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'