2013 Peony Blooms Mid - Week 4

This week Mid season Week 4, the intersectional peonies continued to bloom along with some anemone, single, and semi-double type peonies. Several of the very full double peonies just began to open this week. The weather has been beautiful this week. There has been quite a bit of rain, but I think it came late enough in the peonies' development so that most of the foliage is already up and more mature and resistant to disease. So, happily, the incidence of botrytis blight has been much reduced this year. With the increased rain this week, I have noticed an increased incidence of botrytis blight on some very late peonies whose foliage is just beginning to break ground. However most of my peonies are up and doing great! Hopefully the reduced incidence of disease will lead to stronger plants that can store plenty of energy this year, which should lead to bigger plants and more blooms next year!

Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'	Peony 'Gay Paree'
Peony 'Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt'	Peony 'White Emperor'

2013 Mother's Day Peonies at Juniper Level

This year for Mother's Day, my daughter and I went to Juniper Level Botanic Garden. We've been there several times before, but it is always nice to see how things change and grow each year and in different growing seasons. They are only open 8 times per year, two weekends per season. I thought some time at the botanic garden would be a nice way to spend Mother's Day. We had a great time. They always have all kinds of paths, bridges, waterfalls, gazebos, ponds, garden benches, streams, rocking chairs, garden art, and of course all kinds of plants! We did find a peony or two. I did find one solid pink outer and center anemone type peony they had planted that was labeled Paeonia 'White Cap', and it is nowhere near the correct color of a 'White Cap' peony. I guess small gardeners are not the only ones to get mislabeled peony plants! Also they did have the Plant Delights Nursery greenhouses open as well. However all of the choice peony varieties had already sold out since this was the last day of the 2nd weekend of their spring weekend open house. I guess you have to go early if you want to buy something specific. I was happy just to walk around, traverse the trails, and watch my daughter happily spin her skirt and lead the way in the gardens! Happy Mother's Day!

Juniper Level Botanic Garden

2013 First Peony Seedling Develops Immature Bud

Sorry to say that the First Peony Seedling with Developing Bud grown from seed in my garden has become an immature bud. This also happens sometimes on divisions that don't have quite enough energy saved up in their storage roots to develop a mature bud. This may have been the case for my new seedling as well. As you can see the bud has turned from green to red, and will gradually shrivel and dry up. Developing buds will stay green and slowly increase in size. Sometimes you just have to wait another year to see your peony's beautiful face. However with another year of growth, your peony should hopefully have the chance to develop even stronger roots in order to grow even larger the next year with (hopefully!) a nice blossom. :-)

Peony Seedling with Immature Bud

2013 Peony Single White Best Performer - Week 3

I don't think I can say enough about this peony to convey its value in the garden. However it's true identity remains a mystery to me. I originally purchased it from Gilbert H. Wild in 2007 as Peony 'Seraphim'. However after doing some research, it is definitely not 'Seraphim'. I took a look at Gilbert H. Wild's current catalog, and they only have 3 single peonies offered this year. It's definitely not Peony 'Isani-Gidui' or Peony 'Krinkled White', as these are mid and mid-late season peonies. This unknown variety is definitely early. So the only one it might be from this year's offerings is Peony 'Silver Shell'. I am tempted to order one of these roots for comparison purposes, but I'm quite sure that Gilbert H. Wild would just send me yet another mislabeled peony. I think they just pull their plants at random to fill orders! I will have to check out their catalog in future years for other possible identities. Anyway this particular peony is just stellar. It blooms for weeks, with a multitude of blossoms that are long lasting and gorgeous. The foliage is a lovely dark green, very tall and full. It is also very fertile, producing lots of seed. This peony has loads of buds per stem. So the blooms just keep coming and coming! If you have any ideas about this peony's true identity, I'm open to suggestions! :-)
Peony - Single White (Unknown)
Southern Peony Best Performer

