2012 Peonies on Ebay

I decided to buy some intersectional peonies on Ebay this week. I ended up paying about $40 each with shipping. So the prices were reasonable for intersectional peonies, since they are usually much more expensive than herbaceous peonies. I am curious to see them when they arrive. I've purchased peonies on Ebay before in the past, but never Itoh Intersectional Peonies. It will be quite obvious when the peony roots arrive if they are actually intersectional peonies or herbaceous peonies. I've actually had pretty good luck getting the correctly labeled peony varieties on Ebay (better than Wild's). :) I'm sure it depends on the vendor, though. So hopefully these will be the correct varieties. I'm wondering if they are tissue culture peonies or actual root divisions. Also I'm curious to see how they perform, grow, and bloom. The varieties I got were: Peony 'Canary Brilliants', Peony 'Lemon Dream', Peony 'Old Rose Dandy', and Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'. All but one of them were hybridized by Roger Anderson and registered in 1999. Peony 'Old Rose Dandy' was hybridized by Laning and registered in 1993. I'm really looking forward to receiving these intersectional peonies and hope to get them into my new intersectional peony garden bed soon!

2012 Intersectional Peony Bed Preparation

Since I decided to create a new bed for my intersectional peonies, my mind has been busy thinking of all the things I need to do to complete the project. Last weekend I started the process by laying out a clear plastic tarp over the section of ground where I will plant the new peony bed. I placed bricks on the edges of the tarp to keep it in place. The sun will heat up the ground and the plastic will prevent the heat from escaping. So it will get really hot under there to kill the current grass, weeds, unsprouted seeds, even bugs and plant pathogens such as viruses and bacteria! This process is called soil solarization, and the best time to do this is in the summer. So now is a good time to start if you'd like to prepare some peony beds for fall planting! If you're leery of chemicals, this is a good organic way to prepare the soil since no chemicals are needed to kill weeds. After the soil has been sterilized, I am planning to get a truckload of pro-mix and garden soil delivered. I usually just plant my peonies in the ground as is with a bit of lime and organic fertilizer mixed in. However the soil in the site for my new intersectional peony bed is not very good since this is a section of my yard that used to be forest and was scraped clean with when my house was built. So there is little to no top soil in this area. The grass and weeds don't even really want to grow here. Since I want to make sure my intersectional peonies are successful, I am going to do a little more advance preparation this time.

Intersectional Peony Bed Soil Solarization

2012 Intersectional Peony Order

Sometime last week I got the idea that I wanted to put in a new bed for intersectional peonies. I currently have my intersectional peonies planted in various sunny spots in the garden, and one bed that I think has too much shade (see my post on 2012 Peony Experiments - Sun vs. Shade ). So I decided I would move the plants that are in too shady of a location and create a new bed for them in a sunnier spot. And since I was creating a new intersectional peony bed, it seemed only logical that I needed to add a few more to my collection to help fill up this new bed. :) So it seemed to be good timing that I got an email from Song Sparrow advertising 15% Off All Container Plants! Their sale lasts until June 20, 2012. So I decided to get a couple of intersectional peonies from them, and a couple from Swenson Gardens as well. I've never placed an order with Swenson Gardens before. So I'm curious to see their shipment and plant quality. I'm also excited to get this new intersectional peony bed planted! :)

Peony 'Lafayette Escadrille'	Peony 'Little Darlin'

2012 Peony Experiments - Sun vs. Shade

I have one Peony 'Bartzella' that is growing in full sun, and another that is growing in partial shade. The difference between them is huge. The one in full sun has loads of blooms and the foliage is fuller and lower to the ground. The one in shade had only a couple of blooms, and the foliage is much thinner, taller, and upright. Both peonies were planted in 2007. So I've been growing both of them for 5 years. The number of stems and blooms on the one in full sun really outnumbers the one in shade. The plant growing in partial shade had 6 stems and 2 blooms this year. The plant growing in full sun had 20 stems and 19 blooms this year. So it is quite obvious that intersectional peonies can grow and bloom in shade, but their vigor and number of blooms is greatly reduced. So if you have a peony that's not doing very well that is in partial shade, find a nice sunny spot in your garden for your peony and move it there! :-)

Peony 'Bartzella' Growing in Sun


Peony 'Bartzella' Growing in Partial Shade

2012 Peony Experiments - Cutting Back Dead Flowers

I usually don't get around to cutting back dead flowers on my peonies. The past couple of years I have just left them to fend for themselves until the entire stem dies back. That way I would leave the flower head intact so that seeds could develop. However I have noticed quite a bit of fungal disease, and I wondered if it had any correlation to leaving the spent bloom on the plant. The flower type really seems to make a difference in this. The single and semi-double type flowers that shed their petals easily do not seem to have as much fungal disease as the more full double flowers that seem to hang onto their petals. Also I have noticed that dead petals that have fallen onto foliage below actual contribute to additional fungal growth that otherwise may not have developed. It seems the dying petals create just the right environment (more moist and warm) that the fungus needs to develop.

Dried Peony Petals on Foliage


Fungus on Peony Foliage
Over time I have been able to better recognize which seeds pods actually have developing seeds in them. So this year, I have started cleaning up my full double flowered peonies to remove the spent blooms. I also have 2 peony bushes of a white double peony that are the same variety. I decided to cut back the spent blooms on one of them, but not the other. I will check the amount of fungal disease later in the season. I also plan to cut down the dead foliage on the same one I cut back the flowers on and leave the dead foliage intact on the one I didn't cut back the flowers on. So we shall see how much difference it makes in the amount of fungus on the plants this fall and next spring.

Peony Spent Blooms Not Cut Back


Peony Spent Blooms Cut Back