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 Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting

Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
Well, since my last Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' died of root rot, I decided that I would pot up the recent peony roots I've purchased, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay, 2020 Ordering Peonies on Etsy from ExoticseedsLatvia. I plan to plant these intersectional peony roots out in the fall. I'm hoping that will give me some time to fix the soil where the old Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' was planted and give these peonies a chance at surviving (and hopefully thriving) during their first Southern summer!


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
I'd already had these peony roots soaking for a day or two to try to regain any lost moisture during shipment. So I found some pots that were laying around to pot them up in. The two roots from Etsy/ExoticseedsLatvia were larger than the root from Ebay/Hirt's Gardens. So I put the Etsy/ExoticseedsLatvia root in the two larger purple pots, and I put the smaller Ebay/Hirt's Gardens root in the smaller 3.5" pot. It looks like that one came out of the same size pot any way since its roots were a little bent/square. It should be able to survive another couple seasons there.


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting
I mixed some bagged top soil with the peat that came with these roots to create the soil for the pots. I also made sure to put some pot saucer trays underneath each of them to make sure they don't get too dry. I usually water things with rain from my rain barrel, which I keep mosquito dunks in. So the water from those rain barrels will keep the mosquitos from multiplying in the trays. So these should be good to go until fall! :-)


Potted Up Intersectional Peony Roots for Fall Planting

2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies of Root Rot?

Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'
Most of you probably know that 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!!. You probably also know that I've ordered a replacement as well, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay. So the next thing to do was to dig up the dead one to see what happened to it. As you can see there wasn't much left of the peony when I dug it out of the ground this week. It was actually quite disappointing. Judging by the barely attached limp shell of a root, it seems this peony suffered from some kind of root rot.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Before Digging
I know that I've had peonies to rot over the winter that are brand new roots and never get established, but this is the first time I've had an established 6 year old peony plant die from root rot. We did have record-breaking rainfall in 2018. So I'm not sure if that could have caused it, being 2 years ago, but maybe it could have started then and finished it off now? Who knows...


Digging Up Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'
As you can see I started digging far away from the plant, but finding nothing, had to go to the center. I couldn't find much anything of substance or weight to dig. There was really nothing left but a few chunks of the crown, with not much root to speak of at all. Really the above ground stems left from previous years attached by a small bit of crown was really all that was left. I was kind of hoping to find a bit more. I took the three chunks I could find and washed them off on a some cement with the garden hose. Whatever it was that go it, got it good.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Crown Chunks
This makes me think about sanitation a bit more for sure. I wonder if it could have been caused by conditions and or fungal infection from the original grower. I don't currently soak any of my peony roots in a bleach solution, but this makes me wonder if I should. I also wonder if it could be something in the native soil that just multiplied with our extensive rain in 2018. Regardless there's most likely something in the soil now. So I think my next project for that area will be solarization to help sanitize the area just in case. I actually did my first solarization project to create this intersectional peony bed originally back in 2012 Intersectional Peony Bed Preparation, and I was happy with the results. Now it's time for a refresh!


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' What's Left

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 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay

Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay
Well, my first Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' came from Tree Peony Garden in 2013, a nursery that used to grow tree peonies and is now closed for business. As you know this peony died this past winter, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!! I just couldn't wait to replace it. So I decided to purchase it from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay, as I have had pretty good luck with Hirt's Gardens in the past.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay
I kept this box in isolation for 3 days before opening it as well, just like when 2020 Ordering Peonies on Etsy from ExoticseedsLatvia, and this peony root too seems to be just fine, healthy, plump, with five obvious eyes on it ready to grow. This plant definitely appears to be a tissue culture plant, as it is small, with no obvious signs of division, which actually makes me feel a lot better about its potential authenticity. They even sent a nice little garden tag for it, with "Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'" and a photo of the flower on it. Nice!


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay
For now I am just soaking this root, to help rehydrate any moisture it has lost. Next I will find a good spot to plant it - likely the same spot the old one was in - which means I'll probably be doing an autopsy on that old Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' (to the best of my abilities) to see if there is any visual evidence of what might have caused its demise. (Stay tuned for an upcoming article on that.) Then I'll fix the soil, add some lime and organic fertilizer and get it planted out. :-)


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' from Hirt's Gardens on Ebay

2020 Ordering Peonies on Etsy from ExoticseedsLatvia

Itoh Peony 'Jazz' on Etsy
Yes, it's a little odd, but I just had to try it out. There was an ad on Etsy for an Intersectional Peony that I didn't have, "Itoh Peony 'JAZZ'. I'd never bought a peony on Etsy before, so I just couldn't resist. I also bought 5 daylilies from another seller on there while I was at it, but that's a different story... Anyway I placed this order on March 6, and it actually arrived at the end of last week. I've been isolating my packages and mail for 3 days before I open them (due to coronavirus COVID-19).


Latvijas PASTS Box from Etsy
The box came with "Latvijas PASTS" tape all over it, which I at first thought was the company name, but Google helped me confirm that this is actually the name of the Latvian Post Office. I don't think I've ever gotten anything from Latvia before. Anyway I finally opened this box on Sunday, and I actually found two roots inside the box, "Peony Root 'Jazz'" and "Peony Root Yellow". They both appear to be quite healthy and ready to grow (definitely not dried up/dehydrated). So they did appear to make the international trip just fine.


Itoh Peony 'Jazz' & Peony Yellow Gift
from ExoticseedsLatvia on Etsy
I am curious to see if these peony roots or authentic or not. They do not appear to be cloned tissue culture plants. They definitely seem to be divisions, albeit small ones. The Peony 'Jazz' root has 3 small eyes, and the yellow peony gift just has one. However they both have about the same amount of root (just a small one). I'm just hoping they're both not a very unattractive yellow Itoh peony like a dishonest seller on Ebay was sending a few years ago. Only time will tell, at least the truth will be revealed here. :-)


Itoh Peony 'Jazz' from Etsy

Itoh Peony 'Jazz' from Etsy

Peony Yellow Gift from Etsy

Peony Yellow Gift from Etsy

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 Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!!

I guess it must have been a rough winter this year. I can't say I remember it being that bad. Mostly likely it was a rather mild winter, with a sudden drop in the overnight low temperature. I don't remember anything too drastic, but I'm guessing there must have been a sizeable temperature differential. As I'm watching things come back to life this spring (or not come back to life), I've noticed that I've lost 2 blueberry bushes that I've had for years, a small dogwood tree, and that my 3 other larger dogwood trees were killed back by about half! This is all very surprising.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!
I guess the biggest surprise of all is the big blank spot in my intersectional peony garden where Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' used to grow. I must say I've never had an intersectional peony die before, and I've been growing intersectional peonies for 13 years now! I've been growing this Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' since 2013 - so 7 years now. Luckily that is the only plant that was killed. I guess I will have to order a replacement for Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory'.


Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!

Intersectional Peony 'Callie's Memory' Dies!
However it was not the only plant that was affected. The Intersectional Peony 'Cora Louise' which I've had since 2008 - so 12 years - was also damaged. It was a huge plant last year, and now this year it only has 2 very short, one leaved shoots on it. I really do hope it can recover. I have also noticed several other peonies with blasted buds on them or no buds at all. I'm not sure whether that is due to this same winter kill freeze or some spring frost damage. Boy, Mother Nature sure can be cruel sometimes. I guess as they say, only the strong survive.


Intersectional Peony 'Cora Louise' Damaged
As you can see this Intersectional Peony 'Cora Louise' has been loaded with stems in the past. Now it sadly has just 2 very tiny foliage shoots. Those shoots are very immature and will not grow large enough to support a flower. I suppose I should just be grateful that this one is still alive! I guess this is a lesson to me to check my peonies for exposed roots in the fall that may be in need of some additional soil covering and to check for winter heaving during the winter to make sure that roots and crowns are protected. I've never seen quite this kind of winter devastation before for my peonies.


Intersectional Peony 'Cora Louise' Damaged
If a peony dies here, it is usually from lack of liking their growing conditions in the warmer months - not enough sun (bad planting location, location became shady), not enough water (too dry in summer). I have also seen a new peony rot overwinter from too much water (soggy soil & lots of rain during winter), that kind of thing. I have never seen winter freeze death and/or damage to an established peony, especially an intersectional. Also those reason for dying are usually affecting herbaceous peonies. Intersectional peonies are usually much more impervious to those kinds of things. I guess this winter kill for these intersectional peonies points to their tree peony qualities and heritage, since I know that tree peonies can have those issues during winter.

2020 Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Grows Intersectional Foliage

Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' 3/22
Well, I am excited to report that I finally have intersectional peony foliage on my Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious'. I purchased this Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' from K. Van Bourgondien this time, 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' Arrives from K. Van Bourgondien. Unlike the first time I tried to purchase it from Tulip World, when I actually got herbaceous peony foliage, 2018 Tulip World Offers Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' for $12.95! You can see how this peony foliage is already showing hints of the intersectional peony foliage in the first photo with the pointy cut leaf edges already starting to poke out.


Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' 3/30
I have both the Tulip World (fake/herbaceous) peony and the K. Van Bourgondien (presumably correct intersectional) peony planted side by side now, and it looks like the herbaceous peony (fake 'Scrumdidleyumptious') may actually bloom this year. I will have to post a picture of the flower if/when it does bloom this year. The price on these two was a bit different - $12.95 vs. $35.00, which goes along with the saying, you get what you pay for! I am just relieved to have intersectional peony foliage this time. It makes me feel a lot better on the accuracy of this Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' identity. Now just to wait to see it bloom!!! :-)


Intersectional Peony 'Scrumdidleyumptious' 4/1

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'