Perennials: What new plants have you just put in the ground?, 4 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
The peonies were not from seed, but Steve FortWorth (now SteveGreenville) has very kindly gifted me several peonies in October of 2008 - six, in fact. I was able to dig those up largely intact, and I immediately in April of 2011 and put them into pots. I then put them in an unheated garage over the winter and put them into the ground in spring of 2012. Then I went back and decided to dig up a Lady Alexandra Duff I had installed in 2005 (just LOVE that one) and a Kansas I had installed in about 2003 that had never bloomed properly. I figured, what the heck. I could try to take them and have them fail, or I would need to be buy new ones.

The results were mixed, but a few actually moved forward. Lois had never produced more than one flower (a Steve gift), but this year - POW! I put it in the midst of the salvia tesquicola I had grown from seed, and it worked. Burma Ruby didn't miss a beat. (not pictured) Pic. 1

Now I did have to leave three of my most sumptuous peonies. Festiva Maxima Pic 2.

Mrs. FDR (foreground) and Cornelia Shaylor in the rear Pic. 3

They were just huge. But Steve had given me a new Festiva Maxima, and I ordered Mrs. FDR from Old House Gardens at a bargain price.

The one peony I can't replace that I would want again is Cornelia Shaylor - It appears to be out of commerce. Freaking huge, requiring serious staking, and worth the effort. Pic 4.

The last photo shows how big Mrs. FDR and Cornelia Shaylor were in 2011. Oh, I miss them!

But the motto of the story is that if you have to move, please ignore conventional wisdom. Get a bunch of cheap pots and save your babies. I got many free on Freecycle, a free swap group. I flung some into the ground and am redesigning now. It's amazing how much abuse they can take. Get out there, grab them , and shove them into a piece of soil, whether in the ground or in a pot. It works!

Of course, I'm a little obsessed about my plants!