My Itoh peony arrived last week, just before we received five inches of snow and nighttime temperatures of minus 7. Does anyone have experience with planting an Itoh in a pot during cold weather and waiting for a temperary thaw to plant it, or waiting until spring?
I would appreciate any suggestions.
Received Itoh right before 5" of snow and sub-zero temps
Is your ground froze?? If not, just clear the snow away and plant your Itoh directly in the ground. :)
And if the ground is frozen, try to dig out a big hole, put the frozen dirt in the garage to warm up and then plant it!
Ticker and fancyvan,
Thanks you so much for the excellent recommendations. The hole has been dug and today I will amend the soil and plant my tuber. Judging from your zones, I would imagine that both of you have had to deal with planting in freezing weather. I was surprised to find that the soil wasn't frozen beyond an inch or so beneath the snow. That extends the planting season with select plants.
I appreciate your responses.
frankiesmom
Sort of off topic but not only does having the soil below the surface thawed it also allows you to plant things that you did not have time to put in. It also allows you to plant seeds of things that need to live over the winter such as caraway and some of the poppies. You would think the plants would freeze but especially in areas with snow cover the plants survive.
I don't know if Dave's has a group for winter sowing but there are people that are using winter planting to start there seeds without a cold frame or hot house.
For a long time I have been avocating that if you receive your peonies supposedly to late to plant that you go ahead and plant in the ground rather than wait and perhaps have a dead root.
ah3815,
Thank you for the aditional information. It was good to know, because this cold weather came upon us pretty quickly and I do have additional plants that I thought would need to wait until spring to be planted. A couple of special ones are oriental poppies that are in pots, holding out in the garage. Were you referring just to poppy seeds? Annual poppy seeds? I guess that I should welcome the snow from now on.
Thanks again!
frankiesmom
Not annual poppy's but the oriental ones. I was speaking of the seeds but putting in oriental poppies at this time of year requires careful mulching. You want to mulch the ground around the plant but do not let the mulch hit the plant itself. I prefer wheat straw for mulching this type of plant because it lays flat but my normal mulch is the leaves that fall from the trees.
Part of the problem with oriental poppies is that many do not like to have their roots disturbed. I killed many before I worked this out.
I still have several peonies to get into the ground myself.
ah3815,
Thanks for the additional information. I have not been able to successfully winter over oriental poppies, so planting them now gives me another option. I will gather my poppies. compost and mulch and see how they do.
Good luck with your planting. I will be thinking of you as I put on my layers of clothes, grit my teeth and head outside :)
So, how did it go?? did you get things in the ground, frankiesmom? :)
Ticker,
Yes, I did get my Itoh peony in the ground! Thanks for asking :) When bundled up, it wasn't as horrible as I had imagined that it would be. In fact, I then purchased a beautiful pale pink herbaceous peony and planted it, as well. Actually, working in the garden when the temperature is in the upper twenties and low thirties, and there is significant snow cover, it is so quiet and very peaceful. I would recommend trying it, at least once. Some of the peony nurseries offer good prices late in the season.
Heh, You go right ahead and play in the snow. :) I put in ten new peonies this fall, and moved six others. I seriously don't need to be scouring the nurseries for deals. :) LOL But, I hope you had fun. Besure to post pictures next year if you get some blooms. :)
Diann
Diann,
I hope to get some pictures. I'd like to see pictures of your peonies, too. Which varieties did you plant? (Wish I had room for 16 peonies.)
Hm, sometime I'll have to dig out the list. I don't remember right off the top of my head who I planted this year. But for the past several years I try to add 10 or so new ones to the collection. I get the majority of my peonies from Hollingsworth Peonies from Maryville Missouri. They are great folks to buy from. :)
I get my peonies from Reath's, Adelman's, Crickett Hill, to name a few. Mostly Reath's in Michigan. Since he ships in the fall and last year it was in October, our ground is quite frozen. I dig a 2x2' hole and keep the soil in the garage until the tuber arrives. Just as the folks above suggested. I plant them per instructions (eyes no more than 2" below the surface) and usually I get flowers the first spring after planting. Last year I moved Mackinac Grand and Lemon Chiffon in the spring so they lived fine but no flowers. I had to dig up the entire bed to do some renovation and had no choice. But Coral Sunset and the other Lemon Chiffon both bloomed beautifully. Hollinsworth and Khlems won't ship to Alaska, so I stick with Washington and Oregon nurseries, plus my old faithful Reath's. He is so helpful and his stock is robust and surefire. Only actually got one from Crickett, a tree peony. Oh, I do have two trees and two intersectionals. Just ordered two more (herbaceous and intersectional) from Reath's but have to wait til fall 2011to plant.
mstella, have you tried Peony Envy? Don't know if they ship to Alaska ( beautiful area, I was there in the 80's in the navy ) but they have really nice stuff.
dem2rd - were you a Coastie??
Nope, USN, stationed Adak Ak, Westernmost link in our chain of defense...I can't believe I remmember that. It on an actor with chain on the grounds of the base. Wow, takes me back
OOOOh. What a great place. My dad was stationed at Adak, Dutch Harbor and I think Cold Bay during WWII. I didn't understand your second to the last line?? Navy short hand?? lol
ANCHOR, not actor!!! LOL
Okay. Got it. :)
Have you tried your local??? Alaska Peony Society growers. Many are primarily cut flower producers but several sell roots also. I am surprised Don Hollingsworth no longer ships to Alaska since he has provided stock to some of the nurseries in your area.
Link for Alaska group
http://alaskapeonies.org/ cut and paste
You know I threw his name out there but I didn't really go back to check exactly who I had tried. The group here is pretty much heavily into commercial production. I really need to contact the group to see if there are others like me who just grow for ourselves. Sometimes I think chasing all the leads, ideas, plants is exhausting. I guess that is what winter is for, eh? lol but thank you for the reminder. I do need to connect with them.
I stand corrected. I just went and looked and he does indeed ship to us. I imagine his freight would be comparable to Scott's.
the peony url is to the commercial growers group. I may have better luck connecting with individuals through the local botanical society. They were gifted with a private collection I am looking forward to seeing in bloom this spring. I wonder how well they will do as they are in a very forested area (shoot, can't think of the correct term) so the sunlight is dappled and the plants are surrounded by trees. Not terribly close but within 20-30 feel. Perhaps that doesn't offer any competition for nutrients.
The Pacific Northwest group started out with commercial growers but although some have become major players in the market they still talk peony. If you ask the Alaska group I think there are no bar to non-growers. Even if you do not join any group use the information they provide to help you decide on which plants are best for you.
You are right about getting to know you local gardening groups, not just you but everyone that grows any plant. Much information that applies to one plant can be useful for another.
As far as the dappled sun some peonies grow naturally in wooded or shrub areas. The native peony's of North America P. brownii and P. californii sp live in areas of that type.
I kind of wondered. I have seen photo snaps of Crickett Hills gardens and they are amidst trees. I only approached one person belonging to the local peony growers group and the reception was a little cool. Got the feeling that if I didn't grow big time...... well, okayyy. I love growing things and I love experimenting. As good old Edison said, "I didn't fail 10,000 times, it just too a bit to succeed." lol. Another favorite "difficult is no problem, impossible takes a bit. " Gotta love those jar heads. Well, that may not be their quote, but it should be. Night all.
Peony Envy does offer a "woodland" peony.