2013 Flickr Peony Photo Group

I've had an account on Flickr for a while, but I just stumbled upon their peony photo group today. It has lots of beautiful pictures. So I decided to join it. I have a few peony pictures on my Southern Peony Flickr account already, but there are so many more peony pictures in the Flickr Peonies photo group from all over the world. If you like peonies even a little, you could spend some time just looking over all of the eye candy in this photo group. Also if you like to take pictures, you might want to sign up for a Flickr account so you too can contribute to the menagerie of beautiful peony photos. :) If you click on the image and take a look at the first peony picture in the Flickr Peonies Group Pool, it is a picture of a tree peony in Japan. It looks like they built a teepee for their plant. I thought I loved peonies, but, wow, they must really love peonies to build them each a house! :D

Flickr Peony Group

2013 Peony in Other Languages

Thinking about peonies and growing them all over the world, I wondered what the translations were for peony in other languages. These translations are credited to the translation site Babylon. Have another language to add? Please contact me. In recognition of all of Southern Peony's multinational visitors, I've just added a "Translate" option to our site to make reading in other languages easier. Also I'm interested to know how peonies are used in your country, what their value and meaning is locally and nationally where ever you are on the globe. If I get enough stories, I will try to publish some of them here. So please write in and let me know how you use peonies, who the big growers are, where peonies grow best, favorite named varieties, or whatever information you'd like to recount that tells what peonies mean to your country and/or culture!

Peony
Languages of the World

Peony in English	peony, paeony
Peony in Arabic	عود الصليب نباتة
Peony in Bulgarian	божур
Peony in Catalan	peònia
Peony in Chinese	牡丹
Peony in Croatian	božur
Peony in Dutch	pioenroos
Peony in French	pivoine
Peony in German	Pfingstrose
Peony in Greek	παιωνία
Peony in Hebrew	אדמוני
Peony in Hindi	peony
Peony in Hungarian	pünkösdi rózsa
Peony in Italian	peonia
Peony in Japanese	牡丹
Peony in Korean	모란
Peony in Mongolian	цээнэ цэцэг
Peony in Persian	گل صد تومانی
Peony in Polish	piwonia
Peony in Portuguese	peônia
Peony in Romanian	bujor
Peony in Russian	пион
Peony in Serbian	Bozur
Peony in Spanish	peonía, saltaojos
Peony in Swedish	pion
Peony in Thai	โบตั๋น
Peony in Turkish	şakayık
Peony in Ukranian	Півонія
Peony in Vietnamese	cây mâu đơn

2013 Peony Seeds From Hirt's Gardens

Talk about instant gratification - I ordered these seeds on Sunday, and they arrived in my mailbox on Wednesday! I must say I am impressed with Hirt's Gardens and the seeds I ordered from them on Ebay. All of the seeds were the correct number as promised except for P. banatica, which had one extra seed in it. This is what I received: P. ludlowii (2 seeds), P. mascula (5 seeds), P. officinalis banatica (5 seeds), P. tenuifolia (5 seeds), and P. wittmanniana (5 seeds). The peony seeds came with some interesting instructions. "PLACE SEED IN MOIST VERMICULITE IN PLASTIC BAG. PLACE IN WARM AREA OF THE HOUSE OUT OF THE SUN. WHEN THE ROOTS APPEAR, MOVE TO REFRIGERATOR FOR 10-12 WEEKS. TRANSPLANT WHEN SHOOT ARISE." I must admit I've never gone to that much trouble to germinate any seeds before. The most effort I've put forth is starting my vegetable seeds indoors for my vegetable garden, but no refrigeration was required. I might actually follow these instructions out of curiosity just to see what happens. I'll let you know how they do...

Peony Seeds from Hirt's Gardens

2013 Planting APS Peony Seed Packets

Well I finally got my seeds planted yesterday from the 2012 APS Seed Sale. I know it is really late, but the ground never really freezes here anyway. So the soil is still very workable. Anyway I got all 5 varieties planted - P. ostii (10 seeds), P. rockii (5 seeds), P. rockii & P. suffruticosa mixture (5 seeds), P. suffruticosa - purple (4 seeds), and P. veitchii - pink, single (11 seeds). I soaked them overnight to try to help them germinate. I kept them in separate containers so I could keep track of the varieties. Then I planted them with peony variety name labels in my new seedling test bed, which has really nice soil. So if they will grow anywhere, that would be the place. I'll record their germination rates in the spring. Also after reading my previous post about purchasing the seeds at the 2012 APS Convention Peony Seed Sale, I realized there was one more variety, P. suffruticosa 'Kamada Nishiki' - lavender pink (5 seeds). I just found the packet of peony seeds hidden on my desk. So I'll soak those tonight and plant them tomorrow.
Soaking APS Peony Seeds

2013 Questions - Where to Buy Peony Seeds

I received this question from Courtney in Zone 7:
"My father is interested in purchasing some peony seeds. He has always been into flowers and gardening and its evident by his yard. His favorite are peonies and he has just become interested in trying to grow them from seeds. I found your site online today after he requested that I try to find some catalogues or places where he could buy seeds. I’m not sure if you sell them or could help me in finding a place that sells them. I would appreciate your advice!"

The places that come to my mind for buying peony seeds are either on Ebay or the APS Seed Distribution Program. Doing a quick search on Ebay, there are lots of peony seeds you can buy from China. Also there are some peony seeds offered from Hirt's Gardens (based out of Ohio) on Ebay. Thanks to your inquiry, I decided to purchase a few of these seeds myself.

Peony Seeds for Sale on Ebay

You may want to check out my previous posts on the 2010 APS Peony Seed Program and 2012 APS Convention Peony Seed Sale . Also you DO need to be an APS member to participate in the APS Seed Distribution Program. The costs of the APS seeds are typically very affordable (usually $2-$3 per pack + shipping). If your father is not already a member of the American Peony Society, an APS Membership would make a great gift! I do not sell any peony seeds myself, and although I cannot personally vouch for the outcomes from any of the seeds you might buy, the costs of your endeavor should be low and the rewards great, provided you have the time. Peony seeds typically take 3-5+ years to develop into a flowering plant. I'd love to see any pictures from the fruits of your labors. Good luck! :-)