2016 Registered for American Peony Society Convention

I did it! I finally got my registration in for the 2016 American Peony Society Convention. I am already excited! I can't wait to see all of my peony friends again, meet some new ones, and of course see all of those gorgeous flowers! The convention is going to be in Wisconsin this year. This will be the second peony convention I've attended in Wisconsin. The first one I went to was in Janesville, WI, and it was nice. So I am looking forward to this one in Green Bay, especially since I've never been to Green Bay before. Plus, we are going to be touring the gardens of Nate Bremer of Solaris Farms and of Bill Seidl. It will be nice to meet both of them and see all of their peonies. I can't wait! Also don't forget about the tour of Klehm's Song Sparrow - a rare opportunity to buy their normally mail order only plants in person! Plus, there's always the exhibit, lectures, and of course the banquet and peony auction! So what are you waiting for? Sign up now!!! :-) I hope to see you all there!
2016 American Peony Society Convention

2016 New Peony Breaking Dormancy Too Early

Intersectional Peony 'Prairie Charm' Breaking Dormancy Too Early
This happens on occasion, new peony foliage breaking dormancy too early. It's happened before like this 2012 Newly Planted Peony Sprouting in Fall. That peony lived, but those early sprouts of foliage did not, which is not ideal since the newly divided root is wasting its limited energy reserves on foliage that does not live. Usually the new peony will live, but it will just take longer for it to become established and bloom. This situation usually occurs in peonies that are newly planted, especially here in the South since the weather is warmer here than the climate they were previously growing in. As is the case with this Intersectional Peony 'Prairie Charm' from Moscow, PA - which appears to be in growing zone 5b/6a. I am in growing zone 7b. So that is at least 1.5 growing zones to about 2 full growing zones colder than where I am.
Intersectional Peony 'Prairie Charm' With Extra Mulch
This time, I noticed the dormancy break early, and tried throwing some much over it to block the sun and hopefully keep the foliage from freezing. I am hoping that by blocking the sun, the sprout will not continue to grow, and I'm also hoping that by covering the sprout with mulch, the newly emerging foliage will be protected from the freezing cold temperatures. Our winter has been very weird this year so far. We were warm for most of December, then it finally got cold for a week or so. Then it got hot again, and now cold again. I'm guessing this is how the rest of winter will play out too. I hope this little plant will figure out that it's not time to sprout yet and stay under this new layer of mulch!

2016 Southern Peony Joins Facebook!

Well, finally! Southern Peony finally joins Facebook! It's about time, it's only 2016! Happy New Year to all of my fellow peony lovers and growers out there! You now have a new way to keep up with all of the latest news here at Southern Peony through your favorite social media site - Facebook. So check out our new Southern Peony Facebook page and give us a like! All of our posts here will get posted to Facebook as well. That way you can see lots of gorgeous peony pics while you're catching up on all the family gossip and friend's photos! ;-) Also please tell all your peony friends about us too!
Southern Peony on Facebook

2015 Dreaming Up a Peony Wish List for Next Year

It's that time of year, the time when the cold outside starts to keep you inside. There's a nip in the air, and a bit more warmth inside. Somehow you find yourself dreaming of spring and all of those blooms you know are waiting just below the ground. What better way to whet your appetite for spring than reviewing the catalogs of peony growers and dreaming up a wish list of peonies for next year? And what better place to record peony dreams than on these "I Love Peonies - My Wish List" notepads that came in a Peony Basket from my 2015 APS Auction Winnings at the APS Convention this year. If you think there aren't any 2016 Peony Catalogs out yet, then think again! Some peony vendors post their 2016 catalogs early, like Brooks Gardens, Hidden Springs Flower Farm, and Klehm's Song Sparrow. So start dreaming!!!

Peony Wish List Notepads

2015 P. Rockii Seeds Arrived via Air Mail from Canada

The Purple Peony Rockii Seeds from Ebay Canada that I ordered three weeks ago arrived earlier this week. They arrived sooner than Ebay expected them to get here. Ebay's system said "Estimated delivery Tue, Jan 26 - Mon, Feb 01". I'm sure glad they were wrong. It's already a bit late here, since I planted my own peony seeds 4 months ago in September, 2015 Fall Peony Seed Planting and Donation. These peony seeds may not have enough time to germinate this year, but I hope they will or at least some of them will. People often say that it takes two years to germinate a peony seed. However, the majority of the seeds I plant will germinate the first year, especially if they are from my own garden (that way I know the seeds are fresh, and I can plant them right away).
So I got these P. rockii seeds planted right away. The seller was kind enough to send some extra of the Purple Paeonia Rockii seeds and 3 Pink Double Paeonia Rockii seeds as a gift. However, it seems the Pink Double Paeonia Rockii seeds were crushed in shipping or had been in the plastic too long, as the shell of the seeds had been broken and some of the shell pieces were stuck to the plastic bubble wrap. One of these seeds was missing its shell entirely, leaving the inner white part of the seed exposed. I planted all of them anyway. I will be especially curious to see if all 3 of these Pink Double Paeonia seeds germinate. We shall see what spring will bring! :-)

