We've got lotsa beautiful peonies to come. We came from here.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1296807/#post_9482030
Peonies 2013 II
Hi Cathy,
How are your peonies doing? Here are some of mine that are showing buds. Can't hardly wait to see the actual flowers.
Karen
Mine are up and going strong. Lots of buds. Tree Peony Hanakisoi recovered and is putting out new leaves.
They look so healthy and full. I notice that everyone has some sort of mulchy stuff around the bases. I don't because they usually end up sitting in a bit of ice and water each spring and I am afraid of rot. Plus mine don't heave as I guess you guys do with variations in spring weather. Or does that just apply to newly planted roots.
Mine do get mulched for Winter. I pull most of it off in Spring so the sun can get to them. All of mine are up except for one that is just showing pips today.
so many flowers blooming right now ... so windy and impossible to take good pictures ... sorry
Pretty good pics to me. What's the yellow one?
That's is the most amazing Peony: Itoh Mikasa
It is absolutely beautiful. I've had a hankering for a yellow for awhile now. They're so expensive for one on a budget. LOL I have to be content with looking.
Love the blooms! This far north, I'm happy to see the shoots coming up.
Festiva Maxima, which has been moved twice (it protested the location I moved it to last year so I moved it again).
And Mrs. FDR, my 14 eyed wonder from Old House Gardens.
They are actually up faster than my earlier blooming Burma Ruby and Burma Joys, but they also get more sunlight.
Drthor, you know those peonies are gorgeous. Karen, I'll be sure to post if we are lucky enough to have good growth and blooms.
Rosemary and Donna, what a pleasant site to see those kids waking up. I always thought sunlight had something to do with it because the plants that get the most sun are always up first. However, I see that the plants in the front garden under the trees are breaking through like gangbusters. Maybe the ground is warmer there? The doubles were here when we moved in, and we added the singles. I am crazy enough to count the number of stems to find out how many blooms there will be. What kind of nut does that?
I expect we'll see herbaceous blooms in about 6-7 weeks. The tree peonies will be about 2 weeks earlier, and I can see the buds already. Last to bloom are the double peonies. I had the yard cleaned of debris and leaves, and they didn't ruin too many plants. Now we can count the number of peonies. There are about 30 plants. Can't wait to see the Itoh. It is already about 8 inches high.
Marcia
I'm glad to hear the northern peonies are waking up.
Marcia, I'm a stem counting bud counting peony nut, LOL. My neighbors must think I'm crazy when I'm pointing my fingers at the plants, or stuffing my face into the blooms while I'm down on the ground, butt up in the air!! ;~)
Oh, Annette, I love it!
The other day I was out checking my peonies and a neighbor walking his dog caught me exclaiming to my myself outloud about how awesome the peonies were doing. He probably thought I was nuts too.
It's interesting that my peonies on the east side of the house (Festiva and Mrs. FDR) while three of my southern and western ones are still, apparently, dormant. I think they're just trying to show me who's boss.
We got a deluge of rain - six or seven inches. Now the temps have fallen to the upper 30's. But I can't complain - it could have been snow!
And the daffodils and chionodoxa look great.
We're dipping down into to 40's the next few nights here. We also had a lot of rain 2 days ago, that destroyed Shima Nishiki's blooms unfortunately, and more heavy rains today.
My noid is starting to bloom.
Annette
Well my peonies are officially done for the year after this last sheet of ice. They were all just to far along this year:( I'm going to have to just try to enjoy looking at pictures of everyone elses this year. The last ice storm took out half and this one finished off the rest. Crazy weather, I just hope it doesn't end up killing anything.
Oh no! So sorry to hear that.
I am sorry also. To wait so long for those wonderful blooms and then have nature wipe them out in one, well two, fell swoops. I will never complain about our weather again. It is gently snowing, barely, wet flakes about a foot apart. It won't last and will speed up the snow melt on the ground. One little pip has finally appeared on a peony in front of a fence facing south and clear of snow with only a slight bit of help from me. All others are under about 1 foot of snow.
