2020 Planting Herbaceous Peony Seeds from Peony 'Faithful Dream' & Peony 'Lemon Chiffon'

Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' & Peony 'Faithful Dream' Seeds
Planted in Pots
Yes, I know it's not the right time of year, but I get to things when I can get to things, and these peony seeds will eventually grow. This time I decided to plant them in some plastic pots instead of in the ground. I keep noticing seeds disappearing or not reappearing the next year. I don't know if it is critters, insects, or our long summers, but lots of them seem to keep going missing! So I'm hoping that these pots will help keep them a bit safer and give me the opportunity to see these seeds grow to maturity.


Planting Peony 'Faithful Dream' Seeds
I put 5 Peony 'Faithful Dream' seeds in one pot and 7 Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' seeds in another pot. These are the seeds I'd found in the garden earlier this year, 2020 Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' Open Pollinated Seeds Found During Winter Cleanup. 2 of the 7 Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' seeds looked small and malformed. So I'm thinking only 5 of those really have the capacity to sprout, but we shall see. I mixed up the soil for the pots containing mostly peat with a little bit of top soil mixed in. I filled the planters about 2/3 full, put the seeds in, covered them with a bit more of the peat mixture, then topped with a little bit more top soil. Now just water & wait...


Planting Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' Seeds

2020 First Tree Peony Blooms of the Year!

Tree Peony Paeonia Ostii
The first bloom of the season opened today! It's the second day of spring, and the tree peonies are already starting to bloom! It seems a little early to me, and I looked back over my records from the last 15 years, and this is the earliest peony bloom I've ever had! By almost a week! It looks like the previous earliest bloom start date was March 26th. Now this year in 2020, the blooms are starting on March 20th! Wow! I don't know if this is global warming or that groundhog Phil, but whatever it is, spring is here!


Tree Peony Paeonia Ostii
Do you remember that peony covered in snow this year, 2020 First Snow of the Season @ Southern Peony? This is the same peony pictured above with all buds fully intact. Sure enough this tree peony shrugged off that snow and continued to grow and develop several buds that were already growing. It has been in the 80s yesterday and today. Quite warm! Some plants are a bit sad during the heat of the day. The ground still has a lot of moisture, but we could really use a little bit of rain especially for new plants and to help wash off all of this yellow pollen! Yes, that's here too, but all of these flowers are the things that makes spring so happy!


Tree Peony Paeonia Ostii

2020 Tree Peony 'Joseph Rock Double' from Song Sparrow

I'm not sure if any of you have seen the news, lol, but there's a pandemic out there. Since we can't spend any money at the stores, we might as well buy more peonies instead! I couldn't help but notice that this Tree Peony 'Joseph Rock Double' was not sold out yet at Song Sparrow Farm & Nursery. Many of their other tree peonies are sold out. I've been wanting this peony for a while now and have seen it auctioned at the APS Annual Banquet a few times before. It usually goes for higher than its retail price on the Song Sparrow web site, at the auction. So I just decided that this year is the year to get it. Also the nice thing about tree peonies from Song Sparrow is they sell them as potted plants. So this tree peony will ship now in the spring. So you don't have to wait until next year to see your tree peony grow, and it's possible you might even get a bloom from your tree peony this year! Here's hoping!! :-)


Tree Peony 'Joseph Rock Double' @ Song Sparrow
The description of this Tree Peony 'Joseph Rock Double' on the Song Sparrow web site says, "More petallage than Joseph Rock, but same vigor, lush foliage and staggering blossom beauty. Radiant white with purple inner flares. Rare and seldom offered. A strong plant with fragrant blooms." I am interested to see how vigorous this one is. Some grafted tree peonies struggle to get established here. However it seems that tree peonies that grow from seed and become mature seem to be very vigorous here. Also it may depend on the quality of the graft for grafted tree peonies. There are only 2 tree peonies on the Southern Peony Best Performers list so far. So I am eager to see how this one grows!

2020 Black Purple Emerging Foliage of Peony 'Dark Chocolate' to Die For!

Peony 'Dark Chocolate'
I couldn't help but notice (again!) the foliage on herbaceous Peony 'Dark Chocolate'! Even if the flowers weren't super cool, the foliage on this bad boy would be awesome enough of a reason to grow it! As you can see the foliage is a purple-black color, and even with a flash photo and lots of fill light, the color of the foliage is still quite dark. It is very different than your normal pink/green emerging foliage. The leaves will eventually turn green, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying the rare color of the foliage. It is really cool to see all of the different emerging foliage colors.


Peony 'Dark Chocolate' (Flash Photo)

Peony 'Dark Chocolate'
I don't have any peony flowers open here yet. So it is nice to have some cool things to entertain you in the garden while we anticipate those large, colorful blooms. It is fun to watch the new foliage emerging on all kinds of garden plants. It always looks so clean, bright, and fresh - free from disease, fungal infections, or pest damage. Spring is definitely the best season! I hope you have lots of peony foliage colors popping up in your garden. If not, now might be the time to add some peonies with cool foliage colors to your Peony Wish List to order and plant this fall!


Peony 'Dark Chocolate' (Flash Photo)

2020 Free Mulch for My Peony Beds!

Free Mulch for Peony Beds
Looks like Friday the 13th was my lucky day! I got a call while I was working that day from Tony, my favorite mulch guy, to see if I wanted any mulch. Of course I did!! I had been thinking about calling my favorite tree service to see if they had any, but have been quite busy lately and had not made the call. He must have known I needed it. :-) He said it was only a small half load. That's fine with me! I'll take what I can get (especially when it is free)! Here in the South mulching is an important part of growing peonies! We have a much longer, hotter, and drier summer than many other parts of the country where peonies are grown. So protecting the plants from the stress of extended droughts and high heat during the summer months is essential.


Free Mulch for Peony Beds
As you can see some of the mulch fell on top of my grass, which is not good for the grass. I have had my grass die in the past when I've gotten an especially large load of mulch directly on the grass or partially covering the grass. If you don't get the mulch off the grass quick enough, it will die from lack of sunlight and overheating (large mulch piles can get quite hot!). Luckily, I was able to get all of this mulch spread out yesterday. After 31 loads in my Gorilla Cart, my husband came back from playing soccer with my son and volunteered to load up some mulch for me. I gladly accepted his help, as I was pretty tired by this point. He helped me with the last 3 loads, and we were able to finish it all! I put a large part of it on my front garden bed, which contains a magnolia tree, tree peonies, herbaceous peonies & double daylilies. I think it turned out pretty nice. :-)


Front Garden Bed with New Mulch