Monday, May 1, 2017

2017 Peony 'Topeka Garnet' Best Performer - Week 4

I must say that I have been very impressed with how fast Peony 'Topeka Garnet' has developed in my garden. It has grown from 3 stems, to 7 stems, to 10 stems, to 12 stems, to now 15 stems this year. Each year its bud and blooms counts have been steadily increasing as well. This peony stands up in the face of heat, rain, and wind. It definitely thrives here in our warm Southern climate. This photo was taken after a big storm. As you can see a few of the blooms have been open for a few days and yet the bright red color is unaffected. The blooms have such good substance and the petals are so tough that they hang on even through a storm, giving you a nice red petaled show! The number of flowers on the bush is amazing, and I'd even already cut two stems to enter into the APS Exhibition this year! Peony 'Topeka Garnet' was hybridized by Bigger and registered in 1975. If you are looking for a good mid season red to add to your collection, I would highly recommend Peony 'Topeka Garnet'!

Peony 'Topeka Garnet'
Southern Peony Best Performer

Sunday, April 30, 2017

2017 Peony Blooms Week 4 Mid Season

Either there are lots of red peonies blooming this week, or I just happened to take pictures of lots of reds blooming this week. :-) We finally got the much needed rain. I think Mother Nature tried to make up for our year's rain deficit all in one storm. I don't even know exactly how much rain this storm dropped on us over 3 days, but I do know my rain gauge measures up to 5 inches, and it was all the way full! We did get a few days of sun once the storm had passed, which gave me an opportunity to snap a few sunny peony pictures this week! Enjoy!

Peony 'Many Happy Returns'

Peony 'Miss America'

Peony 'Scarlet O'Hara'

Peony 'Pink Princess'

Peony 'Topeka Garnet'

Peony 'Pink Derby'

Saturday, April 29, 2017

2017 Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma YeDo' Blooms!

Remember that box I received in January, 2017 First Intersectional Peony Gift from a Friend? Well, I am happy to report that it actually did bloom this year. This Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma YeDo' had only one bloom on it this year, but what a lovely bloom it is! The flower is so full, so full of petals of a rich, luxurious yellow. I haven't seen another peony quite like it. I was so tempted to cut this flower in bud to enter it into this year's 2017 American Peony Society Convention in Raleigh, NC, but I just couldn't resist seeing it bloom in my own garden! I'm guessing this gorgeous flower probably would have won a ribbon in the Exhibition, but seeing it bloom on the bush was worth missing out on a ribbon! Plus I want to keep as much foliage as possible on this Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma YeDo' bush so that it can grow even larger next year!

Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma YeDo'

Thursday, April 27, 2017

2017 In Love with Tree Peony 'Angel Emily'

Tree Peony 'Angel Emily'
I can't help it! I'm in love! Tree Peony 'Angel Emily' is the best tree peony I've ever grown. Not that I have grown that many of them (but I have grown a few - at least tried to grow and tried and tried). Okay, I've killed a couple tree peonies along the way, and it seems like none of them really ever want to get established, but Tree Peony 'Angel Emily' is a totally different story! This tree peony actually grows and grows and grows bigger each year - and more beautiful, with more blossoms on it. This year it actually had 3 blooms on it, and they were all this gorgeous shade of lavender. One of the blooms had already finished, and these two blooms opened a bit later.

Tree Peony 'Angel Emily' Blooms
It's like this tree peony grows how tree peonies are actually supposed to grow. I haven't quite had a tree peony yet to impress me. Sometimes I'd get a couple blooms the first year from the grafted stems of a tree peony, then I'd get no blooms, then the plant might get smaller, or sometimes just grow the same size as it was the year before (very disappointing). However Tree Peony 'Angel Emily' has been a totally different story. I think it had a bud on it the first year, but it didn't mature, the next year had no buds, but the bush got larger and larger. You could tell it was adapting and growing. The next year (this year), the bush was even larger and had three blooms on it. I can't wait to see what it does next year!

Tree Peony 'Angel Emily' Bloom
I was even able to use some fresh pollen from this gorgeous tree peony to pollinate the blooms on my herbaceous Peony 'Martha W.' during the 2017 Good Peony Hybridizing Weather we had last week. So even if the year old pollen I had in the freezer doesn't work, at least I will have tried some fresh pollen too! We will see which pollen actually does a better job at producing seeds. It would be great to get some intersectional peony seeds from this cross, especially since lavender and purple are my favorite colors. :-) We shall see...

Tree Peony 'Angel Emily' Bush

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

2017 Intersectional Peony Blooms Week 3 Early Mid

This week we started to get more of a range of colors in the intersectional peony blooms, with the yellow intersectionals starting to open up. In addition to yellow colored blossoms there were also some whites, pinks, and peach tones as well. It was so nice to see the intersectional peony blooms open, the plants and blooms getting better each year. There were also some new blossoms I'd never seen before. It is always so nice to see a new peony bloom for the first time! I hope you are all enjoying your gardens as much as I am this year! Happy Peony Bloom Season!