2013 American Peony Society Silver Medal

American Peony Society Gold Medal Black & White Image

OMG! I am so excited! Again! Yesterday when I was searching Google for an American Peony Society logo that I wanted to use in my APS Board Member post, I came across a picture of a silver colored American Peony Society medal. It was for sale on Etsy for $8! Of course I bought it right away! The description says it was issued to Marvin Karrels, who according to the APS website for APS Best in Show won the Best in Show - Grand Champion 9 different years - 1946, 1951, 1956, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976, & 1983! Wow! I found a black & white image of the APS gold medal, and this silver colored medal appears to be an exact copy of the black & white image of the APS Gold Medal from 'The Manual of the American Peony Society'. I'm not sure if you remember seeing my post on the 2012 APS Peony Convention Banquet & Auction, but one of the speakers passed around an actual gold medal from the APS, and it was gold colored. I can't wait to receive this silver colored APS medal in the mail! Too cool! :)
American Peony Society Silver Colored Medal


American Peony Society 1943 Gold Medal

2013 New American Peony Society Board Member

The American Peony Society

Wow! I am so excited, and I guess it's official now so I can share. Last week I was asked to join the board of the American Peony Society! This is actually the 2nd volunteer board that I will serve on. The first board I served on was a local society board. This will be the first national society board that I will serve. So I am certainly excited! I definitely learned a lot in my first board position, and I hope to learn even more serving on the APS Board. I want to contribute any knowledge I have, learn from others' past experiences, and do all I can to help further the cause of peonies and spread the love of growing them in the home landscape. They are just such an awesome plant, and I'm sure they will get better and better with our combined knowledge and breeding efforts. So stay tuned - the best is yet to come! :)

2013 Peony Spreadsheet Data Entry

I spent some time last night and today working on my peony data spreadsheet. I put in all of the data from last peony season - last year (2012). I also spent some time catching up from 2011. I had recorded all of the bloom and stem count data manually on paper, but had not yet transferred it into my computer. Once I have all of the data in my spreadsheet, I can also calculate the bloom offset. One day I would like to convert the spreadsheet into a database so that I can use it to analyze the growth of the different peony species in my climate. I would also like to be able to automatically pull that data from the database and manipulate however needed to put into various pages on this web site. We did get a new iPad for Christmas this year. If I really get myself in gear, maybe I can use that to input data into the spreadsheet/database while I'm out in the garden. That would be nice! However it might be a little hard convincing my fiancée to let me take it out there. Maybe I'll have to get my own - for garden use only! :-) Peony Data Spreadsheet

2012 Newly Planted Peony Sprouting in Fall

As you can see this peony is a little confused. Yes, we have been having a quite mild winter so far this year, and yes it was 70 degrees this weekend. Nice weather for me, but confusing weather for the new peonies I just planted this fall. They think it's spring! I wish. :) Unfortunately this is not good. The weather here is definitely going to get colder, and there's no way the buds on these two sprouts will ever open. That's not good for this peony root either. The plant is going to waste a lot of energy from it's storage roots to try to grow these sprouts, the colder weather here will kill the sprouts, and the roots will have to send up more sprouts in the spring. The waste of that much energy will probably set this plant back at least 1-2 years in it's development.

Fall Sprout on Newly Planted Peony 'Pink Parasol Surprise'
This has happened to me several times previously. The problem is caused because these roots are used to a much cooler climate (since this root was purchased from Song Sparrow - a Wisconsin climate - zone 5a vs zone 7b here). For this peony root to see these kinds of temperatures, it thinks it is spring. This is not always a problem for every root I purchase, but it has happened several times in the past. My hopes is that in the future there will be more commercial southern peony growers so that southern peony aficianados can orders their roots from growers with a climate similar to their own.

2012 How to Cut Back an Herbaceous Peony

Herbaceous peonies should be cut back each year to create a pleasing aesthetic in your peony gardens, maintain good air circulation, and prevent the spread of disease. Diseased, dying, and dead peony foliage isn't very nice to look, and cutting back your peonies will definitely present a cleaner and neater appearance in your peony beds. Old foliage from the previous year is going to prevent air circulation around the base of the plant which would create a moist environment ripe for the growth of foliar disease. Also any diseased foliage left in the peony bed gives the disease a chance to infect the newly emerging foliage in spring.
Herbaceous Peony in Fall


Cut Back Herbaceous Peony at Base of Stem

Using sharp clippers cut each of the peony stems back at the very base of the stem, even with the ground. Take care to avoid clipping any pink buds (peony eyes) that may be showing. These are the beginnings of the peony's growth cycle for the coming year. These pink buds will develop into next year's shoots. So be careful to stay away from those buds since they will become next year's foliage and possibly blooms as well!

Hollow Stem of Cut Peony and Pink Bud (Peony Eye)


Remove the Cut Peony Foliage

After cutting back all of the peony stems, make sure to throw all of the stems and foliage away. Do not compost the cut back peony stems and foliage. It is best to completely remove all of the cut peony foliage from the garden. I usually keep a plastic bag with me in the garden while I am cutting back the foliage, and I will put the cut foliage in the back as I go. Also examine the ground after removing the cut foliage to see if there are any peony leaves that were left behind. Take care to remove any loose peony leaves that you find.

Short Stem of Cut Peony

Some people will leave a short 2-3 stem on all of their peony shoots when cleaning up in the fall as shown on one stem in the picture above. I think some people like to keep the short stems to help them remember where their peonies are planted. However here in my growing zone, I can almost always see the pink buds (peony eyes) showing through fall and winter. I also make sure to keep my plants labeled and mapped, so I know their location and variety. I always cut my peonies back even with the ground. I figure if you are cutting back the plant to remove the green plant parts to prevent disease, the more you cut back, the less surface area for the disease to use as a host.

Herbaceous Peony Completely Cut Back