2011 Peonies on Ice

Well, I have heard of some extreme peony enthusiasts putting ice on their peonies in rather warm growing zones, like zones 9 and 10, in order to encourage their peonies to bloom. I guess they are trying to meet the required number of chilling hours needed to develop the blooms. I've never tried that myself, but last night Mother Nature put my peonies on ice. I think this has been the coldest and most snowy fall and winter that I can remember. I am really curious to see how this cold weather will affect the peonies in the spring...

2010 Peony Winter Weather

The weather! It has been so cold all of a sudden, and it isn't even really winter quite yet. We had a pretty good snow that blanketed most surfaces besides the roads (thank goodness) with quite a coat of snow cover. I'm sure the peonies are loving the cold temperatures. I hope the new plantings and seeds have had enough time to get their roots growing or established and ready for the next growing season. The snow cover has melted now, but the temperatures are remaining quite low. Hopefully all of this cold weather will equal lots of blooms come spring!

2010 Peony Fall Foliage

Wow! I am really enjoying the beautiful fall foliage colors in some of the peonies. Peonies really are a wonderful plant that can provide several seasons of interest. They start with the wonderful colors of the emerging foliage in early spring, a rainbow of blooms in late spring, beautiful green foliage in summer, and awesome fall colored foliage in autumn! Here are some of the beautiful leaves I captured today...

Peony 'Walter Mains'	Peony 'Kansas'
Peony 'Seashell'	Peony 'Paul M. Wild'

2010 APS Peony Seed Planting

I actually got all of my seeds planted that I purchased at the American Peony Society Convention this June. Usually the seeds I plant are from peony cultivars. I don't usually buy seeds, but this year I purchased several varieties of species peony seeds. I made plant labels for each seed type. I decided to plant them in a grid instead of rows, which is how I usually plant my seeds. I ordered them alphabetically in the grid in case the plant label is lost (hopefully not). These are the varieties that I planted: P. brownii, P. caucasica, P. mascula, P. mlokosewitschii, P. ostii, P. peregrine, P. rockii, P. tenuifolia, and P. veitchii. I don't currently have any of these except P. tenuifolia, which hasn't bloomed for me yet. So I am curious to see how these different species peonies will grow here in my southern climate.

2010 Fall Peony Planting

Today was a beautiful fall day. It went from burning hot summer to nice fall weather in one week. It will probably be winter next week! So it goes. I was actually able to plant my peonies today in the nice fall weather. I like to use Espoma Organic fertilizer and lime in my planting holes. The soil here is generally a bit acidic. So I add the lime to try to balance the PH of the soil. I am excited about the peonies I planted today. I'm not sure if any of them will bloom next spring, but the varieties are all ones I've had my eye on for quite some time. I didn't get any award winners this year, but I did get some nice varieties that have unique characteristics. Peony 'Rose Heart' is supposed to have a darker pink center. I am curious to see how that one will bloom here. Peony 'Goldilocks' is supposed to be a yellow herbaceous and Peony 'Etched Salmon' is supposed to be a salmon, which are not very common colors. I also planted Peony 'Pink Derby', which was awesome as a cut flower when on display at the APS convention this year, and Peony 'Athena', which is a replacement because the first one I had died out. I am hoping Peony 'Athena' will survive and thrive this time. Only time will tell...