I am very sorry to hear about it, too.
How disappointing for you - after waiting all year.
Thank you everyone for our considerations. Whats ever worse is I'm not the only one to lose my peonys, it seems to have happened to everyone around. They were talking about it at the post office today. They will be back next year, cross my finger, whats even worse though is all our wheat is dead. We expected it and lost most of it in the last ice storm but this finished it off too. It was just to far along. Sorry, I guess I'm a bit of a downer today, I just hope all my flowers live through this.
Michelle
Michelle, what a disappointment. You have my sympathy. Maybe you'll find some surprise late bloomers that were not ruined. In any case I hope the rest of your garden is okay.
The peony vendor that just sent an email states the order of bloom is woodland / species / tree / herbaceous / intersectional. Since I have so little intersectional experience, I'm still hoping for the possibility of an Itoh bloom. The leaves are starting to open, but there is only one stem. Hmmm. Do you think it will continue to grow from the central stem?
Michelle, I sorry to hear that your peonies took such a hit from the ice storms. They may surprise you and put up stems from pips that are yet to emerge. I was all excited about my Lois's Choice that had a nice stem with a bud but that bit the dust thanks to the cold weather we were still having. It's put up another stem, and it's doing just fine, no bloom though. Sometimes these plants will surprise you.
My noid has been bloomng this past week. The cematis is Mrs. Cholmondeley. All of the other plants have put on some nice growth and are full of buds. Here are Keiko, Sea Shell, and Garden Lace. Itoh Misaka is also full of buds.
Annette
Cem, what a beautiful setting!
Annette, they all look lovely and promising. I see your hare is keeping watch also.
Annette, thank you for identifying your clematis. It's lovely.
These pictures make me want everything!!!
Oh that clematis is to die for. I so wish I could figure out what I am doing wrong. Full sun, stuff in front to keep feet cool, reasonable water with no wet feet. Fertilizer???
Nice to see how beautiful this bed has become, Annette :)
I really appreciate everyone carring, thank you! I'm ok with waiting if I have to till next year to see them. It will be that much more amazing for me next year:) I forgot though I will get at least one peony to bloom this year. My Itoh is barely even starting to sprout yet. I didn't even think to check on it since it is in a different spot in the garden.
Annette,
I really hope that I do get to see some buds this year but its a waiting game now, I don't have a lot of hope. Your flowers are beautiful. What is the climbing plant in the last picture? Its beautiful even though it isn't even in bloom.
Michelle
Thanks for the compliments everyone.
Yes, that's my "security hare" cathy, it guards the garden, LOL.
Pfg, you CAN have everything, just take out more grass, I'm still working on that myself ;~)
Mary, for the clematis, amend the soil with compost, manure, and bone meal when planting. Give a drink of Epsom Salt 1tbs per gallon of water, and ferttilize with rose food in the spring. The clematis here were fertilized on February 24th, when I thought we were heading for our spring warm it. We had several nights below freezing after that, but it didn't phase the clematis a bit.
Michelle, the climbing plant in the last picture is clematis Arabella. There's one in the 4th picture as well, all the way to the right in the picture. I'm trying to work on my garden architecture.
Annette
I copy and pasted your instructions into a word doc and printed. Will give it another try this summer.
Mary, best of luck with you plants. The info I shared came from Arlene on the clemstis forum. It has made a huge difference for the plants since I started doing what was recommended.
I really appreciate the tips. I so love clematis and I know they grow here as I have seen them.
Maybe I'll try some clematis now that I know what to do...
Rosemary, Arlene (pirl) has an amazing and endless amount of knowledge that she has posted on clematis and well as many other types of plants. It's always been accurate, and she is very helpful.
Marcia
This message was edited Apr 27, 2013 9:46 AM
Well, Roselette popped a pip. I am very glad as she had a tough time last year. She was new and was barely surviving. I moved her and hope she blooms now. I think Pink Hawaiin will be next.
Yay!
Such a short season, and we get so excited. What is this gardening thing to strangers anyway?