2013 Peony Experiments - Peony Seeds in Bags

After ordering some Peony Seeds from Hirt's Gardens, I decided to grow the seeds in plastic bags based on some interesting instructions the seeds came with. I've never grown any peony seeds in bags before. So I decided to give it a try to see what would happen, whether they would sprout, and what the germination rates would be following this method. It has been three weeks now, and as you can see, there are no peony seeds sprouting in any of my plastic bags. In fact the only thing sprouting in my plastic bags is mold. As you can see in the second picture below, the two P. ludlowii seeds are both covered in mold. The rest of the bags appear to be mold free, but they are also root free as well. I am still going to plant these seeds in the ground, and hopefully some of them will still sprout anyway. For me this method did not work. I'd be curious to know if anyone else has been successful with this method, and if they have any tips. Sometime I think keeping things simple is the best way, let Mother Nature work her magic...
Peony Seeds in Bags with Moist Vermiculite


Mold Growing on Peony Seeds in Bag

2013 Half Price Peony at Local Nursery

Wow! Did I get lucky! I went to get my oil changed this week, and I always take my car to a place that's near one of my favorite local nurseries. I usually walk over there to check to see what they have on sale while my car is being worked on. Well yesterday when I went there I found a Peony 'Coral Sunset' that had an orange sale sticker on it, and all of their sale items were 50% off. The original price was $24.99. So that made it only $12.50! Yes, I already have Peony 'Coral Sunset', but who could resist another one for 50% off? So of course I bought it, and I got it planted today. So keep your eyes open when shopping at your local nurseries. They may have some peonies from last year's stock on sale! Since this Peony 'Coral Sunset' was growing in a pot, I actually planted it more shallow in the ground than it was growing in the pot, as evidenced by the whitish color at the base of the stems. This portion of the stem was previously under the soil when it was growing in the pot, but due to our climate here, I knocked off a bit of the soil from the top of the peony root, and planted the roots close to the surface. This way the peony roots will get the chilling hours required to generate bloom here.
Half Price Potted Peony 'Coral Sunset'


Planted Peony 'Coral Sunset'

2013 Springtime Peonies are Coming!

Wow, I go away for 10 days, and when I come back, the peonies are sprouting! I guess spring must be coming soon now. The peonies think it is already time. I took these pictures today. The coral peonies always seem to be the first ones to sprout foliage, even though they are not the first ones to bloom. Some of the coral peony shoots are already 6 inches high! Bloom season will be here before you know it. It will be another busy season keeping track of the Bloom Dates, determining Bloom Color, collecting more data, and most of all enjoying the sights and smells of all the beautiful peonies. I'm hoping to see some new varieties bloom for the first time this year as well. It is always exciting to meet a new flower in your own garden! I hope all of you have an awesome bloom season this year too, and perhaps are lucky enough to meet some new peonies in your garden too! :-)
Peony 'Coral Charm' Shoots

2013 Questions - Container Grown Peony Plants

I received this question from Karen in Zone 8:
"I've seen several container grown peony plants for sale in nurseries here in the spring. Is this advisable to purchase a plant rather than bulbs. If buying the plant is okay, should I grow it in the same container over the summer and then plant in the ground in the fall? I'm leery of planting a peony plant here in April as it normally has gotten quite warm by then and think the stress of summer wouldn't be good for it."

The question of whether to purchase a plant or a bulb is answered in the previous post 2013 Questions - Purchasing Peony Plants Versus Roots. As for the question of when to plant the container peony, that depends on how well you take care of your container plants. If you are like me, and you take care of your container plants when you have time, I would recommend planting your peony in the ground as soon as you buy it. However perhaps you are very meticulous and experienced container gardener, and you tend to your containers better than your garden. Then I would say that it would be fine to wait until fall to plant your peony in the ground.

Pink Single Peony in Pot on Deck
However I would not recommend growing your peony in the container permanently. I myself purchased a peony in a nice container years ago, thinking perhaps that it would be nice to have a peony blooming on my deck every year. Even with special care (peonies are my favorite flower after all), it continued to decline each year until it died. I'm quite sure that the peonies for sale in beautiful containers each spring are not grown to blooming size that way. They are most likely grown in super ideal conditions in the ground until they are full of buds and then stuffed into a beautiful pot, which may look nice on the outside, but it makes a sad home for a peony! Peonies actually grow very large roots underground which are needed to fuel those huge blossoms each spring. Zone 8 is actually a good zone for growing peonies. I would just make sure to plant the peony crown and eyes even with the soil level. You may want to check out my post 2012 How to Plant an Herbaceous Peony for pointers! Good luck!!!