2013 Peony Blooms Early Mid - Week 3

Early Mid season Week 3 blooms are becoming more interesting than the Peony Blooms Early - Week 2 with some anemone types blooming as well as the intersectional (Itoh) types beginning to bloom. The weather has been much more cloudy this week and a little wetter. The temperatures have cooled and normalized back to spring as well, from their brief encounter with summer. However the lack of sunshine has made getting some gorgeous sunlit photos challenging at best. It looks like it is going to be rainy and cloudy for the better part of next week too. The foliage on all of my peonies has been pretty much disease free so far this year. I'm curious to see how the rain will affect the foliage and the spread of foliar diseases next week. I'm sure the blooms will be gorgeous anyway!

Peony 'Rose Garland'	Peony 'Pastel Splendor'
Peony 'White Cap'	Peony 'Morning Lilac'

2013 Questions - Marvin Karrels' 1975 APS Peony Medal

I received this question from Tracy in zone 5:
"Hello Adriana, I ran across your blog regarding the metal you found on Etsy which was awarded to Marvin Karrels in 1975. My husband and I purchased Marvin Karrels' house last year in Greenfield,WI. This house he grew all of his award winning peonies at. We still have the garden today. We have yet to identify the many different kinds available and have been told there are many exotic and genetically altered peonies. We have never taken care of this beautiful flower before so we are trying to research care info before spring arrives. Our neighbors have talked so highly about the flowers Marvin grew and made it clear that these 75 yr old flowers need to be taken care of and need to remain on the property. :) We are very excited to see what blooms and how beautiful this will be. We have approx 50 some plants! In addition to caring for the peonies, we have intentions to maintain and restore what we can in this beautiful house he built his family back in 1937. I have been researching Marvin and his family to learn more. Finding the award metal on Etsy is amazing and I'm very curious to know if you found out how this person had the coin to sell? According to the Society, Marvin won 7 metals for his amazing peonies. I would love to put this metal where it was earned. If you are interested in parting from this metal, please let me know."


Marvin Karrels' 1975 American Peony Society Medal
How exciting to purchase the home of a great former peony enthusiast, Marvin Karrels. You must be enthralled in watching his peonies grow and bloom this season. I would love to see some pictures and would be happy to publish some of them on my blog if you'd like to send some in. At this time I am not interested in parting with the APS Medal, but I will keep your information in case my plans change in the future. I am a member of the American Peony Society and intend to preserve the medal for the club, as well as take it to the convention for display. If you are interested in attending the 2013 APS Convention to learn more about peonies and the APS in general, I would love to meet you and learn more about Marvin Karrels and his peonies and fine home. If you have some pictures of the restoration work you've been completing, I would love to see those too! Also I did ask the Etsy seller if the coin was real and how he had come to acquire it. This was his response: "Hi Adriana- it is real, I bought it at a coin and token estate. That's about all I know about it. Thanks! Bill" Good luck with your home and peony garden restoration plans!!!

2013 Peony 'Honor' Best Performer - Week 2

Peony 'Honor' has been a great performer for me for several years now. You just can't beat this plant's combination of an abundance of early blooms, a neat habit, and the knockout color. Peony 'Honor' blooms quite early here, and is the first in its color range to open for me. The color on this plant is gorgeous, a bright pink that fades into various paler shades as the blooms mature, making an interesting show with various pink color combinations. The plant's foliage is on the petite side, usually growing only about 24" tall. The blooms are well centered on the plants and the stems are close together. Although the foliage on Peony 'Honor' is not large, its stems are upright and close together, not spreading or falling over. If you're looking for an early season peony that performs well in a southern climate, Peony 'Honor' is definitely a very honorable pick!
Peony 'Honor'
Southern Peony Best Performer


Peony 'Honor'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2013 Peony Blooms Early - Week 2

Week 2 of my peony bloom season turned out to be much more colorful than Peony Blooms Very Early - Week 1, with lots more varieties blooming than the week before. Peony 'Lavender', my favorite color of all, bloomed this week too. Also some fuller varieties with more petals per bloom starting blooming this week as well. The peony bloom season seems to build slowly, starting with only a few colors and petals. Over time the range of colors and the number of petals per bloom just keep increasing and increasing. What an amazing show to watch! I hope you're enjoying your peony bloom season this year (or excitedly anticipating it) and don't let it pass you by. Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in your day to day life and forget to enjoy the abundance and beauty of nature right outside your door!

