2022 American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition Seedlings

2022 American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition Seedlings
For the last few conventions at least, the Seedling category of the American Peony Society Flower Exhibition Seedling class has been judged by Don Hollingsworth (loves early double herbaceous) and Nate Bremer (loves tree peonies). You can check out my interviews with each of them on our Southern Peony Hybridizers page. This year did not change that judging practice, as they both judged the Seedling class again this year as well.


2022 American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition Seedlings
It seems like the Seedling judges really favored the anemone style peonies this year, and a couple of double or mostly double herbceous varieties. There were so many beautiful tree peony varieties on the Seedling table this year, but I'm not sure why none of them were awarded a pink Certificate of Merit ribbon. I guess they didn't meet the standards or bring anything new into the range.

Seedling entries in the APS Exhibition are not ranked with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place ribbons like the other show flowers. If they are deemed worthy, they are instead awarded a pink "Certificate of Merit" ribbon by the judges. It looks like this year Tim Stanek of Iowa took home lots of pink ribbons and almost swept the category!! Congrats, Tim! Check out this year's winning flowers below...

Peony "Crm #1" Tim Stanek

Peony "SPECKS" Tim Stanek

Peony "H3521" Don Hollingsworth

Peony "PK OR JP" Tim Stanek

Peony "ODD LACTI" Tim Stanek

Peony "DRK PK JP" Tim Stanek

2020 More Intersectional Peony Seedling Babies Pop Up!

More Intersectional Peony Seedlings Pop Up - 4/26
They're alive! They're alive!! Well, it took quite a while from when the first intersectional peony seedling popped up on March 26th, 2020 Intersectional Peony Seedling Pops Up!, for another one of them to pop up. It was literally a month later when the 2nd two intersectional peony seedlings popped up. It makes you think that the first one of these must be an early bloomer, while the other two are later bloomers. Who knows if that's true, but it would be interesting to find out. I'm just glad some of the first seedling's siblings started to show up. I was definitely getting worried about them. It seems like that happens every year, though. So this year I decided to mark each intersectional peony seedling with a tiny bamboo plant stake. So next year when I'm waiting for them to grow, I'll know exactly where they're supposed to be showing up! :-)


Intersectional Peony Seedlings - 4/29

Intersectional Peony Seedling - 4/29

Intersectional Peony Seedling - 4/29

Intersectional Peony Seedling - 4/29

2020 The Tree Peony and the Honey Bee

Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee
I'm not sure who was more eager to see this tree peony open - me or the honey bee! We finally got some sunshine after days and days of rain and cloudiness, and boy was I thankful for it! So was this bee apparently, since the sun helped open up all of these flowers in bud. This tree peony is a seedling I grew from some seed I purchased on Ebay, 2013 P. Rockii Peony Seeds from Cricket Hill Garden. I guess this would be considered a semi-double bloom since it has more than a single row of petals. It sure is gorgeous, and I just love those purple flares in the center of the flower!! I will definitely be labeling this one so that I remember to move it this fall out of the seedling bed fall and into my garden! :-)


Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee

Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee
I'm sure the honey bees will be happy to have more flowers in the garden each year. I do know of one peony grower in Canada that also likes peonies & bees - Blossom Hill Nursery. They have their own hives, make their own honey, and lots of other products with the wax. I am just so grateful to see the bees here in my garden. I know that bees have been having a hard time. I hope that bees are able to recover. I also hope that we can all do our part to reduce our dependence on harmful chemicals and try to make each of our individual garden spaces bee friendly. Bees are our friends, let's make them welcome! :-)


Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee

2020 Intersectional Peony Seedling Pops Up!

Intersectional Peony Seedling Pops Up! (3/19)
Every year I get nervous waiting for my intersectional peony seedlings to pop up. The first one popped up on 3/19 this year! Finally! The rest of them have not shown up yet. So I'm still a little nervous - wondering if a critter got to them, a disease, or perhaps the weather. Who knows? For now it is still a waiting game to see when or if the rest of them will show up. Hopefully they do. When I looked back, it seems like the intersectional peony seedings didn't show up until almost mid April last year (4/10), 2019 I Finally DID IT! My First Intersectional Peony Seedling-s!. So I guess this lone seedling popped up early, and I'm guessing the others will show up when they feel like it (sometime next month).


