2017 American Peony Society Tour of Southern Peony's Garden

Southern Peony Gardens


APS Members Enjoying Watermelon
APS Tour of Southern Peony
Even though there was not a peony on any peony bush in my yard, I was still thrilled to give my fellow American Peony Society members a tour of my garden, here at Southern Peony. It was a bright day with blue skies, and thankfully, no rain. It was definitely on the warmer side. So I had plenty of watermelon (and water!) to try to keep people cool. Also I managed to save a few of my smaller peony side buds in the fridge (the main buds had to go into the American Peony Society Convention Flower Exhibition), for display in vases on my back deck.
Peony Side Buds in Blue Glass Vase
APS Tour of Southern Peony


APS Memebers in Intersectional Peony Garden
APS Tour of Southern Peony

I also made laminated peony signs to place all around my garden to show people what kind of peonies were planted where. I had signs for Intersectional Peonies, Pink Peonies, Red Peonies, Single Peonies, Double Peonies, Tree Peonies, etc. I think it was helpful for people to visualize what kind of peonies I grow. I was also very happy to have so many growers get a better look at how peonies grow here in the South.

Peony Signs APS Tour of Southern Peony

Pecan Sandies and Watermelon
APS Tour of Southern Peony
I hope everyone was able to take away something from the Southern Peony garden tour, a new idea for their garden, a new peony they'd like to grow, a new perspective on growing peonies in warmer climates, or whatever it may be. I was certainly pleased to host everyone and had a great time showing you all my garden, and I hope everyone had a great time here as well. Thank you to the American Peony Society for giving Southern Peony this opportunity, and thank you to all of the APS Members that attended the 2017 APS Convention and the Southern Peony tour!


APS Members and Me
APS Tour of Southern Peony
P.S. - Thank you to my friend, Janice, and my sister in law, Caz, for taking these lovely photos!

2017 American Peony Society Convention Tour of Plant Delights Nursery & Juniper Level Botanic Garden

Tony Avent Leading the American Peony Society Tour
of Plant Delights Nursery
Everyone seemed to enjoy the witty antics and educational tour given by Plant Delights Nursery owner, Tony Avent. He showed off all kinds of rare plant hardier than their "normal" growing zones and told us about his current mission - to continue to find and spread rare plants far and wide for the people for prosperity for the earth's own genetic biodiversity. He also shared with us about his plans to end his nursery business within 10 years, while he's set up a fund that he would like to build up between now and then so that the Juniper Level Botanic Garden will be fully self funded and continue into perpetuity for all future generations to enjoy, share in, and learn from.
Canna Lilies at Plant Delights Nursery


Purple Flower at Plant Delights Nursery


Century Plant at Plant Delights Nursery
Tony also shared with us about his mission of busting gardening myths. Growing daylilies beside hostas (sun and shade) and acidic plants near basic ones. He likes to try to grow plants outside of their normal USDA growing zones. He shared with us that the Juniper Level Botanic Garden does not use any fertilizers whatsoever - that their focus is on the preparation of the soil, which is 50% local dirt (mostly sand where he lives) and 50% compost that is made on site.
Tony Concludes the American Peony Society Tour
of Juniper Level Botanic Garden
Tony also boasted that Juniper Level Botanic Garden is in the top %5 of gardens worldwide in terms of biodiversity, which is really impressive. (However I think he really want to be #1). :-) The garden includes over 22,000 taxa of plant life. After our tour, we all took a break in the shade and enjoyed our local NC Barbeque lunch with vinegar-based pulled pork barbeque, fried chicken, cole slaw, potato salad, and hush puppies. All in all, I think this might have been our best garden tour this year.

