Peonies 2013 II

Good to know. Arlene is a sweetheart with a green thumb.

Most of my peonies are showing a good amount of buds! It is so exciting. All of them are first year's plants. The best performers are from Bannister Gardens and Itoh peonies. Photos from left to right: Pastel Splendor, Henry Bockstoce, Buckeye Belle, Bartzella. I don't know how Adelman Peonies do it but eventhough the roots maybe small, they are still able to send up flower buds and the plants are very healthy as shown by the Buckeye Belle and Pastel Splendor. Hope everyone's peonies are doing well.

Karen

My Hanakisoi is showing one bud on it. This will be it's second in 4 years. It's in a large pot. I think this fall I'll put it in the ground.

The others are coming on nicely with lots of buds.

Boy they look robust and healthy. I have pips on a few and found some yesterday on a new one. Ahead of some of my older ones. I wonder what happens when the mature (3-5 Years old) plants have so many woody stems (herbaceous) they all but cover the ground over the roots. How will the new stems come through. Does it mean I have to dig it up. ick. That would be a chore and a half. The root would be huge I would think. All snow is removed from over all peonies but one or two. I am trying to keep my big clodhoppers away from the beds so I don't pound the muck into cement and/or smash some poor little plant. Also have lots of poppy seeds out there just laying on top of the ground. It is so hard not to try to peak at some of the peonies that are not reachable from the edge of the beds. "Patience, grasshopper."

My tree peonies are looking pretty dead. I had two for three and four years and one spring they had three buds on one and one on the other. Hard to miss. Huge green buds. Guess this won't be the year for tree peony flowers.

Sorry they didn't work well for you, Oberon. I love mine when it blooms but the foliage is very pretty, too.

Who can tell me the best spot for the tree peony? I can put it in full morning and afternoon sun or in full morning sun with afternoon shade.

Three of my lactifloras appear to be dead. Lois, which was spectacular last year, the crummy Moonstone I got from Adelman, which finally bit the dust, and White Frost. Bummer.

But all my new peonies look great - Mrs. FDR and the two Burma Midnights. And Burma Joy, Festiva Maxima, and White Cap, Kansas and Lady Alexandra Duff.

I guess my feelings (mixed) about Adelman's peonies aren't just mine. And I haven't given up on the trees, just hope they survived the winter and grow stronger this summer. They are in full sun which here is not a problem because it is so cool. No danger of cooking much of anything but the most sensitive stuff. Begonias can get crispy if they don't get a chance to get their roots cool and established before summer.

Well it certainly looks hale and hardy. Look at that growth!! You scored.

I've never had Peonies bloom with Iris before.

Kwanjin, I find the best spot to plant TPs where I live is morning sun with afternoon shade. Tree peonies wilt in too much sun. My best one with the most buds is in the shadiest spot of all.

All three of my Adelmans bit the dust. Two different orders. I don't order things that are new and trendy and don'r stand the test of time. I purchased Tourangelle, Paul M. Wild and Moonstone. The first two never showed and the latter was never strong. I purchased it in 2003. It never produced more than one flower.

that is really interesting. I have been ordering from Hidden Springs also and have been happy with their plants. And no one sends the monsters that Scott Reath does. They cost considerably (give or take) more but to be sure of having a hardy plant may be it is worth it. And he sends extras as part of his sales each year.

Thanks, Rosemary. I will plant it by the fence on the West side of the property. A solid fence and the huge Lilac on the other side should shade it nicely in the latter part of the day.

Good luck, kwanjin. Sometimes I have even moved a TP a few times. Better to risk losing blossoms than to kill the plant entirely. I still want more TPs to get some early blossoms. My dog likes to dig up the tiny Rockiis that I've bought, so in my case it would have to be an investment.

It seems that over the years I've spent a fortune on peonies, including the $150 I spent to have an Itoh as a housewarming gift for my nephew and his wife, and he thought he'd keep in indoors for the winter (I set him straight).

On my annual trek to Lowe's yesterday, I found intersectionals for $30 and grabbed one to try. What have I got to lose? They did not have a lot of plants out, but I went for the containers. They seem to have the best choices for me at the best prices. We have a lot of holes to drill for drainage, but they are perfect for bulbs of all kinds.

Does anyone have experience in containerizing peonies? It would have to be a very large container.

I know that some people keep tree peonies in containers quite successfully. I also heard that part of the reason is that tree peonies have much smaller root mass than the herbaceous. This is all hearsay on my part, but I have heard it pretty consistently. I am not much of a container planter as I manage to kill everything with either over or under watering or both at different times. lol. But I keep trying. I am going to try to make some of those self watering type pots using a piece of PVC down the side to the bottom storage area created by lining the bottom with something. Have to google the diy site for details.

The Hanakisoi bud is getting big.

Neat. I would settle for a few leaves at this point. lol

Michelle, thanks for posting the picture of your tuber from Vermont Wildflower Co. That's a good sized tuber. I'll have to keep them in mind for future peony wants.


