2020 Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting

Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
Well, since my last Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' died of root rot, I decided that I would pot up the recent peony roots I've purchased, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay, 2020 Ordering Peonies on Etsy from ExoticseedsLatvia. I plan to plant these intersectional peony roots out in the fall. I'm hoping that will give me some time to fix the soil where the old Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' was planted and give these peonies a chance at surviving (and hopefully thriving) during their first Southern summer!


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
I'd already had these peony roots soaking for a day or two to try to regain any lost moisture during shipment. So I found some pots that were laying around to pot them up in. The two roots from Etsy/ExoticseedsLatvia were larger than the root from Ebay/Hirt's Gardens. So I put the Etsy/ExoticseedsLatvia root in the two larger purple pots, and I put the smaller Ebay/Hirt's Gardens root in the smaller 3.5" pot. It looks like that one came out of the same size pot any way since its roots were a little bent/square. It should be able to survive another couple seasons there.


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
I mixed some bagged top soil with the peat that came with these roots to create the soil for the pots. I also made sure to put some pot saucer trays underneath each of them to make sure they don't get too dry. I usually water things with rain from my rain barrel, which I keep mosquito dunks in. So the water from those rain barrels will keep the mosquitos from multiplying in the trays. So these should be good to go until fall! :-)


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting

2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies of Root Rot?

Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'
Most of you probably know that 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!!. You probably also know that I've ordered a replacement as well, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay. So the next thing to do was to dig up the dead one to see what happened to it. As you can see there wasn't much left of the peony when I dug it out of the ground this week. It was actually quite disappointing. Judging by the barely attached limp shell of a root, it seems this peony suffered from some kind of root rot.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Before Digging
I know that I've had peonies to rot over the winter that are brand new roots and never get established, but this is the first time I've had an established 6 year old peony plant die from root rot. We did have record-breaking rainfall in 2018. So I'm not sure if that could have caused it, being 2 years ago, but maybe it could have started then and finished it off now? Who knows...


Digging Up Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'
As you can see I started digging far away from the plant, but finding nothing, had to go to the center. I couldn't find much anything of substance or weight to dig. There was really nothing left but a few chunks of the crown, with not much root to speak of at all. Really the above ground stems left from previous years attached by a small bit of crown was really all that was left. I was kind of hoping to find a bit more. I took the three chunks I could find and washed them off on a some cement with the garden hose. Whatever it was that go it, got it good.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Crown Chunks
This makes me think about sanitation a bit more for sure. I wonder if it could have been caused by conditions and or fungal infection from the original grower. I don't currently soak any of my peony roots in a bleach solution, but this makes me wonder if I should. I also wonder if it could be something in the native soil that just multiplied with our extensive rain in 2018. Regardless there's most likely something in the soil now. So I think my next project for that area will be solarization to help sanitize the area just in case. I actually did my first solarization project to create this intersectional peony bed originally back in 2012 Intersectional Peony Bed Preparation, and I was happy with the results. Now it's time for a refresh!


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' What's Left

2020 Peony Experiments - Adventitious Roots Results, Peony 'Grace Root'

Peony 'Grace Root' Sign
Well, I guess you could say this Experiment is a failure. It's been almost 5 years since I planted those Peony 'Grace Root' root tips, 2015 Peony Experiments - Planting Adventitious Roots, and nothing has grown from them. Maybe next time I will try actually cutting pieces close to the crown of the plant and/or cutting larger pieces. The root tips I planted for this experiment were just small pieces that happened to break off from the Peony 'Grace Root' plant when I was digging it to be divided (so that I could donate a root to a local arboretum). I can also say with confidence that I did not pay those root pieces any special attention - no watering, no fertilizing, no nothing - just time. Upon digging in the soil I found no traces of those root pieces either. So I'm guessing they dried up and disintegrated. Oh well, on to the next!


Peony 'Grace Root' Adventitious Root Test Bed

2019 Peony Experiment - Little Darlin' Intersectional Root Pieces Grow!

I guess you could say this experiment was also a success. All of the Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' root pieces that I planted last fall, 2019 Peony Experiment - Planting Little Darlin' Intersectional Root Pieces have all grown (except one). And I must say that this experiment was not totally controlled since it seems that a dog or some other animal dug up several of these roots, and they had to be replanted. One of them was dug up multiple times, even after it was replanted. My guess is the one that didn't grow is probably a root that was dug up multiple times, and that perhaps affected its ability to grow and thrive.


Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' Root Pieces Grow (4/19)
Also the one root that didn't grow was also on the left. According to the original experiment, I planted them in order of least root (on the left) to most root (on the right). The root on the far most left side, which was really just a nub with an eye on it, really had no roots. Actually there was one other nub with eyes on it, just a slight larger nub, that did grow. Basically this experiment seems to confirm the success I had with the Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' in a similar previous experiment, 2013 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Divisions Grow (4/25). It seems that intersectional peonies have a great propensity to regenerate.


Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' Root Pieces Grow
Taking some new photos almost a week later, it seems that the bud tips (one of them actually looked like it might bloom!) of the tallest plant have started to dry up and die back a bit. I'm guessing it overgrew it's root capacity. It will probably be just fine next year. All of the other smaller divisions still look green and healthy. The other reason it could be drying up a bit could also be due to the heat we've experienced this week. We didn't get much of a chance to experience weather in the 70s so far this year (they may get skipped). It has been in the 80s for several days now, accelerating our bloom season, and perhaps causing this stress to these new intersectional peony plant divisions. Hopefully the weather will even out soon! A few more slightly cool, slightly warm spring days would be nice before summer!

2019 Peony Experiment - Planting Little Darlin' Intersectional Root Pieces

Digging and Dividing Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin''
You know me - I'm always up to something. So I decided to go visit my Grandma yesterday since it was raining, and you can't really do anything outside. I had purchased a couple extra 50% off roots in the Adelman Peony Gardens sale, 2018 Adelman Peony Gardens Black Friday Sale 50% Off for her, and I still hadn't remembered to give them to her yet. So it seemed like a good day to do it, but I also wanted to bring her a root from the 'Little Darlin'' Intersectional Peony which has been growing like a weed in my garden. I wanted to split it and bring her a hunk since it is planted right next to my Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma YeDo', and it is kind of encroaching on its space a bit.


Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' Root Divisions
So I split a piece of my Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' off with my shovel, but it split into two large chunks. The large chunk on the left with the huge root was one solid division, so I gave that one to my Grandma. The chunk on the right didn't have much root on it, and when I picked it up, it split into 7 pieces (with varying degrees of roots)!! All 7 pieces had nice pink buds on them. This sounded like another experiment in the making, and it reminded me a lot of the Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' roots I planted in previous experiment, 2012 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Divisions.


7 Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' Small Root/Eye Pieces
So I decided to plant all 7 intersectional peony root pieces in my peony test bed to see how they might grow. I planted them from smallest amount of root (on the left) to largest amount of root (on the right). It was a little muddy and wet outside for planting, but luckily it was only a light rain. We shall see in the spring how many of these roots sprout, and then we shall see how many of them live to see another spring. Last time all of the Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' roots sprouted, no matter how little (or no) roots the division had, 2013 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Divisions Grow. So I am interested to see how these Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' plants will do (especially since the original plant was growing like a weed).


Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' Pieces Replanted

Intersectional Peony 'Little Darlin'' Sign

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 Peony Growers Root Size Comparison

I haven't really compared peony vendors since my 2009 Fall Peony Orders article. So it has been almost 10 years! Since I ordered a couple peony roots from so many different vendors this year, I thought it would be nice to do another comparison to see what people are sending out nowadays and how they stack up. Also a couple of caveats here. Different peony cultivars could have larger or smaller roots, so this is just a general guide - although some vendors do routinely sent much larger roots. (HINT: Check the box sizes - they usually correspond to how large or small the peony growers trim their roots.) Also the length of the peony roots is measured, but not the width (which does matter too). Perhaps next time, I will weigh them to see how "much" peony you're actually getting -- too late now since most of these have been planted. I think most people have measured peony roots on the number of eyes they have, but the more root they have to go with it, the better they will grow!

* These peony growers are listed in alphabetical order.

Adelman Peony Gardens

Adelman Peony Gardens - 10.5" Root Size
Size of Root: 10.5 inches Packing Material: Peat Shipping Carrier: USPS Priority Mail (1-3 Days) Box Size: large, 12 x 12 x 6 Large Flat Rate Box Shipping Cost: $12.95 Peonies in Box: 2 (1 APS Auction root shipped free in the same box)

Brooks Gardens

Brooks Gardens - 9" Root Size
Size of Root: 9 inches Packing Material: Peat Shipping Carrier: USPS Priority Mail (1-3 Days) Box Size: small, 10 x 7 x 5 Regional Rate Box A Shipping Cost: $8.00 Peonies in Box: 2