Peony 'Roy Pehrson's Best Yellow'	Peony 'Lustrous'
Peony 'Coral Magic'	Peony 'Lavender'

2013 Beautiful Yellow Tree Peony

Well I am definitely not the only lover of peonies in my area (and climate!). I was happily surprised and amazed to see this beautiful yellow tree peony on my way to the post office yesterday. It looks like it is quite old. So they must have had it for some time. What a great specimen! The blooms are super lovely and huge. It seems they also grow herbaceous peonies too, as you can see there are lots of them in bud right in front of the yellow tree peony. This tree peony must have been at least 4-5 feet high. It was planted right in front of a gorgeous dark red/purple Japanese maple tree. The contrast of the colors was so stunning, I just had to pull over and take some photographs. I hope you enjoy them! :-)

Yellow Tree Peony


Yellow Tree Peony and Herbaceous Peonies


Yellow Tree Peony Close Up

2013 P. Rockii Peony Seeds from Cricket Hill Garden

Last week I got the Tree Peony P. Rockii Seeds I ordered from Ebay. They apparently came from Cricket Hill Garden. I wasn't sure, but I thought these seeds might come from a private individual. The seeds came with a very nice catalog from Cricket Hill Garden as well. I think they normally charge $2.00 for a copy of their catalog. So I've never gotten a copy since I don't like to pay for catalogs. It looks like Cricket Hill Garden is using Ebay as a creative marketing tool - sell some seeds, send a free catalog. The catalog actually has some interesting information about Japanese and Chinese tree peonies, which is great since I don't know a lot about the differences and history of both of these type of peonies. So I was very happy to receive the catalog with the seeds. The Ebay auction was for "15 Fresh Tree Peony P. Rockii Seeds USA GROWN", and they actually send 20 seeds. So that was nice of them. I will definitely be leaving them positive feedback on Ebay! I can't wait to see how these grow!
P. Rockii Seeds and Catalog from Cricket Hill Gardens

2013 Peony Blooms Very Early - Week 1

Well the peony bloom season has started nicely here. Even though lots of my early season peony bushes are more mature, the number of blooms is still limited since all of the varieties that have bloomed thus far are hybrids that have only one bloom per stem. So I am definitely looking forward to some of the varieties that sport several blossoms per stem. Also all of these very early varieties are the single type of peonies. This type of peony has only a few petals and a very prominent center showcasing the peony's golden stamens. The blooms are very lovely, and if you haven't learned to appreciate single peony blossoms yet, once you grow them, you will appreciate how well they can withstand rain and not fall over after a storm! If you are looking to increase your peony bloom season, here are some varieties that bloom very early! Enjoy!

Peony 'Chalice'	Peony 'Firelight'
Peony 'Sweet May'	Peony 'Early White'

2013 Planted P. Rockii and P. Ludlowii Peony Plants

Today I planted the P. Rockii Peony Plant that Arrived last week in the mail from Edelweiss Perennials. I decided to keep in in the pot for a short while to make sure it had plenty of water this week, and it looks like it helped it a lot. The leaves are no longer wilted looking, and it seems like it even grew a bit. I guess I planted it in the correct place as well. I planted it where it will receive some afternoon shade. From what I just read, it seems that the P. rockii tree peonies generally go into early dormancy in places that have hot, dry summers. It sounds like this guy is in for a challenge in this southern climate. Luckily I planted it in a location that will give the plant a bit of relief from our long and hot summers here.