Daniel, Sheryl, Anna, Richard, John, & Adrienne	Me & Tony Avent
Nate, David, & Jim	Joyce, Jennifer, & Jeff
Eileen & Don	Louise, Kathleen, & Marie
Piet, Vriends, Lia, & Dick	Carolyn (My Grandma) & Me

2017 American Peony Society Convention Tour of JC Raulston Arboretum

Our tour bus dropped us off right at the new archway entrance for the JC Raulston Arboretum, a stainless steel archway with Japanese Maple leaves scattered throughout, giving it the effect of a sky of silver stars. Mark Weathington, Director of the JC Raulston Arboretum greeted our group at their Visitors Center, not far from the arched entrance. We toured their Scree and Xeric Gardens, Asian Valley - which did include some tree peonies, traditional Japanese Gardens - one of my favorites, Lath House, Plantsmen's Woods - which contained the bulk of the peonies donated by the American Peony Society. We also toured their Rose Garden which is now mixed with other perennials and their White Garden. Mark mentioned that they have over 6000 species of plants on just 10 acres. So if you'd like to see all kinds of plants in a more condensed setting, JC Raulston Arboretum is the place to find them all!
Mark Weathington, Director of JC Raulston Arboretum,
Greets us at their Visitor Center

2017 American Peony Society Convention Tour of Duke Chapel

Duke Chapel on Duke University Campus
I had been to Duke Chapel before, but I had never learned as much as I did when I toured it with the American Peony Society. When we first arrived, we had a bit of free time where we were allowed to walk freely around the chapel. People admired the architecture, the stained glass windows, and the fresh flowers. Eventually people started settling into the pews at the front of the chapel, and our tour guide, a current member of the chapel's choir, met us there and gave us a great talk. We learned about the 4 organs in the chapel, how they were cleaned and restored, the chapel building and its architecture and materials (stone at the bottom and a terra cotta like tile at the top), what the chapel is used for today - a interdenominational Christian church. There are no members, just participants, and although it looks like a Cathedral, it cannot be called one since it is not affiliated with the Catholic church and uses no religious hierarchy.
APS Members Listening to Tour Guide's Talk
We also learned about the gorgeous stained glass windows in the chapel, how the windows' color is not painted but infused into the glass, giving it its richness. Each window is unique, and the larger windows placed higher in the chapel have figures from the Old Testament of the Bible, while the smaller windows placed nearer to the ground level have scenes from the New Testament of the Bible. He also mentioned that the original window drawings and plans were burned when the artists attempted to put their own initials into some of the windows. However in the 1980s a grad student of the University was granted permission to install temporary scaffolding to document each window photographically and created a book about the windows.
Stained Glass Windows in Duke Chapel

2017 American Peony Society Convention Tour of Duke Gardens

American Peony Society Group Photo at Duke Gardens
The next morning of the APS Convention Tour, we boarded the bus at 8am for our first day of garden tours. When we arrived at Duke Gardens, we were met and greeted by the Director of Horticulture for Duke Gardens, Bobby Mottern. He spoke to us in their Angle Amphitheater overlooking their Peace Pond. Then our group was divided into four smaller groups each with a guide to take us through the gardens. Our group visited the White Garden, Fern Grotto, Learning Center, Moss Garden, Peony Collection, Arched Bridge, Japanese Garden, and finally the Terrace Overlook. The view was amazing!
Our Tour Group Visiting the Doris Duke Gardens

Linette Photographing the Japanese Iris
After our tour we met the rest of our American Peony Society group on South Lawn for lunch. We enjoyed delicious boxed lunches with turkey, ham, or roast beef sandwhiches with chips, pasta salad, a pickle, and of course a chocolate chip cookie! During our lunch break I had an opportunity to look at and walk inside of the Patrick Dougherty sculpture on the South Lawn. This art installation was made with natural materials, mostly wood branches that had been shaped and formed into this huge group of sculptures, which resembled a wooden Stonehenge. Overall it was a nice tour, with good (although a bit warm) weather!
Don Hollingsworth and Piet Enjoying their Lunch Break

2017 American Peony Society Convention Picnic at Pullen Park

American Peony Society Picnic at Pullen Park
The welcome picnic for the American Peony Society's 2017 Convention was held at North Carolina's first (and best) public park, Pullen Park. Peony friends met in the Round Pavilion Picnic Shelter for a nice spaghetti dinner with salad, garlic bread, and iced tea. It was nice to see old peony friends and meet some new ones. It was also nice to have Virginia Tech students and staff represented there who are researching successfully storing and extending the life of peony cut flowers. Convention attendees were able to pick up their convention registration materials in their APS bags. All in all the picnic was a nice start to the 2017 American Peony Society Convention!
Mike & Becky
American Peony Society Picnic at Pullen Park

