2010 Peonies in the Rain

Wow! It's raining. September was shaping up to be the driest on record because we'd had little to no rain all month. I think the official measurement is 0.13 inches for the month. It looks like we've had 0.80 inches so far today, and it's still raining. I hope this helps the peonies. I don't really know what this drought is going to do to next year's blooms. Next spring the bud and stem counts are likely to be lower than they would have been. I was also hoping to plant peony seeds, but have delayed that since it has been so dry. Maybe now we'll be getting a steady supply of rain, and the seeds would actually sprout instead of dry up!

2010 Fall Peony Orders

It's that time again, and I've waited a bit late this year. I'm sure I've missed some choice selections from some vendors. So I'm putting in my fall peony orders today. Here's a sampling of some of the varieties I'm ordering this year. I'm replacing Peony 'Athena' since the first one I had died out after a couple years. I'm going to pay a little closer attention to this one to see how well it grows in our climate. Peony 'Goldilocks' and Peony 'Etched Salmon' are both new to me and have both been on my 'Want' list for a while now. Peony 'Pink Derby' is also new to me. This one, though, I saw for the first time this year at the 2010 American Peony Society Convention in Janesville, Wisconsin. It was entered in several of the competitions, and it was just such an eye catching variety. I just had to have it! I'm also ordering a couple peonies for my Saunders' peony garden. I have a collection of peonies from Professor A. P. Saunders. I guess I'm partial to his hybrids.

2010 Peony Weeds

Well, it has been quite a wet summer since our dry spell at the very beginning of the summer. I am looking forward to next year's blooms already. With all of this rain, I'm thinking the peonies should have plenty of fuel to create next year's buds and store lots of energy in their roots for next year's blooms. With the rain come lots of competition, weeds! I use hardwood mulch as a weed deterrent on most of my peonies. I have a couple of beds that are just dirt which I have to hoe to keep the weeds out. I also use weed spray around the edges of the mulched beds. Without this I don't think there would be any way I could keep up! Even in the mulched beds some weeds still sprout. So I end up pulling these by hand. I got up a lot of these weeds yesterday, but they're still out there.

2010 Peony Stem Counts

Wow! I just braved the midday 90+ degree heat (head index of 99 degrees) to start on my peony stem counts. This is going to have to be done a bit at a time because it is HOT out there! Counting the peony stems gives me a good idea of which peonies are growing and increasing well from year to year. It may also indicate whether they like their growing conditions. If they are not increasing well, they could have too much sun, too little sun, too little moisture, etc. Also it tells me which peonies I should be dividing this fall. I believe a good rule of thumb is if a peony has 7-8 stems or more, it is a good candidate for division. My intersectional peony 'Bartzella' actually increased from 10 stems last year to 17 stems this year, almost double!

Semi Woody Stems of Peony 'Bartzella'	Herbaceous Stems of Peony 'Mrs. FDR'

2010 Summer Watering Peonies

Wow. We are only 1 week into the summer, and it is already bad. It is soo hot (100 degrees yesterday), and it hasn't rained in over two weeks, since June 13th. I felt so sorry for some of my peonies that I had to water a couple of them today. A few of them were drooping, and on some of them the leaves have turned yellow. This is not good. I hope we get some rain soon!