2017 Free Mulch for Peonies and Garden

Free Wood Chip Mulch for Peonies
I was kind of worried this might not come in. I've been calling my tree service guy for about 4 months now asking for free wood chips. I also called all around town to other tree services, but hadn't had any luck finding any wood chips. I was getting really desperate knowing the 2017 American Peony Society Convention being held in Raleigh, NC this year (and there might be a few visitors to my garden). I decided to try the tree service guy I know one more time a week ago. This time he finally said he'd be working in my area and could bring me some mulch! I was overjoyed. Now comes the hard part. Time to get to work shoveling, hauling, dumping, and raking! As you can see my Peony 'Keiko' (Adored) in the background is really happy about getting the new mulch too! :-) If you don't grow Peony 'Keiko' I highly recommend it. It is an outstanding and consistent plant, and is one of my Southern Peony Best Performers.

2017 Peony 'Julia Rose' Best Performer - Week 3

I just can not stop looking at (or taking pictures of) this Peony 'Julia Rose' plant this year. Every bloom on the plant is gorgeous. The colors of the petals are beautiful ombres of pink, orange, and coral. This intersectional Peony 'Julia Rose' was hybridized by Roger Anderson and does not yet seem to be registered. However this plant has been on the market for quite some time. This plant holds the flowers nicely above the foliage and the blooms are spaced evenly around the plant. The blooms open over a period of time, so you get to enjoy the blooms for a couple weeks. If you don't yet grow Intersectional Peony 'Julia Rose', it should definitely be on your list. You can find this peony for sale from several growers on my 2017 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List. Good luck!
Intersectional Peony 'Julia Rose'
Southern Peony Best Performer

Intersectional Peony 'Julia Rose'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2017 Peony Blooms Week 3 Early Mid

It was a hard week for my peonies, another week of dry, sunny weather (which makes for great peony photos!). However I can tell the flowers and stems are a bit sad and wishing for rain. Also it seems the foliage and flowers are smaller than usual. I don't think we've made up for our lack of rain in February, and so the ground is still a bit drier than normal. We are definitely down from the average amount of rainfall so far this year. Despite the challenges, the peonies still managed to show up with some amazing blooms. Take a look... I hope your early peonies are growing and blooming for you too! :-)
Peony 'Salmon Dream'

Peony 'Do Tell'

Peony 'Etched Salmon'

Peony 'Green Lotus'

Peony 'Pink Spritzer'

Peony 'White Cap'

2017 Cutting Peony Stems for the APS Convention & Exhibition

Cut Peony Stems for APS Exhibition
I finally found a bit of time to cut a few stems for the American Peony Society 2017 Convention. I've been so busy that I've almost let this slip away from me. Most of my early peonies have already opened and are too far past the point needed to cut them for the flower show. So I guess I won't be showing any Saunders hybrids this year. However my mid season peonies are starting to bloom as well as my intersectionals. So there are still several choices left to cut. If you are new to showing flowers and feel a little intimidated about it, don't worry. I made all the mistakes two years ago. Remember the steam bath many of my peony stems needed for my 2015 APS Convention Exhibit Peony Preparation?
Cut Peony Stems with Soft Buds
This year I am cutting the blooms a little less "hard" than I did last year. I guess I was worried if there were any petals showing the flowers would go bad, but now I've learned that if you cut the buds too small and hard, they just do not open. Also single flowers will open faster than double flowers. So you want to make sure your huge double flowered buds are mature enough when you cut them. As you can see this years cuts are a bit larger and showing a bit more petal than the cuts I did 2 years ago, 2015 Cut First Stems for APS Peony Exhibition. We'll see how it works out. Hopefully I don't get any more mold, and the blooms open well without a steam bath!

2017 Good Peony Hybridizing Weather

Pollinated Peony Bloom Protected by Sheer Bag
I'm not sure how, but somehow this week I have managed to get up early enough every day for the last week to get my pollen out of the freezer, go outside with a trash can, scissors, pollen, and bags/tags to work on hybridizing Peony 'Martha W.' - all before getting the kids ready and out the door for school/preschool and then getting myself ready for work! :-D I think my first failure - 2017 Intersectional Peony Hybridizing Failure - has made me even more determined to succeed.
Frozen Pollen and Bags for Protection
The weather has mostly cooperated. It has been quite dry now for a couple of weeks. Doing this hybridzing work to remove the petals and stamens and then applying a pollen to the stigmas for all these days in a row, and has made me come to appreciate the dry weather we've been having. I wouldn't want all of this pollen to just get washed right off! However the non-hybridizing, peony grower side of me keeps wishing for the rain!
First Day Peony Crosses Protected By Paper Bags
Many of the peonies in my garden are still growing leaves and flower buds and need additional moisture to grow well. The pollen I've been using is frozen from pollen I collected last year at the convention during the 2016 APS Peony Convention Tour of Solaris Farms. Nate Bremer very generously told all of his visitors that they were welcome to collect as much pollen as the would like. So I'm hoping that some of this tree peony pollen that has been frozen for one year is still good! Only time will tell.
Second Day Peony Crosses Protected By Sheer Bags
I have been keeping the pollinated blooms protected with a paper bag the first day and then a breathable, transparent bag the second day. I'm hoping this helps the pollination rates. Last year I used only the paper bags, and left them on the plant for much too long. I believe this had a negative impact on the number of fertilized seeds that were able to develop. Let hope this idea - sparked by Nate's mention that he was using cotton muslin bags as an experiment - will work!