Lia & Dick	Jim & Robert
Virginia Techies Daniel, Joyce, & Rachel	Isabella, Maddox, & Adriana

2017 American Peony Society Convention Preparation

I know it's been a while since I've posted on here, but I have just been super busy, planning the convention, getting my garden ready for the tour, and just generally going crazy! LOL! I am so excited for the convention, and since I'll have lots of jobs to do this year and a drive home each night, I most likely won't have a play by play for this year's convention. I do promise to take lots of pictures, though (as usual), and I will try to post some convention updates later on. As you can see below, I've been busy getting the APS Convention materials ready to go. If you are coming to the convention, I'll see you soon! :-)
American Peony Society Convention Materials

2016 American Peony Society Fall Auction Starts Today!

Yes, I've been a little busy lately, and if you've been wondering what's been taking up a bit of my time, it's the American Peony Society Fall Auction - which starts today! I just added two last minute additions to the auction this morning - Peony 'Bartzella' - which is an awesome Southern Peony Best Performer and Peony 'Dinner Plate', which there are now two of this peony in the auction this year. So don't miss your opportunity to grab one! Bidding is from 12:00 noon Central time today, Saturday, October 8th until 5:00 pm Central time tomorrow, Sunday, October 9th. There are lots of nice peonies up for auction and something for every peony lover - tree peonies, herbaceous peonies, and intersectional peonies too! I've got my eye on a few of these beauties myself! Check out the full list of 39 peonies up for auction this year on the APS website. You can find it under Events, Online Fall Auction. The American Peony Society Fall Auction is open to APS Members Only. So if you're not yet a member, now's a great time to Join the APS! Happy Peony Bidding!
American Peony Society Fall Auction
Two 'Dinner Plate' Peonies Up for Auction

2016 APS Convention Peony Tour Dalhke Garden

Peonies, Irises, and Alliums at Play in the Dalhke Garden
I must say that the Dalhke Garden was my favorite personal garden tour during the 2016 American Peony Society Convention. However I think I'll let the flowers do the talking in this garden. Check out the first photo with the peonies, irises, and alliums. The size of these plants were just huge with too many flowers to count on each of them. The size of everything in this garden made me feel like Alice in Wonderland. It felt like I shrunk, or the flowers just became giants. The size ratio of the flowers in this garden made me feel like I was a child again in my grandmother's garden where the peonies were as tall as me. The peonies in this garden were as tall as people (some people at least). I kept wondering what in the world did they feed these plants? What was the secret to their garden that made everything grow so big and so healthy?
Whimsical Lavender Fence in Dalhke's Wonderland
Not only were the flowers of supernatural proportion, but the color in the garden just blows you away. Every nook and cranny, every crevice and corner of this garden was filled with color. No matter where you looked, there was something to look at. From the bright purple blooms to the lavender fences, birdhouses, and window sills, color met your eye. There were golden yellow intersectional peony blooms, fiery pink single peonies that almost met your nose, and deep red double peonies overflowing with blossoms. Not only the blossoms entertained the garden guests - the garden art and decorations also greeted you in every turn. There was just enough art to fill the spaces and draw the eye, but not too much to seem garish or gaudy. All of the art seemed to fit in just right and add pops of color just where they were needed. There were blue and green gazing balls, a bright multi-colored bottle tree, figurines, and even metal flowers - which all added to the experience and wonderment.
Fiery Pink Single Peonies in Dalhke Garden
I noticed they used cocoa hulls as mulch on several beds around the house. However, not all beds were mulched in cocoa hulls, some were covered with leaf mulch, some with wood mulch. When the tour was almost over, I finally got a chance to ask Betty Dalhke herself "How does your garden grow?" - so well! After a bit of talk about leaf mulch, I finally found out that her property used to be a working farm with animals many years ago. So the area behind her house (now her garden) used to contain animals. So that was it - composted manure! That was the secret to how her garden grew! Ever since that time I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate more composted manure into my own garden. I've been working on that, and I'll let you know a little more about that later...
The Dalhke Garden
I have already been in the process of trying to incorporate a few more garden ornaments into my garden. Previously my garden ornaments had been limited to the collection of fairies in my fairy garden, a small obelisk, and a few solar lights. In the last couple of years, I have been adding a few more things (bird statues seem to be my latest obsession.) However, I had already seen and wanted this mini glass bottle tree online that I later saw in the Dalhke's garden. Seeing it in person just made me want it even more. I just wasn't sure I wanted to shell out the $24 for the mini tree and another $19 for the glass bottles, plus another $12 in shipping ($55 in all), but now I'm considering it a bit more. If you happen to like this mini bottle tree and would like one for yourself, check it out the Gardner's Supply Company web site, Mini Bottle Tree. Happy Gardening! :-)
Dalhke's Mini Bottle Tree