Fina Gardens

Fina Gardens - 8.5" Root Size
Size of Root: 8.5 inches Packing Material: Peat Shipping Carrier: USPS Priority Mail (1-3 Days) Box Size: small, 10 x 7 x 5 Regional Rate Box A Shipping Cost: $14.00 Peonies in Box: 2

Hidden Springs Flower Farm

Hidden Springs Flower Farm - 8" Root Size
Size of Root: 8 inches Packing Material: Wood Chips, Shredded Newspaper Shipping Carrier: USPS Priority Mail (1-3 Days) Box Size: small, 10 x 7 x 5 Regional Rate Box A Shipping Cost: $18.00 Peonies in Box: 3

Hollingsworth Peonies

Hollingsworth Peonies - 11" Root Size
Size of Root: 11 inches Packing Material: Peat Shipping Carrier: USPS Priority Mail (1-3 Days) Box Size: medium, 11 x 8 x 6 Medium Flat Rate Box Shipping Cost: $18.50 Peonies in Box: 2

Solaris Farms

Solaris Farms - 7" Root Size
Size of Root: 7 inches Packing Material: Peat Shipping Carrier: USPS Priority Mail (1-3 Days) Box Size: medium, 11 x 8 x 6 Medium Flat Rate Box Shipping Cost: $18.00 Peonies in Box: 4

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow - 7" Root Size
Size of Root: 7 inches Packing Material: Sphagnum Moss Shipping Carrier: UPS Ground (4-7 Days) Box Size: small, 8 x 8 x 8 Shipping Cost: $27.25 Peonies in Box: 4

2018 Planting Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious'

Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Pot
Is There Anything in the Pot?
I was kind of nervous to see if my intersectional 'Scrumdidleyumptious' peonies, that have been sitting it out in pots all summer were still alive after 2018 Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Arrives, and they were planted in April. Their foliage came up nicely and they grew for a time, but the foliage has long since died back. I'm not a great pot Mom, so I didn't remember to water them much. I'm guessing that's why the foliage died back early. Luckily we have had record rain fall this year (not once did my lawn turn brown this summer from lack of water). So now these roots have been sitting in quite wet pots for a couple of months with no foliage, and I was worrying that the roots had rotted away. They've been in part sun/part shade sitting next to my deck all summer. So I decided it was time to check them out to see if there was anything still left in their pots.


Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious'
Checking the First Pot

Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious'
Checking the Second Pot
I was happily surprised to find that not only were they not rotten, but they seemed to be doing okay, maybe even pretty well. It looks like they've started to grow new, baby storage roots as well as some small white feeder roots. They actually seemed decently happy. I guess I got lucky! So I got them planted out right away. One root was larger than the other, but that's pretty much how they came. The larger root had 3 foliage sprouts in the spring, and the smaller one only had one, but they both made it! I'm guessing it might be a couple years before they actually bloom, but I am just happy to have them in my garden. I'm really hoping they are the right variety. Only time will tell! If you happened to buy a root or two from 2018 Tulip World Offers Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' for $12.95!, please write in to let me know if you get any 'Scrumdidleyumptious' blooms this spring!


Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Root #1

Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Root #2

2018 Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Arrives

Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Potted Up
My intersectional peonies from 2018 Tulip World Offers Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' for $12.95! arrived this past Friday, and I immediately potted them up. The foliage had already been growing in the bag for some time. Whenever I've gotten roots like this and planted them out in their spot in the garden in the past, the foliage seems to burn up in the sun and die. I think they've been in the bag in the dark too long, and started growing in almost no light or completely no light. That's why the foliage growth is so pale. Then when I plant them out in their full sun location, the intensity of the sun's rays are just too much for the immature foliage that has been growing in the dark. So this time I decided to try potting them up and putting them in the shade for a little while, until I'm satisfied that the foliage is growing well and will live. It's kind of like hardening off plants that you've been growing indoors or in a greenhouse that are used to a warmer more even air temperatures. You have to kind of ease them into living outside again.
Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' in Bags
I'm hoping by easing these plants into the light, they will have a better chance of survival. I'm just lucky I had a couple of pots and some top soil. Usually I recycle all of my pots right away, and I don't usually have top soil. I had been keeping a few pots on hand in case I wanted to share some plants, and I was using the top soil to try to fix some bare spots in my lawn and improve the soil around some underperforming plants. I kept these intersectional peonies in the shade all day on Friday, and on Saturday we had an entire day of rain. So a nice, cloudy sky to help these immature intersectional peonies to get on their way - growing! I'm just curious to see if they actually have intersectional peony foliage. We'll see... ;-)
Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Roots