P. rockii Peony Planted

I also got the P. ludlowii peony plant I ordered from Ebay planted today as well. This one looks like a nice plant except it looks like it already has botrytis blight on its stems. This worries me since the seller of this plant calls it a P. delavayi var. lutea ludlowii. The other P. delavayi plant I have with red flowers on it has not done very well here and is always diseased. I hope this yellow P. delavayi variety does not have the same poor performance here. We shall see...

P. ludlowii Peony Planted

2013 First Peony Seedling with Developing Bud

Well, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be in for a treat this peony bloom season. While checking over my original peony seedling test bed, I found a bud on one of the plants! That is just so exciting. This plant came from one of the seeds of the Peony 'Lady Alexandra Duff' that I planted in 2007, the first year that I planted any peony seeds. So it has been 5 years since I planted that seed! Perhaps some of these peony seedlings could have bloomed sooner if I had given them more water or more sun or some fertilizer, perhaps. So these seeds have truly been a product of Mother Nature with very little to no intervention from me. The only thing I did was harvest them, keep track of where they came from, and plant them in the ground! It is not uncommon for very small buds to never develop into blooming size. So I will definitely be watching over this one and maybe giving it a little extra water to try to help increase the odds. If it blooms it will be the first ever peony bloom that I will get to see from any of my peony seed plantings.
Small Bud on Seedling Peony Plant


Seedling of Peony 'Lady Alexandra Duff'

2013 How to Plant a Tree Peony

Tree Peony Stem and Roots	Tree Peony Stem Root Junction

Tree Peonies should be planted similar to Herbaceous Peonies, except much more care should be taken to make sure the stem and roots are facing the proper directions. This is important for herbaceous peonies as well, but more so with tree peonies.
Dig Hole for Tree Peony
The first step and perhaps the most important step in planting a peony is preparing the soil. I usually dig at least a 3 foot round hole for each root, spading the soil with my shovel to make sure the dirt is nice and loose. After the hole is dug and the soil has been loosened, I add some organic fertilizer and lime (dolomitic limestone) to the soil in the hole and mix it in. The fertilizer is used to add nutrients to the soil and the lime is used to adjust the PH of the soil. In my area, most soils are acidic, and peonies prefer a more neutral to very slightly acidic soil, around a PH of 6.0 to 7.0.

Put Tree Peony Root in Planting Hole
Next take a look at the tree peony's roots and make a small hole in the middle of your 3 foot round hole that will accommodate the size of the peony root. Tree peonies keep above ground woody stems, whereas herbaceous peonies do not. The tree peony will have a definite delineation between the roots and the woody stem. The woody stem may have pink buds on it, or it could have died back, in which case the new shoots and foliage would emerge near the bottom of the stems/top of the roots. So make sure to put the roots into the soil and put the woody stem(s) pointing up towards the sky. In my southern climate the point where the roots meets the stem can be planted even with the soil, so that the roots are below the soil and the stems/buds are above the soil. However if you have a grafted tree peony, it is advisable to plant the stem/root junction a few inches under the soil to, hopefully, allow the tree peony stem to form roots of its own and prevent the herbaceous peony root from creating its own foliage shoots.

Cover Tree Peony Roots with Soil
Once the tree peony root has been covered with soil, I cover the planting hole with a 1-2 inch layer of mulch. You don't want to put too much mulch on peonies in this climate. Otherwise the roots may not get enough chilling hours needed for blooming. They do however need enough mulch to retain moisture (It does get really hot here!) and prevent weed growth. After the peony has been mulched, I water the newly planted peony plant. You can water your root before or after you mulch it. I just like to water mine afterwards because it seems like the soils stays in place a little better with the mulch already on top.