2016 APS Gold Medal Winner Peony 'Eliza Lundy'

Peony 'Eliza Lundy'
Photo Courtesy of Countryside Gardens Peony Farm
Well, it's official. The American Peony Society has selected Peony 'Eliza Lundy' to be the 2016 American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner and 2017 Peony of the Year. Laverne from Countryside Gardens Peony Farm gracefully allowed me to display these Peony 'Eliza Lundy' photos since I do not grow this peony myself. I'm also not sure how well this peony would grow here since it is a short variety and short varieties tend to not grow well here. However, from these photos it looks like it grows very well in Minnesota! If you want to add one of these peonies to your collection, it looks like Countryside Gardens Peony Farm is selling this peony for fall delivery! Peony 'Eliza Lundy' is a clear, red double that was hybridized by Krekler and registered in 1976. If you'd like to see the rest of the APS Gold Medal selections, check out the full list of American Peony Society Gold Medal Recipients.

Peony 'Eliza Lundy'
Photo Courtesy of Countryside Gardens Peony Farm

2016 APS Peony Convention Banquet and Auction

2016 American Peony Society Banquet
The 2016 American Peony Society banquet was a nice meal with good friends and great times. The food was tasty - chicken, beef stew, ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, tomato and artichoke salad, garden salad, and corn bread. There was also strawberry cream cake and apple cobbler for dessert. The APS General Meeting was short. However, the APS did announce and recognize all of the individuals that got a peony on the Court of Honor, as well as those with special awards as well. Nate Bremer by far received the most ribbons of anyone in the show, including the Best in Show award, which were all well deserved. If you went on the tour of his farm during the 2016 APS Peony Convention Tour of Solaris Farms you'd know why.
2016 American Peony Society Special Award Winners
If you were looking for a good deal on peonies, the 2016 APS Convention Auction was the place to be. Jim and Lore did a great job as usual keeping us entertained while helping auction off plants to benefit the APS as well. This year there was a much larger variety of plants auctioned off - more than just peonies. There were magnolia trees, ginko trees, crabapple trees, Japanese maple trees, clematises, and a fringe tree that was quite popular. Of course the peonies were the main attraction, and there were so many to choose from. Many varieties went for $30 or less. However, there were some rare varieties in high demand that fetched more than $200-$300 dollars. There was also a silent auction that was new this year, and I think the best items in that auction were the honey from Blossom Hill Nursery and Don Smith's hat! :-D
2016 American Peony Society Auction Donations

2016 American Peony Society Auction Donations

2016 Favorite Peonies at APS Convention Flower Show

Since it is wintertime and there aren't any peony blooms in sight anywhere, I figured it would be a good time to publish my favorite peony blooms from the 2015 American Peony Society Convention. Never before seen photos of gorgeous peonies from the 2015 APS Convention, who wouldn't want to see that in the dead of winter? :-) Just pull out that Peony Wish List for Next Year you been dreaming up, because you're going to need to add a few more peonies to it... Plus, if you haven't Registered for the 2016 American Peony Society Convention yet, you just got another reason - make that eleven more reasons! :-) So check out this eye candy - hopefully it will keep you warm. :-) Happy Valentine's Day!
Peony 'Sonoma Halo'

Peony 'Black Swan'	Peony 'Rosy Prospects'	Peony 'Early Canary'
Peony 'Lois Choice'	Tree Peony 'Leda'	Peony 'Cherry Ruffles'
Peony 'Pastelegance'	Peony 'Henry Bockstoce'	Peony 'Christmas Velvet'

Peony 'Douglas Brand'