2012 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Divisions

I divided a huge Peony 'Bartzella' this week with 24 stems. I ended up with 10 divisions. Four of the divisions have large root systems, and I know they will grow fine. However 6 of them had little to no root left on them. Since Peony 'Bartzella' DNA seems to be quite valuable these days, and I am not currently in the business of cloning :), I thought I'd plant them out to see if they'd survive, grow, and thrive. Some of them have only a stem and a bud on them. So those I planted a little deeper hoping for an adventitious root. I know some peonies are known to create adventitious buds. So I'll be curious to see if these are able to develop adventitious roots. :) I planted these out in my new peony seedling test bed which I guess is now just my peony test bed. I also had a little helper that sprinkled a bit of water on them. :)

Peony 'Bartzella' Division with Small Roots	Peony 'Bartzella' Division with Small Roots Planted
Peony 'Bartzella' Division with Tiny Roots	Peony 'Bartzella' Division with Tiny Roots Planted
Peony 'Bartzella' Division with No Roots	Peony 'Bartzella' Division with No Roots Planted

Peony Helper

2012 Intersectional Peony Garden Planting

Wow! Planting the intersectional peonies in their new garden bed was a dream. The new soil was so soft and even the earth below was easy to work with considering how much rain we've had lately. At first I couldn't decide on the layout. I wanted the layout to be different than my other peony beds. I finally decided on concentric circles with Peony 'Bartzella' in the center.
Intersectional Peony Bed Layout
I guess I will be enlarging this bed very soon. I pretty much filled it up. I dug up or divided 6 intersectional peonies that I already had elsewhere in my garden - shadier spots, which is why they needed a new home! I've had them for years with little to no bloom. I'm hoping with the move they will be happier and produce lots more blossoms! Those peonies were Peony 'Copper Kettle', Peony 'Cora Louise', Peony 'First Arrival', Peony 'Hillary', Peony 'Julia Rose', and Peony 'Morning Lilac'. I also added my four intersectional Ebay peonies Peony 'Canary Brilliants', Peony 'Lemon Dream', Peony 'Old Rose Dandy', and Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'. Then I planted two new intersectional peony roots that arrived last week Peony 'Garden Treasure' and Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'. I can't wait to see how this intersectional peony garden develops over time!
Intersectional Peony Bed Planting

2012 AmScope Microscope for Peony Research

I am really excited! I just placed an order on Amazon for an AmScope 40X-640X Glass Optics Student Compound Microscope + USB Digital Camera. I was able to get it for $59 after points from my Amazon Visa and some Amazon gift cards I had. Now I can take really close up pictures of peony components! I can't wait to use it. I want to look at foliage, blooms, stems, roots, and even diseases! This is going to be so cool. It even has a built in camera, so I'll be able to post some pics to my blog. If there's something you'd curious to know that you'd like me research with it, please feel free to send me a question! This will be a valuable tool for future Experiments.

Microscope for Peony Research>

2012 Shutterfly Hardcover Peony Book

I love Shutterfly. It lets me combine two things I love (peonies & photography) into something tangible! They have a great offer right now - a free 8X8 hardcover photo book with the coupon code SUMMERBOOK. Today is the last day, though. I am such a procrastinator! :-P However I did get my 2012 Peony book finished today. The price is usually $29.99 + $8.53 shipping. With the coupon code you just play $8.53 for shipping, a great deal! Shutterfly has a nice interface that allows you to use different photo layouts, backgrounds, fonts, etc. I have just created a blank template for myself to use each year for my peony photo book. I like the simplicity of a white background. It contrasts nicely with the bright colors of the peony flowers. If you're looking for a nice way to get some photos printed into a photo book, I would definitely recommend Shutterfly. I've been using them for years now, and I have always been impressed by their quality and customer service.
Shutterfly Peony Book Layout


Shutterfly Peony Book Preview

2012 Soil for New Peony Beds

Well I finally got the mountains of new dirt raked out into nicely shaped beds for my peonies. One peony bed will be for seedlings. The other peony bed will be for intersectional peonies. I'm kind of excited to see how these grow in the spring. With such nice soil to grow in these should do really well! The intersectional peony bed turned out to be 9ft X 12ft. The peony seedling test bed turned out to be 7ft X 8ft. They're not huge, but they're pretty good size. I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze lots of intersectional peonies and peony seedlings into them for now - and I'm sure the beds will grow in size later! ;) The next thing I need to do is figure out the layout. Then when my fall shipments arrive, I'll know where to plant them. :)
Intersectional Peony Bed Soil


Peony Test Seedling Bed Soil