The bloom season has started here, and thanks to all the cooler weather we've been having, the blooms are lasting much longer. I need to post some pictures this week.

My half-price Bannister peonies are all up. The first clump, actually 2 plants together of Red Grace were the first, and already show a few tiny flower buds. Topeka Garnet is too small to tell yet, and Heidi, also 2 plants together, just started to show. Most of the tubers were huge, with many eyes. Definitely a great, great bargain.

The long-established peonies are much farther along, and, as usual, will flower profusely. A few others which got moved a couple of times are also well up, and some show buds. Yippee!!!

Isn't it reassuring when they all come up, PFG? I also have some wonderful bushes coming from the Bannister purchases, and Klehm's offerings were just as good this year. Peonies are late enough in the season( and tolerant of our winters while tucked into their hay mulch) that they've been successful here, too. When I read Donna and Oberon's remarks I wondered about voles. I believe they are a peony's worst nightmare because they eat the roots. That's how I've lost peonies in the past, especially ones that were a little softened by getting wet without having actual wet feet. It's looking good here so far, and I guess I can forgive my dog's digging because his predatory instincts are at work. We also have a very vigilent hawk living in our ash tree.

Each year I try to ammend the soil, because this land is clearly overfarmed over many generations, and also very acid. For those who remember Carol (Fancyvan), she said she used volcanic soil additives to good effect. If I were a true scientist I'd have tried it on only half my plants, but I gave to all of them. This spring the 50 lb bag will be gone and I have to go look for it again.

Crickett Nursery in Conneticut uses Azomite which has something like 57 different minerals for their peonies. Same logic I guess. We have mice that girdle trees, bushes, and generally eat anything above ground during the winter. I only had one infestation two years ago and that was enough for me to be thankful they don't occur enmasse here very often.

I remember, Oberon! That was terrible! Problem with voles is they are below ground and they burrow quarter sized tunnels right through the plant roots unless they stop to eat. I hope nobody reading here has to deal with that.

In the end I did settle upon Azomite because it has a wider selection of minerals than many volcanic ash products, but it is the same thing in my book.

I started using Azomite this year. I bought 4 bags, 44lbs each, and I'm now using it on everything that I plant. I'll post how the plants do over time with this new additive.

Here finally are some pictures. These are the 2 beds that I did in 2011, and wow have all the plants matured in them, the DH asked me this week if I meant to do this? Duh!!!! What does he think!LOL

The last 2 pictures are of my noid, that is the root stock of what had been tree peony Shojuraku.

Pastel Splendor from Brooks Gardens, planted in December 2012. The last 2 pics are of Itoh Keiko.

Bed with Sea Shell and Keiko., #2 and 3 are Sea Shell.. #4 and 5 are Sorbet.

Bowl of Beauty, Blaze, Gardenia.

Bowl of Cream and Do Tell. The rain really hammered these plants, and when it was over, Do Tall had a lot of bent, broken stems.

This message was edited Aug 22, 2013 10:55 PM

You must be in piggy heaven. All those gorgeous peonies. And your lilies are going to not be far behind judging by how tall they are. Your yard is so elegant looking.

Misaka, different views.

Thanks Mary, the bloom season has taken off here.

Here's Command Performance, it's hard to photograph it's true red. The size of the bloom was wonderful, but it got beaten up by the rains. It has 1 more bud to open. The buds on my Imaculee blasted, so I won't get to see any blooms on it this year.

Some have the plants that have been in the garden for years finally have buds. I'm looking forward to seeing Feather Top bloom.

Oh Cem, how gorgeous!

Thanks for posting these pics. Really lovely beds that just leep getting better, if that's possible.

Thanks Donna and Rosemary, I have a bloom fest going on and the garden smells wonderful between the peonies and the irises.

Here is Wladislawa.

This message was edited May 8, 2013 6:06 PM

Annette, they're all lovely. Many of your colors are out of this world. Ironic that peonies seem to invite bad weather. This year there seem to be more healthy buds than ever before. You too?

Thanks Cathy, and I'll have to agree that I do have more healthy buds this year. One of the plants that misbehaved as I mentioned above, is Immaculee, that suffered bud blast in the past 2 weeks. Lois's Choice also lost its bud, which it put out much too early when we were still having freezing temps.

I didn't get to enjoy Merry Mayshine's only bloom that came last week when we had many days of rain. Do Tell and Command Performance's blooms also took a hit, thanks to the wet weather.

Annette

More blooms today. We warmed up to 79 degrees.

Do Tell showing it's true colors.

Buckeye Belle.

Torch Song is about to bloom.

Sorbet with iris Lights, Camera, Action in the background

Itoh Yumi is about to bloom as well. For the second year in a row, it's blooming later than Keiko or Misaka.

Just had to share Keiko again.

Kansas is about to make a showing, it's hard to photograph it's true color.

More Bowl of Beauty which is in the same bed with clematis Duchess of Albany, similar colors.

Sea Shell again with a lot more blooms open, thanks to the warm weather today.