2020 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' Blooms on Old Overwintered Woody Stems

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/14
I know I posted one article on this topic back in 2011 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Blooms, and I thought this year would be a good year for an update. Nowadays I regularly leave the woody stems on my intersectional peonies through the winter, especially if they have big fat buds on them. Some stems will survive the winter and some won't. In my opinion if there's any chance the stem might bloom the next year, it is worth it to leave the stems in place over the winter. This Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) aka 'Pink Double Dandy' had a couple of tall woody stems that were growing last month from the tips. So I decided to follow their growth to show the actual blooms on those woody stems.


Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/14
As you can see both of these growth terminals at the tops of these woody stems were both productive, producing large, fat buds and then beautiful pink blooms. Not only did each of them produce bright pink blooms, but one of the stems produced 3 blooms on one stem! So if there's any doubt in your mind that leaving stems on intersectional peonies over winter might be a worthwhile endeavor (especially in Southern climates), there you have it! It is no surprise to me, as I have seen this happen so many times over the years. I am also not surprised that Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) is capable of such a feat, as it is a Southern Peony Best Performer, 2015 Peony 'Keiko' (Adored) Best Performer - Week 4.


Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/26

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/27

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/27

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/3

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/3

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/3

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/10

2020 Intersectional Peony 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée' Red Spring Foliage

Intersectional Peony 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée'
Red Spring Foliage
I was enamored to see this gorgeous red spring foliage on my Intersectional Peony 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée' this year. Even though the plant is not large enough to entertain me with its blooms, it is definitely entertaining me with the foliage! I remember seeing a difference between the foliage of this one and the other small potted intersectional peonies I purchased at the same time when 2019 Spring Hill Nursery Peony Order Arrives. Having such unique foliage seems promising for this peony to be true to name. I can't wait to see what these 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée' blooms look like when this intersectional peony does grow large enough to flower! :-)


Intersectional Peony 'Strawberry Crème Brûlée' Sign

2020 Chinese Tree Peony Seedlings All White

I just wanted to report back on some Chinese tree peony seeds I purchased and planted back in 2013 Chinese Peony Seeds from Ebay. These have been growing 7 years now, and I am sad to say they are all blooming white. The foliage of the plant and the pink and yellow centers of the flowers all remind me of my Tree Peony 'White Phoenix', 2018 Tree Peony 'White Phoenix' Best Performer - Week 2, which is just a named P. Ostii variety. The first of these tree peonies started blooming 2 years ago, just a single white bloom. Now 2 years later, there are several more blooming white, and all of them are growing with the same foliage.


Chinese Tree Peony Seedlings All White - 3/24
Maybe it is just me, but I am becoming a bit more distrustful of tree peony seeds sold from China. It seems like most of them are just common P. Ostii seeds (which are mostly white). None of them are actually from the bold, beautiful, brightly colored tree peonies they claim to sell you seeds from. I suppose many of those very fully double tree peony varieties pictured are probably infertile anyway, not actually producing seed. It all seems to be some sort of marketing scam to take your money and then send you some very common, cheap peony seeds instead. :(


Chinese Pink Tree Peony Seedlings

Chinese Pink Seedling Sign

P2 Black Tree Peony Seedlings

P2 Black Seedling Sign

P3 Blue Tree Peony Seedling

P3 Blue Seedling Sign

Chinese Tree Peony Seedlings All White - 3/26

Chinese Tree Peony Seedlings All White - 3/27

Chinese Tree Peony Seedlings All White - 3/27

2020 Peony Damage from Severe Thunderstorms During Level 3 Storm Threat

Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' Damage from Severe Thunderstorms
I had several peonies that were damaged by severe thunderstorms yesterday. These two Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' and Tree Peony 'Renown' were the worst. Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' has been growing there for a while and has never been "knocked over" before. However this storm really did bring lots of strong wind (and rain and lightning). Tree Peony 'Renown' is actually a fairly new peony. It was planted in late 2018. So this is only its second growing season. I don't think anyone's stems were snapped completely off, but both of these looked like someone had stepped on the branches. Both of these peonies' stems were bent over from the base.


Tree Peony 'Renown' Damage from Severe Thunderstorms

Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' Staked Up
So as you can see, I staked them up right away with a short 2 foot bamboo stake and some twine. Neither one of these peonies has had a chance to bloom yet this year. My early intersectional peonies have started blooming, but Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' has not yet come into bloom. Tree Peony 'Renown' actually has 3 buds on it this year! It must really like its location, as it is growing foliage and blooms at an astounding rate. Last year it didn't have any buds or blooms on it! This year it has 3 big fat buds waiting to burst!! :-)


Tree Peony 'Renown' Staked Up

2020 Easter in the Peony Garden

Easter in the Southern Peony Garden
Although there is a stay at home order in place, and we weren't allowed to invite anyone over, we still had our own Easter Egg Hunt in the peony garden with just our own family. We usually host Easter each year for our whole family. So we definitely missed seeing everyone and having the cousins over. The children had a great time anyway. As long as there is a game and candy involved, the kids will have a great time no matter what!


Easter in the Southern Peony Garden
The intersectional peonies are just beginning to bloom, while the coral and yellow peonies are enjoying their heyday, in full bloom! The candy colored blooms in a variety of pastel colors are great to hide the Easter eggs amongst. The children enjoy finding the eggs hidden between the flowers. There were also a couple of giant glitter eggs with money in them. So the kids felt lucky to find those as Easter eggs too! I hope everyone had a safe, healthy, & Happy Easter!! :-)


Easter in the Southern Peony Garden