2020 Peony Blooms Week 3 Early Mid

The peony blooms season is just getting going here this week. Many more varieties are coming into bloom and the corals and yellows are definitely stealing the show! We had warmer temperatures this week, with a few days in the 80s, but we did get some rain and then cooler weather at the end of the week. The warm weather definitely spurred the peonies into action. It's so nice to see the garden at the beginning of the bloom season. There are no spent, tired blooms, and all of the flowers and foliage are fresh! I hope you are enjoying your peony bloom season as well!


Peony 'Salmon Dream'

Peony 'Lovely Rose'

Peony 'Roy Pehrson's Best Yellow'

Peony 'Coral Charm'

Peony 'Coral Magic'

Peony 'Burma Midnight'

2020 Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting

Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
Well, since my last Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' died of root rot, I decided that I would pot up the recent peony roots I've purchased, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay, 2020 Ordering Peonies on Etsy from ExoticseedsLatvia. I plan to plant these intersectional peony roots out in the fall. I'm hoping that will give me some time to fix the soil where the old Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' was planted and give these peonies a chance at surviving (and hopefully thriving) during their first Southern summer!


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
I'd already had these peony roots soaking for a day or two to try to regain any lost moisture during shipment. So I found some pots that were laying around to pot them up in. The two roots from Etsy/ExoticseedsLatvia were larger than the root from Ebay/Hirt's Gardens. So I put the Etsy/ExoticseedsLatvia root in the two larger purple pots, and I put the smaller Ebay/Hirt's Gardens root in the smaller 3.5" pot. It looks like that one came out of the same size pot any way since its roots were a little bent/square. It should be able to survive another couple seasons there.


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
I mixed some bagged top soil with the peat that came with these roots to create the soil for the pots. I also made sure to put some pot saucer trays underneath each of them to make sure they don't get too dry. I usually water things with rain from my rain barrel, which I keep mosquito dunks in. So the water from those rain barrels will keep the mosquitos from multiplying in the trays. So these should be good to go until fall! :-)


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting

2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies of Root Rot?

Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'
Most of you probably know that 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!!. You probably also know that I've ordered a replacement as well, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay. So the next thing to do was to dig up the dead one to see what happened to it. As you can see there wasn't much left of the peony when I dug it out of the ground this week. It was actually quite disappointing. Judging by the barely attached limp shell of a root, it seems this peony suffered from some kind of root rot.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Before Digging
I know that I've had peonies to rot over the winter that are brand new roots and never get established, but this is the first time I've had an established 6 year old peony plant die from root rot. We did have record-breaking rainfall in 2018. So I'm not sure if that could have caused it, being 2 years ago, but maybe it could have started then and finished it off now? Who knows...


Digging Up Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'
As you can see I started digging far away from the plant, but finding nothing, had to go to the center. I couldn't find much anything of substance or weight to dig. There was really nothing left but a few chunks of the crown, with not much root to speak of at all. Really the above ground stems left from previous years attached by a small bit of crown was really all that was left. I was kind of hoping to find a bit more. I took the three chunks I could find and washed them off on a some cement with the garden hose. Whatever it was that go it, got it good.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Crown Chunks
This makes me think about sanitation a bit more for sure. I wonder if it could have been caused by conditions and or fungal infection from the original grower. I don't currently soak any of my peony roots in a bleach solution, but this makes me wonder if I should. I also wonder if it could be something in the native soil that just multiplied with our extensive rain in 2018. Regardless there's most likely something in the soil now. So I think my next project for that area will be solarization to help sanitize the area just in case. I actually did my first solarization project to create this intersectional peony bed originally back in 2012 Intersectional Peony Bed Preparation, and I was happy with the results. Now it's time for a refresh!


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' What's Left

2020 First Intersectional Peony Bloom of the Season, Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'

Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'
It is always exciting to me when the first peony of the season opens 2020 First Tree Peony Blooms of the Year!, but it is even more exciting when the first intersectional peony bloom opens in the season. Intersectional Peonies have quickly found their way into my heart for sure. I think they may be my favorite type of peonies (at least at this time anyway)! The first one opened in my garden yesterday - Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst', with a definite hint of lavender/purple - my favorite color! These peonies are especially great in Southern gardens, and there are several on our Southern Peony Best Performers list, including this one 2016 Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst' Best Performer - Week 4. If you don't yet own an intersectional peony, I definitely recommend trying one in your own garden. You'll quickly fall in love! :-)


Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'

2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay

Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay
Well, my first Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' came from Tree Peony Garden in 2013, a nursery that used to grow tree peonies and is now closed for business. As you know this peony died this past winter, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!! I just couldn't wait to replace it. So I decided to purchase it from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay, as I have had pretty good luck with Hirt's Gardens in the past.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay
I kept this box in isolation for 3 days before opening it as well, just like when 2020 Ordering Peonies on Etsy from ExoticseedsLatvia, and this peony root too seems to be just fine, healthy, plump, with five obvious eyes on it ready to grow. This plant definitely appears to be a tissue culture plant, as it is small, with no obvious signs of division, which actually makes me feel a lot better about its potential authenticity. They even sent a nice little garden tag for it, with "Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'" and a photo of the flower on it. Nice!


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay
For now I am just soaking this root, to help rehydrate any moisture it has lost. Next I will find a good spot to plant it - likely the same spot the old one was in - which means I'll probably be doing an autopsy on that old Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' (to the best of my abilities) to see if there is any visual evidence of what might have caused its demise. (Stay tuned for an upcoming article on that.) Then I'll fix the soil, add some lime and organic fertilizer and get it planted out. :-)


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay