2020 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' Blooms on Old Overwintered Woody Stems

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/14
I know I posted one article on this topic back in 2011 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Blooms, and I thought this year would be a good year for an update. Nowadays I regularly leave the woody stems on my intersectional peonies through the winter, especially if they have big fat buds on them. Some stems will survive the winter and some won't. In my opinion if there's any chance the stem might bloom the next year, it is worth it to leave the stems in place over the winter. This Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) aka 'Pink Double Dandy' had a couple of tall woody stems that were growing last month from the tips. So I decided to follow their growth to show the actual blooms on those woody stems.


Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/14
As you can see both of these growth terminals at the tops of these woody stems were both productive, producing large, fat buds and then beautiful pink blooms. Not only did each of them produce bright pink blooms, but one of the stems produced 3 blooms on one stem! So if there's any doubt in your mind that leaving stems on intersectional peonies over winter might be a worthwhile endeavor (especially in Southern climates), there you have it! It is no surprise to me, as I have seen this happen so many times over the years. I am also not surprised that Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) is capable of such a feat, as it is a Southern Peony Best Performer, 2015 Peony 'Keiko' (Adored) Best Performer - Week 4.


Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/26

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/27

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 3/27

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/3

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/3

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/3

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/8

Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) - 'Pink Double Dandy'
Blooms on Overwintered Stems - 4/10

2020 Easter in the Peony Garden

Easter in the Southern Peony Garden
Although there is a stay at home order in place, and we weren't allowed to invite anyone over, we still had our own Easter Egg Hunt in the peony garden with just our own family. We usually host Easter each year for our whole family. So we definitely missed seeing everyone and having the cousins over. The children had a great time anyway. As long as there is a game and candy involved, the kids will have a great time no matter what!


Easter in the Southern Peony Garden
The intersectional peonies are just beginning to bloom, while the coral and yellow peonies are enjoying their heyday, in full bloom! The candy colored blooms in a variety of pastel colors are great to hide the Easter eggs amongst. The children enjoy finding the eggs hidden between the flowers. There were also a couple of giant glitter eggs with money in them. So the kids felt lucky to find those as Easter eggs too! I hope everyone had a safe, healthy, & Happy Easter!! :-)


Easter in the Southern Peony Garden

2020 Intersectional Peony Blooms Week 3 Early Mid

It's interesting to me that the first intersectionals to bloom are not yellow. Especially since the yellow intersectionals were the first ones invented (in Japan by a man named Itoh of course). I guess the yellow parent must be later blooming than these other colorful intersectional parents. The intersectional peony bloom season started off this year with Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst', 2020 First Intersectional Peony Bloom of the Season, Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst', followed a couple days later by Intersectional Peony 'Watermelon Wine' & Intersectional Peony 'First Arrival'.


Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'

Intersectional Peony 'Watermelon Wine'

Intersectional Peony 'First Arrival'

2020 Peony Blooms Week 3 Early Mid

The peony blooms season is just getting going here this week. Many more varieties are coming into bloom and the corals and yellows are definitely stealing the show! We had warmer temperatures this week, with a few days in the 80s, but we did get some rain and then cooler weather at the end of the week. The warm weather definitely spurred the peonies into action. It's so nice to see the garden at the beginning of the bloom season. There are no spent, tired blooms, and all of the flowers and foliage are fresh! I hope you are enjoying your peony bloom season as well!


Peony 'Salmon Dream'

Peony 'Lovely Rose'

Peony 'Roy Pehrson's Best Yellow'

Peony 'Coral Charm'

Peony 'Coral Magic'

Peony 'Burma Midnight'

2020 First Intersectional Peony Bloom of the Season, Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'

Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'
It is always exciting to me when the first peony of the season opens 2020 First Tree Peony Blooms of the Year!, but it is even more exciting when the first intersectional peony bloom opens in the season. Intersectional Peonies have quickly found their way into my heart for sure. I think they may be my favorite type of peonies (at least at this time anyway)! The first one opened in my garden yesterday - Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst', with a definite hint of lavender/purple - my favorite color! These peonies are especially great in Southern gardens, and there are several on our Southern Peony Best Performers list, including this one 2016 Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst' Best Performer - Week 4. If you don't yet own an intersectional peony, I definitely recommend trying one in your own garden. You'll quickly fall in love! :-)


Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst'

2020 Peony Blooms Week 2 Early

Well, since we're still really early here, the tree peonies are spacing themselves out quite a bit this year. We got the cool spring weather back this week with highs in the 60s on most days. The forecast for this upcoming week has mostly 70s with a couple days in the 80s. So I think the peony blooms will start to accelerate here shortly. My Lavender P. Rockii seedling started to bloom this week that I transplanted 2 years ago, 2018 Transplanting My First Tree Peony. It is really doing well and growing larger each year. Tree Peony 'Leda' bloomed again for me this year. This is the 2nd year it has bloomed, since I purchased it two years ago as well. It is so nice to see Peony 'Coral Fay' pop up with its bright coral pink blooms that really stand out above its unique foliage.


Tree Peony Seedling Lavender Paeonia Rockii

Tree Peony 'Leda'

Peony 'Coral Fay'

2020 The Tree Peony and the Honey Bee

Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee
I'm not sure who was more eager to see this tree peony open - me or the honey bee! We finally got some sunshine after days and days of rain and cloudiness, and boy was I thankful for it! So was this bee apparently, since the sun helped open up all of these flowers in bud. This tree peony is a seedling I grew from some seed I purchased on Ebay, 2013 P. Rockii Peony Seeds from Cricket Hill Garden. I guess this would be considered a semi-double bloom since it has more than a single row of petals. It sure is gorgeous, and I just love those purple flares in the center of the flower!! I will definitely be labeling this one so that I remember to move it this fall out of the seedling bed fall and into my garden! :-)


Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee

Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee
I'm sure the honey bees will be happy to have more flowers in the garden each year. I do know of one peony grower in Canada that also likes peonies & bees - Blossom Hill Nursery. They have their own hives, make their own honey, and lots of other products with the wax. I am just so grateful to see the bees here in my garden. I know that bees have been having a hard time. I hope that bees are able to recover. I also hope that we can all do our part to reduce our dependence on harmful chemicals and try to make each of our individual garden spaces bee friendly. Bees are our friends, let's make them welcome! :-)


Tree Peony P. Rockii Seedling & Honey Bee

2020 Peony Blooms Week 1 Very Early

Peony 'Early Scout'
The only 2 named peony varieties to bloom this week in Week 1 were Tree Peony 'White Phoenix' and Peony 'Early Scout'. Since our bloom season started so early this year (almost a week earlier than any other year recorded in the last 15 years!), not many peonies have had the opportunity to grow, much less bloom. There are several other tree peonies waiting to bloom, and with this 80 degree weather we had today and will have again tomorrow, many of them will likely melt! That's how it usually goes here in NC - from winter to summer in 1 week flat! LOL Let's hope we get a little bit more temperate spring weather this season. Looks like we'll have some days with highs in the 50s next week - here we go again!!! I hope your start to spring and the peony bloom season is coming along nicely. Welcome spring!!! :-)


Tree Peony 'White Phoenix'

2020 Intersectional Peony Calendar

I just got this calendar in the mail. Okay, well, I guess I hadn't opened my mail since last month... (don't tell). When I did get to this envelope last week, I set it aside figuring it was something else. When I went to open it today, I got this nice surprise! I must say the Intersectional Peony 'Impossible Dream' is my favorite intersectional peony in the whole calendar. I am still looking for a source for that one (after one failed attempt at purchasing it on Ebay, 2018 Ebay Peony Seller Reviews). I can't seem to find it anywhere! If anyone knows of a source for that Intersectional Peony 'Impossible Dream', please let me know! I think I may have a way to get an Intersectional Peony 'All That Jazz' (more on that later...), and I don't know what the name of Mr. November is, but I certainly would like to find out! ;-)


2020 Intersectional Peony Calendar

Intersectional Peony 'All That Jazz'

Intersectional Peony 'Impossible Dream'

Intersectional Peony

2020 First Tree Peony Blooms of the Year!

Tree Peony Paeonia Ostii
The first bloom of the season opened today! It's the second day of spring, and the tree peonies are already starting to bloom! It seems a little early to me, and I looked back over my records from the last 15 years, and this is the earliest peony bloom I've ever had! By almost a week! It looks like the previous earliest bloom start date was March 26th. Now this year in 2020, the blooms are starting on March 20th! Wow! I don't know if this is global warming or that groundhog Phil, but whatever it is, spring is here!


Tree Peony Paeonia Ostii
Do you remember that peony covered in snow this year, 2020 First Snow of the Season @ Southern Peony? This is the same peony pictured above with all buds fully intact. Sure enough this tree peony shrugged off that snow and continued to grow and develop several buds that were already growing. It has been in the 80s yesterday and today. Quite warm! Some plants are a bit sad during the heat of the day. The ground still has a lot of moisture, but we could really use a little bit of rain especially for new plants and to help wash off all of this yellow pollen! Yes, that's here too, but all of these flowers are the things that makes spring so happy!


Tree Peony Paeonia Ostii

2019 Peonies & Butterflies

I didn't capture a ton of butterfly photos in the peony garden this year, but I did catch a couple. I thought it was fun to research this moth & butterfly to see what their names were. The black and white spotted one is a Mournful Thyris Moth, and the brown one with orange and white markings is a Spotted Skipper Butterfly. It was so nice to have them in the garden too. There were several other butterflies enjoying the peonies, but some of them were too fast for me to get a photo. (If you want to take a closer look at these, just click the photo and a larger version will appear.) If anyone else was able to capture some butterflies on their peonies this year, please share. I'd love to see them! :-)


Peony 'Pastelorama'
Mournful Thyris Moth

Intersectional Peony 'Morning Lilac'
Spotted Skipper Butterfly

2019 Intersectional Peony Color Combinations

Intersectional Peonies 'Hillary' & 'Canary Brilliants'
I just wanted to share with you a few intersectional peony color combinations I captured during the bloom season this year (and no these are not on the same bush). These shots are on 2 different bushes that are planted next to each other. I don't want to get any of my varieties mixed up. So I always try to mix up the color combinations when planting my intersectional peonies out. Anyway when I saw these combinations in the garden, I just couldn't help but snap a shot of them. Some of them are complementary, some of them are contrasting, but any way you slice it they are all eye catching and gorgeous! I hope you enjoy!


Intersectional Peonies 'Sonoma Apricot' & 'Ballarena de Saval'

Intersectional Peonies 'Hillary' & 'Morning Lilac'

Intersectional Peonies 'Sonoma Apricot' & 'Ballarena de Saval'