2014 Intersectional Peony Blooms - Late Mid - Week 5

Well, it seems the late season intersectional peonies were dominated by yellow this year. Peony 'Cora Louise' was the only non-yellow intersectional peony blooming this week, and those lovely pink purple flares in the center of her blossom really stood out. Yes, that photo of Peony 'Yellow Crown' that looks like it is upside down is really not. That's how most of the flowers bloom. The blossoms on Peony 'Yellow Crown' are just so loaded with petals that the heavy bloom is just too much for the stems to bear! Peony 'Garden Treasure' is actually a bit floppy too. However I was still able to get a few good pictures of its blooms. Peony 'Bartzella' is definitely the most upward facing full petalled yellow intersectional in my garden. What a beauty!

Intersectional Peony 'Cora Louise'	Intersectional Peony 'Garden Treasure'
Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella'	Intersectional Peony 'Yellow Crown'

2014 Southern Peony Best Performers By Week

In case you were hoping to expand your blooms season, and were wondering what varieties would do best in a southern climate, I've added a table to my Southern Peony Best Performers page to help you find what you're looking for. This table is a handy reference of the peonies that do well for me here in my climate and whose individual flowers look good alone and together on the bush. I select the most impressive bush each week of my growing season (if there is one), and give them this designation to help all of you select the best varieties for your growing climate. I hope you find this information helpful. If you have any Questions, please send them in!

2014 Peony Blooms - Late Mid - Week 5

The weather was quite harsh for peonies this week. We had our first 90 degree day since September. So the peony blooms really started to suffer. It had been a couple weeks since it had last rained, and before that it had been raining about every week. So we really needed the rain. We finally got 2.5 inches on Thursday night. However the rain came all at once pouring down and pushing the heavy double peony blooms to the ground. The storm also came with lots of wind to blow around those heavy, rain-laden peony blooms, further damaging their appearance. So it was challenging to get some good peony photos this week. However I did manage to get a few before the rain and a couple that opened after the rain was finished. Peony 'Topeka Garnet' first bloomed for me this year, and it was also selected as the APS Gold Medal winner in 2012.

Peony 'Topeka Garnet'	Peony 'Kansas'
Peony 'Pink Derby'	Peony 'Raspberry Sundae'
Peony 'Myra MacRae'	Peony 'Old Faithful'

2014 Chinese Tree Peonies from Ali Express

Chinese Tree Peonies 1 & 2 from Ali Express - April 2014

Chinese Tree Peonies 3 & 4 from Ali Express - April 2014
Chinese Tree Peonies 5 & 6 from Ali Express - April 2014

The photos above are of the Ali Express Chinese Tree Peonies $5.52 for 3! as they were just beginning to leaf out in April. The photos below are of the same Chinese tree peonies about a month later. As you can see from the photos, all 6 of the tree peonies that arrived did leaf out, which is great 100% viability. However if you look closely at the photos a month later, you will see that, sadly, one of the peonies (tree peony #4) did not make it. Not long after leafing out, the foliage of tree peony #4 just seemed to wither and shrink, and sadly it has not re-sprouted. Some other good news about these tree peonies is that each of the foliage and stem coloring appears to be different. So it seems they all may be different varieties (as requested). I'm excited to see how fast these tree peonies grow, how long it takes to get the first bloom, and what the blooms will look like on these peonies. Even though these peonies did not turn out to be $5.52 for 3 (they were actually $5.52 each), that is still an awesome deal, considering all of them were viable. Anyway it seems Ali Express may be the place to buy tree peonies (if you can find the right vendor - I did end up getting only peony seeds from some vendors that advertised an actual tree peony). LOL
Chinese Tree Peonies 1, 2, & 3 from Ali Express - May 2014


Chinese Tree Peonies 4, 5, & 6 from Ali Express - May 2014

2014 Favorite Peony Seedling - Semi-Double Pink Violet

Oh! I love it! My favorite peony seedling to bloom this year. It is a child of Peony 'Lavender Princess', and it was planted it 2008, and it first bloomed this year. The bloom is 6 inches in size, and the color of its blooms is RHS 75C Pink Violet. I will definitely have to keep watch over this one to see if it has potential. I haven't seen one on the market quite like this, and I love its multitude of lavender petals. We'll see how well it increases and how disease resistant it is. I'm also curious to see if the bloom form changes next year on a more mature plant. This year there are over 35 petals with a very tight center of yellow stamens. If it is fertile and produces seed well, then it may be a good breeding plant as well.
Favorite Peony Seedling Bloom
Pink Violet Semi-Double Peony


2008 Seedling of Peony 'Lavender Princess'


Peony Seedling Bed