2013 Snow on Peonies

It is supposed to be 64 today, which is amazing since I took this snow picture a week ago today. It has actually snowed a couple of times this winter. Last winter there was no snow at all, and the weather was especially mild. Even my energy bill can tell the difference. I used 30% more electricity this winter compared to last year! Even with the warmer winter last year, we still had an excellent show of peony blooms in the spring. So I'm curious to see what the difference the extra cold will do this year. Peonies need the cold weather to form the blooms. If your winters are too warm (or your peonies are planted too deeply) they won't get enough chilling hours to generate a blooming cycle. So with the extra cool weather this year, the peonies here should have an abundance of blooms! I'm looking forward to it.
Peony 'Hillary' in the Snow

2013 Suffruticosa Tree Peony Seeds from China

On a reader's recommendation (Steve), I ordered some peony seeds from Ali Express. I wanted a nice mixture, and one of the sellers, Linlang Department Store, offered seeds from 15 named tree peony varieties (Chinese names, of course) of all different colors. So I decided to order from them. They weren't 4 cents a seed, but I'm hoping for some nice seedlings. They ended up being 12 cents a seed for 100 seeds, so $12. I also ordered a pack of mixed color seeds, no named varieties, off of Ebay for $2.50 for 120 seeds. That's about 2 cents a seed. Who knows what I would do with all of those plants if they actually came up? Tree peonies aren't even my favorite anyway, but for more than 200 p. suffruticosa seeds for less than the price of one herbaceous peony root, I figured I'd give them a try. I'm sure not all of the peony seeds will come up anyway, but this gives me a nice chance of actually getting some plants and the opportunity to see how these Chinese tree peonies will adapt to and grow in my southern climate.
Chinese Tree Peony Seeds

2013 Questions - Purchasing Peony Plants Versus Roots

I received this question from Karen in Zone 8:
"I currently have no peonies growing in my yard, zone 8, Montgomery AL. My first question is should I even attempt to do this with our long, very hot humid summers and mild winters. I've seen several container grown peony plants for sale in nurseries here in the spring. Is this advisable to purchase a plant rather than bulbs?"

I would say that if you find a plant for sale in your local nursery, most likely the plant should grow in your zone. Most nurseries want repeat customers, and if they sell plants that don't grow well in your zone and just die, they're not likely to get to many repeat customers that way. Peonies will definitely grow in zone 8. The question of whether to purchase a peony plant or a bulb (which is really a root) depends on how much time and money you have. If you can wait a little and want to buy the peony at a lesser cost, buy the root, since the root will likely be cheaper. However it may take one or more years to see blooms depending on the size and condition of the peony roots. Conversely if you don't mind spending a little more and would rather see results sooner, buy the container plant. Usually you can find peony container plants in bud or in bloom, so you know you will have blooms this year and for many years to come! If you do find a container peony in bloom, you will also know exactly what color you are purchasing - which is not always the case with roots, which could get mixed up. Good luck with your peonies, and I'd love to see pictures!

Intersectional Peony in Container	Intersectional Peony Root

2013 Freeze Dried Peony Petals for Weddings

I wanted to order some freeze dried rose petals for my wedding, but I was thrilled to find out that I could order freeze dried peony petals instead! Flyboy Naturals offers freeze dried peony petals that are perfectly preserved like fresh peony petals. What an awesome way to honor my favorite flower than to have my daughter toss peony petals on the beach at my wedding! Also they are environmentally friendly since they are biodegradable. :) These petals are grown in the USA. Flyboy Naturals has a nice selection of petals to choose from. So if you are looking for peony petals for your special event, I would highly recommend them! I selected the ivory peony petals, but they have lots of peony petal colors to choose from - ivory, lemon, pink, yellow, dark red, coral, and deep wine. The box I received was very nicely packaged, and the peony petals are beautiful. I can't wait to use them at my wedding!
Ivory Freeze Dried Peony Petals

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