Intersectional Peony Seedling Sign
'Martha W.' X Nate Bremer's Rainbow
This particular seedling is a cross of Peony 'Martha W.' and what I've nicknamed Nate Bremer's Rainbow. Nate was kind enough to allow people to collect pollen from his gorgeous tree peony garden when the APS convention came to tour it in 2016. I was not prepared so was gifted a few envelopes to collect pollen from Don Smith. Since I didn't have enough envelopes to collect the tree peony pollen all separately, I put several different varieties of pollen from Nate's garden in an envelope and labeled it "Nate Bremer's Rainbow" (since I put so many different colorful tree peony pollens in it). If you'd like to know more about Nate and his hybridizing program, check out our interview with him, 2016 Peony Hybridizer Interview - Nate Bremer.


Intersectional Peony Seedling Pops Up! (3/26)

2020 Tree Peony Seeds from Luoyang, China Grow!!

Tree Peony Seedling #2 on 3/9
I was beginning to give up on those tree peony seeds from China, 2018 Planting Tree Peony Seeds from Luoyang China, but it looks like they are starting to germinate this year! I stared at some empty dirt and kept picking weeds out of the area last year hoping to find a sprout, but never did. After not seeing anything pop up yet this year, I thought there was no hope for them this year, until I saw a seedling pop up in that area a week or so ago. Even then I was suspicious whether that seedling came from one of the seeds from China or just some random lost or rogue seed in the bed. When I looked for that first seed a few days later the bed was empty - no seedling. I began to wonder whether some underground (or above ground?) critter got the roots and/or seedling. I imagined some animal just sucking it underground, since the tree peony seedling was nowhere in sight.


Tree Peony Seedling #1 on 3/9
After spending some time pulling some miniature weeds from the seedling bed, I finally discovered that first seedling (Tree Peony Seedling #1 pictured above). As you can see it was either killed by some low overnight temperatures (which we did experience) or some kind of fungal wilt. The cold temperatures can also cause the wilt. So it is really hard to say what the culprit was in this case (but some corroborating evidence may exist for the cold theory, as I've noticed some selected tips of other new plants with burnt - dried & blackened - tips). So I think this tree peony seedling may have experienced cold burn/freeze damage. That's very sad. This is the first year this peony tried to grow a leaf, and it got knocked down. I don't think this one will be able to come back next year. I guess that is just part of nature's selection process.


Tree Peony Seedling Signs

Tree Peony Seedling #2 on 3/12
I guess you could say the biggest fail with these seeds are the signs. I took a lot of time to figure out how to plant these seeds with their signs since the peonies I purchased had no names on the flower only pictures. I even purchased some special Black & Decker UV plastic laminate to laminate them with. As you can see that laminate was not really UV protected. Too bad about the false advertising on those laminating sheets. These signs didn't even last 1 full year before fading. The flowers photos were all so beautiful and colorful when I put them on there. Oh well, at least I took a photo of them and scanned them into the computer before I put them outside in the sun to fade! LOL


Tree Peony Seedling #3 with Signs
These tree peony seedlings are definitely having some challenges. As you can see Tree Peony Seedling #3 (pictured below) looks like it had 2 tiny stems originally, and one of them looks like it has already been bitten off. I hope some of these Chinese tree peony seedlings make it through Mother Nature's wrath into adulthood in a few years, so that I may see their beautiful blossoms. I'm just hoping that they aren't all single, white Paeonia ostii seeds/seedlings. Only time will tell...


