My 'Karl Rosenfield' seems to be very susceptible to black spot/blight. Let's hope this peony is a bit more resistant.

2015 New Hot Pink Double in Peony Seedling Test Bed
2015 Transplant Promising Hot Pink Double Seedling


Hot Pink Double / Bomb Peony Seedling

Hot Pink Double / Bomb Peony Seedling Buds

Hot Pink Double / Bomb Peony Seedling

2018 To My Wife The Queen of Southern Peony

This doesn't happen super often, but this time it was especially sentimental. My husband gave me a birthday card that just melted my heart. The thoughts he wrote on the inside were nice too, but the envelope is what really got me. I have been growing peonies for 15 years now, and running this site for 9. No one has ever referenced me in this way (addressing my love of peonies), and it really got me. He addressed the envelope to my birthday card "To My Wife The Queen of Southern Peony". What a nice way to recognize and pay homage to something that is such passion of mine and a big part of my life. :-) Sorry this is a little sappy, but I just had to share it with you all! It really made my heart jump!


Birthday Card Envelope
"To My Wife The Queen of Southern Peony"

2018 Song Sparrow Peony Root Sprouting in the Fall

Newly Planted Peony 'Glowing Candles'
Sending Up an Fall Sprout
Awww, man. A peony I ordered from the 2018 Fall Peony Sale @ Song Sparrow and just planted three weeks ago is already sprouting. Of course it looks like a nice sprout that probably would have produced a bud and flower next spring. When this happens it seems like these peonies take so much longer to become established here. It seems like they are just confused, but what is confusing to me is why is this root really sprouting? I have ordered peonies from other vendors in Wisconsin, without this issue. I used to think it was sprouting just because it came from a cooler region of the country, but now I am wondering if it is because this root has already been in some kind of cold storage, and it thinks it has already experienced winter. Now that it has arrived here in my Southern garden, it thinks our temperate autumn days feel like spring (and they probably do).


Peony 'Glowing Candles' Sign
This problem has occurred a several times in the past, but it looks like I've only recorded it here two other times, 2012 Newly Planted Peony Sprouting in Fall and 2016 New Peony Breaking Dormancy Too Early. I seem to remember this happening several times with roots from Song Sparrow, I guess I will have to record this whenever it happens in the future so I can keep a better record of which vendors this happens with. Of the two listed above, one of those was from Song Sparrow (2012), and the other one was from Ebay (2016) - which who knows where that peony root came from originally? The problem with these early sprouts is that they are quickly killed by the cold winter temperature, and the root has just wasted quite a bit of energy sending up this sprout. I never really know what to do with these sprouts, cut them off, let them grow. I worry that if I snap them off, another bud on the same root will try to sprout, wasting another chance for the peony to grow in the spring. I usually end up watching this small, lonely sprout grow as much as it can before winter's cold comes and makes it wither into limp nothingness. :-( What do you do with your fall peony foliage "sprouts"?

2018 Dismal Seed Production Year

Empty Peony 'Martha W.' Seed Pods
It was a very dismal year for seed production, especially for the intersectional hybrids I'm working on. I actually got zero seeds! (Zero!), which is very disappointing considering I used so many different varieties of tree peony pollen this year, many frozen and several fresh too! I'm guessing it must have something to do with the weather, since the seed production on many of my other lactiflora peonies was almost nil as well. When I look back at the weather history for April of this year - 2018, it looks like most nights were in the 40s and 50s, but we did get a few 30s later in the month. On 4/17 it was 33°, on 4/20 it was 34°, on 4/21 it was 37°, and on 4/30 it was 36°. Even my Peony 'Green Lotus' and Peony 'Pink Spritzer' (which are usually loaded with seeds) produced nothing as well. The seed pods on my Peony 'Martha W.' plants grew and swelled normally (as if they were incubating lots of fresh black seeds), but when they popped open there was nothing inside but tiny, black failed seeds. Oh well, I guess there's always another opportunity next year, and there's still hoping some of the seeds from previous years (2016 First Intersectional Peony Seeds! and 2017 Intersectional Peony Hybridizing Efforts) will germinate this spring. We shall see...

2018 Beautiful Fall Burgundy Peony Foliage Colors & Coral Drift Rose

I couldn't help but snap a picture of this gorgeous deep burgundy fall peony foliage with the contrast of the bright coral colored drift rose blooming nearby. I've been cleaning up the garden this fall, cutting back my peony foliage for the year, and I couldn't keep my eyes off of this pretty pair. These two fall friends gleamed in the sun from across the garden. As I came in for a closer look and to snap a photo, the leaves of the peony plant rustled, and I noticed a small lizard happily using the peony leaves as a perch. I snapped a photo of him too. He was a little scared of me, and jumped back onto a peony stem a bit farther away, but he didn't run away. He let me take several shots of him, and even looked right at me on one of the shots! What a cutie. I hope that you too are taking a little time to enjoy autumn's colors and our wildlife friends out in the fall garden! Happy Fall!


Coral Drift Rose & Peony with Burgundy Fall Foliage

Burgundy Fall Peony Foliage

Coral Drift Rose

Lizard on Fall Peony Foliage