Mulch Tree Peony

2013 First Bloom of the Year - Peony 'Early Scout'!

Well, the first peony of the year bloomed today, on tax day - April 15, 2013! It was Peony 'Early Scout', which is usually one of the first peonies to bloom here. I am so excited that the peony bloom season has finally started. As you can see from the yellow dust on the leaves of the peony, pollen season is also here! I hope the pollen is over soon. I don't think the pollen season and the peony bloom seasons usually coincide, but with the late winter that turned into summer this year, everything is coming out at once. I'm wondering how that will affect my peonies as well. The peony blooms usually last about 6-7 weeks here, but I'm betting we won't get that many weeks this year. The peony bloom season will likely be compressed a bit this year. That might make for some different hybridizing opportunities, however, since some different varieties will be in bloom together that usually aren't.

First to Bloom Peony 'Early Scout'

2013 Where are the Peony Blooms???

Where are the peony blooms this year? According to my records from last year my peonies started blooming on March 26, 2012. I think I must have gotten spoiled last year, because now I feel like my peonies are a couple of weeks late. So I decided to look back at all of my peony start Bloom Dates back to 2006, the first year my Early Scout peony bloomed. That year my peonies started blooming on April 7, 2006, which is 96 days into the year. So I decided to find out the average and mean start dates for my peony bloom season thus far. We had a really long winter this year. Weather-wise, winter really only ended 2 weeks ago - the temperatures for the high were in the 50s every day. Then we had one week of spring, with moderate temperatures. This past week has been summer, with the highs in the 80s! So the weather changed really fast this year. We had an extended winter that turned right into summer! Anyway the mean (average) peony bloom season start date for my area with the data I've collected so far is 91.85, and the mean is 94. So that means the average start date and the mean start date for my area this year is April 2, 2013 and April 5, 2013. So the peony blooms are about a week and half to 2 weeks late this year! This year will be the latest peony bloom start of any year since I've been keeping track. The latest date I've had before this year was April 11, 2009 (100 days). Today is April 14th, and they haven't bloomed yet. They should be blooming soon, though!

Saunders Peony Garden - April 2013

2013 Intersectional/Itoh Peony Buds

OMG! This is going to be an exciting year in my garden for intersectional peony blooms. I am super excited! I tried to count all of the buds I could find on the intersectional plants that I have, and it looks like there will be more varieties of intersectional peonies blooming in one year in my garden than ever before. Even some of the new plants from the 2012 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Divisions have buds on them. I took some pictures today of as many different intersectional peony buds that I could find. It looks like I have blooms developing on at least 11 different varieties! There may be more to come. I have been eagerly reviewing the intersectional peonies almost daily for buds, and each day I find more and more. Here are the pictures of the ones I have so far. They are in various stages of development...

Peony 'Bartzella'	Peony 'First Arrival'
Peony 'Garden Treasure'	Peony 'Morning Lilac'
Peony 'Pastel Splendor'	Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'
Peony 'Sequestered Sunshine'	Peony 'Singing in the Rain'
Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'	Peony 'White Emperor'
Peony 'Yellow Crown'

2013 P. Rockii Peony Plant Arrived

Well, the P. Rockii Species Peony from Edelweiss Perennials that I ordered last week arrived today. It looks like a nice size plant, although the leaves looked a little wilted, presumably from its trip through the mail system. So I decided to let it take a dip and rest in the shade this afternoon. The plant was well protected in its box except for its dirt, some of which was dispersed inside the package. The roots of the tree peony were showing since the top soil has been displaced. (This could have been prevented by putting the pot in a plastic bag and using a twist tie to close the plastic bag around the stem. I've gotten several other plants in the mail this way, and it seems to work very well.) So anyway I added a little potting soil and water to the top of 4" pot, that was supposed to be a quart - which I plan to contact the company about. So we will see what they say about that. Otherwise, the plant seems to be a good one with nice foliage. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, which is good since it's so hot all of a sudden. Hopefully it will cool us down a bit and keep the ground a little moist. Then I should be able to plant out this P. rockii on Saturday. :-)
P. Rockii Peony Plant