2013 Chinese Peony Seeds from Ebay

Well it wasn't 3 days, but they did come pretty fast, considering they came all the way from China. The Suffruticosa Tree Peony Seeds from China I ordered from Ebay came yesterday. I also ordered a pack of pink tree peony seeds from Ebay for 99 cents (shipping included!) the day after I ordered the first set of Ebay peony seeds, and those came today. So they both arrived in 8 days! Not bad for coming from halfway across the world. I also noticed that the seeds packets came from different address in the same city (Huaian Jiangsu). That's interesting. :) Even the $2.50 seeds from Ebay came packaged as 6 separate varieties. The Ebay auction listing also tells me what color seed is inside of each of the six packages. I figured for that low of a price, all of the seeds would just be mixed together in one package. So that's nice that the different colors of seeds are separated. I can't wait until they grow and bloom. I'm so curious to see what will turn up! I'm sure the picture from the Ebay auction has been "enhanced". I've never seen a peony that blue. I'm sure it must be some shade of purple, which would be perfectly fine with me, since purple is my favorite color. :)

	P1 white P2 black P3 blue P4 green P5 pink P6 red
Tree Peony Seeds from China

99 Cent Pink Peony Seeds from China

2013 Snow on Peonies

It is supposed to be 64 today, which is amazing since I took this snow picture a week ago today. It has actually snowed a couple of times this winter. Last winter there was no snow at all, and the weather was especially mild. Even my energy bill can tell the difference. I used 30% more electricity this winter compared to last year! Even with the warmer winter last year, we still had an excellent show of peony blooms in the spring. So I'm curious to see what the difference the extra cold will do this year. Peonies need the cold weather to form the blooms. If your winters are too warm (or your peonies are planted too deeply) they won't get enough chilling hours to generate a blooming cycle. So with the extra cool weather this year, the peonies here should have an abundance of blooms! I'm looking forward to it.
Peony 'Hillary' in the Snow

2013 Suffruticosa Tree Peony Seeds from China

On a reader's recommendation (Steve), I ordered some peony seeds from Ali Express. I wanted a nice mixture, and one of the sellers, Linlang Department Store, offered seeds from 15 named tree peony varieties (Chinese names, of course) of all different colors. So I decided to order from them. They weren't 4 cents a seed, but I'm hoping for some nice seedlings. They ended up being 12 cents a seed for 100 seeds, so $12. I also ordered a pack of mixed color seeds, no named varieties, off of Ebay for $2.50 for 120 seeds. That's about 2 cents a seed. Who knows what I would do with all of those plants if they actually came up? Tree peonies aren't even my favorite anyway, but for more than 200 p. suffruticosa seeds for less than the price of one herbaceous peony root, I figured I'd give them a try. I'm sure not all of the peony seeds will come up anyway, but this gives me a nice chance of actually getting some plants and the opportunity to see how these Chinese tree peonies will adapt to and grow in my southern climate.
Chinese Tree Peony Seeds

2013 Questions - Purchasing Peony Plants Versus Roots

I received this question from Karen in Zone 8:
"I currently have no peonies growing in my yard, zone 8, Montgomery AL. My first question is should I even attempt to do this with our long, very hot humid summers and mild winters. I've seen several container grown peony plants for sale in nurseries here in the spring. Is this advisable to purchase a plant rather than bulbs?"

I would say that if you find a plant for sale in your local nursery, most likely the plant should grow in your zone. Most nurseries want repeat customers, and if they sell plants that don't grow well in your zone and just die, they're not likely to get to many repeat customers that way. Peonies will definitely grow in zone 8. The question of whether to purchase a peony plant or a bulb (which is really a root) depends on how much time and money you have. If you can wait a little and want to buy the peony at a lesser cost, buy the root, since the root will likely be cheaper. However it may take one or more years to see blooms depending on the size and condition of the peony roots. Conversely if you don't mind spending a little more and would rather see results sooner, buy the container plant. Usually you can find peony container plants in bud or in bloom, so you know you will have blooms this year and for many years to come! If you do find a container peony in bloom, you will also know exactly what color you are purchasing - which is not always the case with roots, which could get mixed up. Good luck with your peonies, and I'd love to see pictures!