Tree Peony Seedling #3

2020 Peony Seedling Double Light Pink with Red Center

Southern Peony Seedling: Light Pink Double with Red Center
There was one more peony in my peony seedling bed that I found of interest last year. I tagged it to be moved to my peony seedling test bed last year while it was blooming. Let's just say today was the first opportunity I had to do so. I saved the cleanup of my peony seedling bed until last, and I finally got to cutting back the dead foliage today. While doing so I noticed the tag I placed on this plant last May, marked as "Light Pink Double Red Center". As you can see, the blooms present in two different ways in the photo. The one in the front is the main bud, with more rounded, even petals. The one in the back is the side bud, with more frilly pink petals. Both forms are beautiful to me, and I'm curious to see how this one will perform this year. Since the peonies aren't really out of the ground much yet here, (and this one hadn't started growing yet at all), I decided to go ahead and move it today.


Southern Peony Seedling Dead Foliage


Southern Peony Seedling Eye Bud & Sign


Southern Peony Seedling Roots


Southern Peony Seedling New Planting Hole


Southern Peony Seedling Planted


Southern Peony Seedling Close Up

2019 I Finally DID IT! My First Intersectional Peony Seedling-s!

I can't believe it. I think just when you finally give up on something, it actually happens. Self doubt creeps in, you start second guessing all of your steps, trying to figure out where you went wrong, and begin to wonder if you will ever reach your goal. You start to think it may never happen, and then it does. All of the hard work you've put in all along begins to pay off. Those thoughts of failure suddenly turn into realizations of success! As soon as that goal is reached, the next one starts to materialize. There is always something new to strive for...


Intersectional Peony Seedling
'Martha W.' X Nate Bremer's Rainbow

Peony Seedlings 2017 Sign
'Martha W.' X Nate Bremer's Rainbow
Somehow after years of trying, an intentional peony cross of mine finally succeeded. These two particular intersectional seedlings started out as just a happen chance idea in 2016. During the 2016 APS Peony Convention Tour of Solaris Farms, I was learning quite a lot from Don Smith, and he asked Nate if he would allow him to collect tree peony pollen from his farm, and Nate graciously invited us to collect as much pollen as we liked. Don shared a few of his envelopes with me, and I went to work, following his lead. My eyes and heart led me towards the lavender and purple colored tree peonies. Tree Peony 'Wisteria Reflections' was blooming at the time of our visit, and this was one I collected pollen from and saved it in a separate envelope. Since Don Smith didn't have many envelopes to spare, I collected lots more pollen from a wide range of tree peony colors and put it all in one envelope, which I later labeled "Nate Bremer's Rainbow". :-)


Intersectional Peony Seedling - 'Martha W.' X 'Wisteria Reflections'

Intersectional Peony Seedling
'Martha W.' X 'Wisteria Reflections'
Since my bloom season was over by the time I got home, I froze the pollen in my freezer for use the next year. That was almost 3 years ago now, and I am just now seeing the fruits of that pollen. Also it looks like I planted the seeds a bit late that year in late November, 2017 Intersectional Peony Hybridizing Efforts. So maybe if I'd planted them sooner they would have sprouted a year earlier, but who knows? I am just happy I actually got it right this time, unlike the first year I got a seedling to sprout. The only thing that sprouted that year was an accidental herbaceous peony, 2017 First Intersectional Hybrid Seedling Sprouts!. The foliage of that first sprout and these is very obviously different. That 2017 sprout had very rounded foliage with a few "pest" notches where something had eaten a few bites out of each leaf, whereas these 2019 sprouts clearly have deeper cut notched foliage that is reminiscent of tree peonies. The coloring is also different. The 2017 seedling had more red colored foliage upon sprouting with a thicker substance. These 2019 seedlings have a very intersectional grayish colored overcast to them. Very exciting! Also you never know what that first herbaceous sprout from 2017 might be good for, perhaps a good future parent. Sometimes things happen for a reason...

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