2015 Thank You Card for Peony for Historic Whitehall

I must say I was delighted to receive this thank you card in the mail a couple weeks ago from the Executive Director at Historic Whitehall. The card was sent to thank me for the Peony 'Bartzella' I sent them as a 2015 Peony Donation to Historic Whitehall Gardens to thank them for giving our APS members such a wonderful tour of their house and gardens. It is quite nice to get such a lovely snowy white card in the mail at a time that many APS members have snow in their gardens. We rarely get snow here. If we do, it usually melts within a day or two. Some years we don't get any snow that sticks to the ground or any snow at all. So this card with a beautiful snowball bush in front of their white columns is a good reminder that winter is almost here.

Thank You Card from Historic Whitehall

2015 Southern Peony 'Bartzella' Winner - Launa in AL

I bet you are all wondering what happened with the 2015 Southern Peony Giveaway - Itoh Peony 'Bartzella' that was given away to celebrate 2015 Southern Peony Reaches 100,000 Pageviews! Well, after drawing 3 names, I finally got a winner that responded - Launa M. in Alabaster, Alabama. After getting her address, it took a bit of time to figure out an address to which the United States Post Office would deliver. After getting all of that figured out, her intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' was mailed last week. It looks like Alabaster is just south of Birmingham, Alabama. So Launa is in USDA growing zone 7b, the exact same growing zone as we have here at Southern Peony in NC! So Launa's 'Bartzella' peony should acclimate and settle in quickly for her, hopefully getting a great start. I hope her new peony grows well for her! Thanks again to all of our Southern Peony readers!
Alabaster, Alabama USDA Growing Zone 7b

2015 Peony Donation Coastal Georgia Botanical Garden

While on our family Labor Day vacation to Savannah, Georgia, I wanted to visit a local garden. So I looked it up on Google, and found that the Coastal Georgia Botanical Garden was nearby. My family and I had a nice time visiting the gardens, and while we were there I asked to speak to the curator or main horticulturalist. I met Jamie, told him I was in the American Peony Society, and spoke to him about growing peonies. He wasn't sure if they'd grow in his Zone 8b garden, and they didn't currently have any peonies there. I told him I'd like to send him an intersectional peony from my Zone 7b garden, that I thought it might grow there and become acclimated more quickly since it was only one growing zone away.
Three Intersectional Peony 'Bartzella' Roots
He seemed hesitant at first, but by the end of the conversation he was asking if I could send him three of the roots so they could trial them in different areas of the garden. That is wonderful news! I am so excited! I told him I wasn't sure if I could send three roots, but I dug one of my intersectional 'Bartzella' peonies last month and was able to divide it into three large pieces. So I am sending all three of them to him. Jamie asked me to hold the roots to ship in early December to make sure they didn't try to sprout in their warm fall weather. So I just shipped them out to him today. Jamie commented to me in an email, "If this peony flourishes here, there will be rumblings among many garden club members." I can't wait to hear the rumblings!! :-)
Intersectional Peony Roots Boxed for Shipping

2015 Purple Peony Rockii Seeds from Ebay Canada

I have been wanting to grow a flower like this for a long time. I love purple! A peony with purple petals and dark purple flares is right up my alley. So I'm hoping these Paeonia rockii babies will be just as gorgeous as their beautiful mother. Of course when I came across the listing for these seeds on Ebay, I just had to buy some. Also this seller is in Canada, not in China where these plants originate. So I may have a better chance of actually receiving the correct seeds that are from this year's crop as stated in the auction. Since it will take a few years to actually find out what these babies look like, a lot of patience is in order to see their beautiful blossoms. I will definitely document their germination rates in the spring! Let's hope they all grow! :-)
Purple Paeonia Rockii with Dark Purple Flares
Photo Courtesy of The Seed Harvest

2015 Finished Cutting Back & Cleaning Up All Peonies

Yesterday I actually finished cutting back and cleaning up all of my peonies, the week before Thanksgiving! I think that's a record for me. I am usually a very slack gardener and a very good procrastinator. So lots of years I am cutting back brown, completely dried up peony stems in December and January, and occasionally in February! This year I started cutting back my peony plants as they started to look bad (when they still had a bit of gold or green or red in them and weren't all brown), and I finally finished this weekend. I started cutting back and cleaning up my peonies on October 1st. So I've been cutting them back over an almost 2 month period. Now they are just nicely groomed and freshly mulched beds waiting for spring! It feels so nice to be done with this very large task before the holidays even start. :-) If you haven't started cutting back your peonies, now's the time to do it!
Peony Beds Cut Back and Cleaned for the Winter