Intersectional Peony in Container	Intersectional Peony Root

2013 Freeze Dried Peony Petals for Weddings

I wanted to order some freeze dried rose petals for my wedding, but I was thrilled to find out that I could order freeze dried peony petals instead! Flyboy Naturals offers freeze dried peony petals that are perfectly preserved like fresh peony petals. What an awesome way to honor my favorite flower than to have my daughter toss peony petals on the beach at my wedding! Also they are environmentally friendly since they are biodegradable. :) These petals are grown in the USA. Flyboy Naturals has a nice selection of petals to choose from. So if you are looking for peony petals for your special event, I would highly recommend them! I selected the ivory peony petals, but they have lots of peony petal colors to choose from - ivory, lemon, pink, yellow, dark red, coral, and deep wine. The box I received was very nicely packaged, and the peony petals are beautiful. I can't wait to use them at my wedding!
Ivory Freeze Dried Peony Petals

2013 Flickr Peony Photo Group

I've had an account on Flickr for a while, but I just stumbled upon their peony photo group today. It has lots of beautiful pictures. So I decided to join it. I have a few peony pictures on my Southern Peony Flickr account already, but there are so many more peony pictures in the Flickr Peonies photo group from all over the world. If you like peonies even a little, you could spend some time just looking over all of the eye candy in this photo group. Also if you like to take pictures, you might want to sign up for a Flickr account so you too can contribute to the menagerie of beautiful peony photos. :) If you click on the image and take a look at the first peony picture in the Flickr Peonies Group Pool, it is a picture of a tree peony in Japan. It looks like they built a teepee for their plant. I thought I loved peonies, but, wow, they must really love peonies to build them each a house! :D

Flickr Peony Group

2013 Peony in Other Languages

Thinking about peonies and growing them all over the world, I wondered what the translations were for peony in other languages. These translations are credited to the translation site Babylon. Have another language to add? Please contact me. In recognition of all of Southern Peony's multinational visitors, I've just added a "Translate" option to our site to make reading in other languages easier. Also I'm interested to know how peonies are used in your country, what their value and meaning is locally and nationally where ever you are on the globe. If I get enough stories, I will try to publish some of them here. So please write in and let me know how you use peonies, who the big growers are, where peonies grow best, favorite named varieties, or whatever information you'd like to recount that tells what peonies mean to your country and/or culture!

Peony
Languages of the World

Peony in English	peony, paeony
Peony in Arabic	عود الصليب نباتة
Peony in Bulgarian	божур
Peony in Catalan	peònia
Peony in Chinese	牡丹
Peony in Croatian	božur
Peony in Dutch	pioenroos
Peony in French	pivoine
Peony in German	Pfingstrose
Peony in Greek	παιωνία
Peony in Hebrew	אדמוני
Peony in Hindi	peony
Peony in Hungarian	pünkösdi rózsa
Peony in Italian	peonia
Peony in Japanese	牡丹
Peony in Korean	모란
Peony in Mongolian	цээнэ цэцэг
Peony in Persian	گل صد تومانی
Peony in Polish	piwonia
Peony in Portuguese	peônia
Peony in Romanian	bujor
Peony in Russian	пион
Peony in Serbian	Bozur
Peony in Spanish	peonía, saltaojos
Peony in Swedish	pion
Peony in Thai	โบตั๋น
Peony in Turkish	şakayık
Peony in Ukranian	Півонія
Peony in Vietnamese	cây mâu đơn

2013 Peony Seeds From Hirt's Gardens

Talk about instant gratification - I ordered these seeds on Sunday, and they arrived in my mailbox on Wednesday! I must say I am impressed with Hirt's Gardens and the seeds I ordered from them on Ebay. All of the seeds were the correct number as promised except for P. banatica, which had one extra seed in it. This is what I received: P. ludlowii (2 seeds), P. mascula (5 seeds), P. officinalis banatica (5 seeds), P. tenuifolia (5 seeds), and P. wittmanniana (5 seeds). The peony seeds came with some interesting instructions. "PLACE SEED IN MOIST VERMICULITE IN PLASTIC BAG. PLACE IN WARM AREA OF THE HOUSE OUT OF THE SUN. WHEN THE ROOTS APPEAR, MOVE TO REFRIGERATOR FOR 10-12 WEEKS. TRANSPLANT WHEN SHOOT ARISE." I must admit I've never gone to that much trouble to germinate any seeds before. The most effort I've put forth is starting my vegetable seeds indoors for my vegetable garden, but no refrigeration was required. I might actually follow these instructions out of curiosity just to see what happens. I'll let you know how they do...

