2019 Solaris Farms Adds New Hot Herbaceous Peonies

Peony 'Dreamtime'
I noticed something quite interesting when I was creating my 2019 Herbaceous Hot 100 Peony Catalog Price Comparison List this year. Solaris Farms has become the leader in the "hot herbaceous" category this year, adding 8 more high demand varieties than last year for a total of 22 offered this year. Hollingsworth Nursery is still right up there with 21 "hot herbaceous" varieties offered. These two have been trading the leader position for the last couple of years in this category, but no other peony grower even comes close to the number of pricey, next generation peonies offered by these two growers. Both Solaris Farms and Hollingsworth Nursery have offered hot peony variety selections in the double digits, while all of the other growers have single digit offerings. Somehow I was lucky enough to get a root of Peony 'Dreamtime' last year. I am really looking forward to seeing what it does this spring!


Peony 'Dreamtime' Offered at Solaris Farms 2019

2019 Swenson Gardens $25 Intersectional Peonies!

Peony 'Prairie Charm' @ Southern Peony
When creating my 2019 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List this year, I noticed something I'd never seen before! A $25 Intersectional Peony!!! This is the first time ever that these gorgeous beauties have been offered for sale at this low of a price directly from a peony grower! Swenson Gardens is the vendor who actually was the first to offer this price drop, and it is not just one intersectional peony at this price point, but 3 of them! They are offering Intersectional Peony 'Border Charm', Intersectional Peony 'Prairie Charm', and Intersectional Peony 'Shining Light' for $25 each. It's definitely an exciting time to see the intersectional peony prices begin to approach the lower price points of standard herbaceous peonies!

Peony 'Border Charm' and Intersectional Peony 'Prairie Charm' were both hybridized by Don Hollingsworth (check out my interview with him here - 2016 Peony Hybridizer Interview - Don Hollingsworth), while Intersectional Peony 'Shining Light' has an unknown hybridizer of Japanese origin. I grow both 'Border Charm' and 'Prairie Charm' here in my Southern Peony garden. (See my photo of Peony 'Prairie Charm' above.) All three of these varieties are yellow flowering intersectional peonies. So if you don't yet have a yellow peony or you want to try a new yellow intersectional, this might be the time to do it!


Swenson Gardens Offers $25.00 Intersectional Peonies!

2019 Peony 'Miss America' Featured in Plant Delights Nursery February Flyer

Peony 'Miss America' in Plant Delights Nursery Flyer
I got a nice flyer in the mail this month from Plant Delights Nursery. It is advertising their upcoming open houses this weekend and next weekend. They are only open once a season for 2 weekends - so 8 total weekends a year. The flyer also features some special plants they'd like to highlight, and I couldn't help but notice the large photo of Peony 'Miss America' in the bottom right corner. Peony 'Miss America' is an American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner. It is a lovely semi-double white peony that can range from a few layers of white petals with a bright yellow center to a very full petalled semi-double where the yellow center is barely visible. I guess Plant Delights is making sure their customers remember to purchase and plant their potted peonies now for a good spring show! I am also thinking about the hellebore show they are going to have going on in their greenhouses in the next couple of weeks. If you haven't been before it's definitely worth the trip. :)

2019 Intersectional Peonies at Lowe's 3 for $29.98

Intersectional / Itoh Peonies for Sale at Lowe's
I'm not sure if I've ever seen a deal this good on Itoh / Intersectional Peonies before. If you haven't seen them yet, Lowe's Home Improvement is selling 3 Intersectional Peony roots in a box for $29.98! That's a really good deal considering the cheapest Intersectional Peony that I track on my price list, 2019 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List is $25 (plus shipping) for one (and that's the lowest price, the average price is $73)! Each "ITOH PEONIES" box has 3 peonies in it. The boxes all have 2 varieties in each box, with a mix of Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' and one other peony. However I couldn't see how many you got of each. I'm guessing since it didn't tell you how many of each variety, that there are probably 2 'Bartzella's and 1 of the other variety in each box.


'Bartzella' & 'Scarlet Heaven' Peony Set
Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' is a great peony to own anyway. It is an American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner and and American Peony Society Award of Landscape Merit Winner. It is also a Southern Peony Best Performer, 2012 Peony 'Bartzella' Best Performer - Week 5. From what I could see, it seems they are selling three combinations: Peony 'Bartzella' & Peony 'Cora Louise', Peony 'Bartzella' & Peony 'Canary Brilliants', and Peony 'Bartzella' & Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'. If you don't grow some of these varieties or if you think intersectional peonies have been too expensive for you to grow in the past, then this is an excellent opportunity to try them. Also if you do grow these varieties and you'd like to grow more of them, here's your chance to stock up!


'Bartzella' & 'Cora Louise' Peony Set

'Bartzella' & 'Canary Brilliants' Peony Set

2019 It's Starting! Herbaceous Peonies are Growing!

I can't believe it is starting already. I found a few of my existing herbaceous peonies that I've had for years that have decided to start growing. Spring will be here before we know it! The first three I've found so far this year are Peony 'Tropicana', Peony 'Pink Hawaiian Coral, and Peony 'America'. Also the Peony 'Glowing Candles' that sprouted super early, 2019 Peony 'Glowing Candles' Tries to Grow Again in January, has been hanging on for a while now. It is very determined and even has two foliage shoots now! However I'm not sure yet if I will see a bloom from it this spring or not. It is just so exciting beginning to see the first signs of spring. My hellebores are coming into full bloom now, and the daphnes have been heavily perfuming the air - what a gorgeous and good smelling preview of what's to come!


Peony 'Tropicana'

Peony 'Pink Hawaiian Coral'

Peony 'America'

Peony 'Glowing Candles'