Peonies in the fall...in the south??

I have been experimenting with different types of peonies in my north TX garden, realizing they have a cold requirement to bloom, and not sure how well they'd do in TX. I had a one year old tree peony that produced a flower its first year, and none its second. I have several herbaceous peonies, none of which bloomed the first year, but several of which produced buds this past spring. Turns out they were late-blooming varieties, and the buds, nearly ready to open, dried up in late May when temperatures started to get hot. This year, I ordered six "Doreen" peonies from Wayside Gardens, as they are early blooming single peonies that are supposed to be well suited to the south. I planted all six in the same area of my yard about three and a half WEEKS ago...and guess what....several are over a foot tall, and I have nine flower buds between the six plants. Each plant has at least one bud. They appear very healthy and are growing aggressively. I bought other peonies from other suppliers that are single or Japanese early blomers, and they have not grown immediately like these "Doreens". I have a feeling I'll see a couple of flowers before winter sets in. Has anyone heard of this happening? I always thought peonies only bloomed in spring and after a lengthy cold period. They roots I received had LOTS of eyes..one even had about 14 of them, and I think all had at least 7 or 8. The attached picture is not very good, but was taken today, Nov. 5.

Steve, I'm having the same thing happen. I ordered 2 peonies from Wayside and planted them a month ago. They are very early varieties. I noticed yesterday they were up and growing despite that I tried to cover them w/the straw they were shipped in. I didn't want them to get the sunshine we've been having. I have violets,roses and iris blooming right now. Weird happenings going on. I hope these peonies do well. I tried to fight the urge as I'm even farther south than you. But, I'm willing to give it a whirl as I loved my peonies that bloomed their heads off in my Dallas garden. My clumps were 20 yrs. old and reliably bloomed every year. I love peonies.
Hilary

Thanks hag.....this is only my 3rd year experimenting with them here, and last year I had several that ALMOST bloomed, so I'm glad to hear you were successful when you lived here....gives me a lot of encouragement:-) I've been doing a lot of reading since planting the first ones, and not flowering in the first year or two is apparently pretty normal, anyway. I ordered several this year that are supposed to be suited to the south, so we'll see what happens. The buds on these....a few of them anyway.... keep getting bigger. Wayside finally wrote me back and told me not to worry and to let them do whatever they would do and that eventually they would die down and should reset for growth the following spring. He said they either had been exposed to some amont of cold before they were shipped, and/or our current climate conditions were perfect to spur growth.

Steve, be sure you haven't planted too deep. I literally just set mine in a prepared bed w/just the roots buried. The eyes sit on the surface. If you plant them w/too much soil, they won't ever bloom. Mine have always bloomed from the first season on. The first yr. only 1 bloom, then they gradually increase w/each yr. When I left Dallas last yr. my clumps were about 3' round and had well over 40 blooms on them each yr. They stayed loaded for about 3 weeks. I hoop them as soon as the foliage gets about 8". Otherwised they'll end up flopped over and ugly.... I just love my peonies.. Good luck, Hilary

Hi Hilary,

No, I planted all of them with the eyes even with the soil like you did, or under no more than a half inch of soil (the instructions all say no more than 1 to 2 inches, so I stayed under that). Most of the reading I have done about peonies suggest they are unlikely to bloom much if at all the first year, and admittedly the first roots I bought were very small 2-3 eye divisions from Home Depot or from online outfits which sent out small divisions, because I didn't know much about rhem at the time. This year I bought much higher quality rooots and also made sure I bought early bloomers which he experts all say are likely to do better in the south than lates and doubles. I had several plants where the buds were so full last year (2nd year) they almost bloomed (you could see the pink around the edges of the buds), but this was late May and it just got too hot and they dried up. The leaves on all of them stayed greener much longer this year than the first, so I am expecting a much better performance next spring. It's enouraging to hear of your success, and as I learn more, I'm getting the right varieties and doing the right things, and I am optimistic about being able to grow them successfully. My tree peony DID bloom first year, and it was only a 1-year old plant I got from Van Bourgondien. Most experts say it is often three years before they bloom, so I'm looking forward to next spring, as I have several of those as well. Thanks for your comments!

Steve

This message was edited Nov 21, 2004 1:15 PM

It's getting bigger...pic taken today, 11/23