Even though I've been an APS Member for years, I have never actually bid in the APS Fall Auction. I have donated peonies to the APS Fall Auction to be auctioned off to benefit the APS, like this year's donation to the
2015 American Peony Society Fall Auction - Grace Root. So this year I decided to bid on a few peonies too! Especially since they had the
2015 American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner - 'Mahoghany' in the auction, which is also the Peony of the Year for 2016. I was especially happy to see this one in the auction since I didn't find any commercial growers that were offering it for sale this year. (I'm sure there will be many of them offering it next year, though!) I put in bids on four peonies in the auction, and I won two - Peony 'Mahogany' and Peony 'Roselette'. Not too bad for my first attempt. :-)
2015 APS Auction Win - Peony 'Mahogany'
I have never grown Peony 'Mahogany' before, and I am looking forward to seeing how this APS Gold Medal Winner performs here. I especially like this peony because of the lighter colored flares in the center of the petals. I have grown Peony 'Roselette' here before. It took several years to start to become established. Once it was starting to grow well, I mistakenly killed it with herbicide overspray. This was the year when my Saunders peony garden did not have enough mulch, and the weeds were literally taking over that bed. Now the bed has a nice layer of mulch on it, and the peonies are doing well there. So hopefully this Peony 'Roselette' will find a nice home here!