Peony Seeds from Hirt's Gardens

2013 Planting APS Peony Seed Packets

Well I finally got my seeds planted yesterday from the 2012 APS Seed Sale. I know it is really late, but the ground never really freezes here anyway. So the soil is still very workable. Anyway I got all 5 varieties planted - P. ostii (10 seeds), P. rockii (5 seeds), P. rockii & P. suffruticosa mixture (5 seeds), P. suffruticosa - purple (4 seeds), and P. veitchii - pink, single (11 seeds). I soaked them overnight to try to help them germinate. I kept them in separate containers so I could keep track of the varieties. Then I planted them with peony variety name labels in my new seedling test bed, which has really nice soil. So if they will grow anywhere, that would be the place. I'll record their germination rates in the spring. Also after reading my previous post about purchasing the seeds at the 2012 APS Convention Peony Seed Sale, I realized there was one more variety, P. suffruticosa 'Kamada Nishiki' - lavender pink (5 seeds). I just found the packet of peony seeds hidden on my desk. So I'll soak those tonight and plant them tomorrow.
Soaking APS Peony Seeds

2013 Questions - Where to Buy Peony Seeds

I received this question from Courtney in Zone 7:
"My father is interested in purchasing some peony seeds. He has always been into flowers and gardening and its evident by his yard. His favorite are peonies and he has just become interested in trying to grow them from seeds. I found your site online today after he requested that I try to find some catalogues or places where he could buy seeds. I’m not sure if you sell them or could help me in finding a place that sells them. I would appreciate your advice!"

The places that come to my mind for buying peony seeds are either on Ebay or the APS Seed Distribution Program. Doing a quick search on Ebay, there are lots of peony seeds you can buy from China. Also there are some peony seeds offered from Hirt's Gardens (based out of Ohio) on Ebay. Thanks to your inquiry, I decided to purchase a few of these seeds myself.

Peony Seeds for Sale on Ebay

You may want to check out my previous posts on the 2010 APS Peony Seed Program and 2012 APS Convention Peony Seed Sale . Also you DO need to be an APS member to participate in the APS Seed Distribution Program. The costs of the APS seeds are typically very affordable (usually $2-$3 per pack + shipping). If your father is not already a member of the American Peony Society, an APS Membership would make a great gift! I do not sell any peony seeds myself, and although I cannot personally vouch for the outcomes from any of the seeds you might buy, the costs of your endeavor should be low and the rewards great, provided you have the time. Peony seeds typically take 3-5+ years to develop into a flowering plant. I'd love to see any pictures from the fruits of your labors. Good luck! :-)

2013 Peonies with Flares

A feature that I have found quite interesting for some time is flares, small sunbursts of color that start at the center of the bloom on the peony petals and flare out. The flares can be small or large, wide or thin, long or short, and of varying colors. I used to not really like the flares, being a purist in terms of color, but in the past couple of years, I have really begun to appreciate and love the variation in color. The presence of flares is really most noticeable in single and semi double type peonies. If you like to grow peonies, here is another feature in peonies for you to collect! Some of my favorite peonies displaying colorful flares are Peony 'Bartzella' (midseason), Peony 'Firelight' (early), Peony 'Golden Frolic' (early-mid), and Peony 'Morning Lilac' (early-mid). Enjoy!

Peony 'Bartzella'	Peony 'Firelight'
Peony 'Golden Frolic'	Peony 'Morning Lilac'

2013 Southern Peony Milestones

Wow! Southern Peony has passed two great milestones in one month! We had over one thousand views for the first time in one month this month, and we had over 10,000 views total since Southern Peony's inception. Thank you to all of our devoted readers out there. I've really enjoyed documenting my journey with peonies, and I hope all of you have too. I am so happy to share the love of this wonderful plant all over the world. If you're interested to see a breakdown of Southern Peony's world wide web site traffic, I've included a chart of the Top 10 Countries by Pageviews and the current list of the 10 Most Popular Topics of All Time. For the most up to date list of the 10 Most Popular Peony Topics This Month and the 10 Most Popular Peony Topics of All Time, check out our Popular Topics page. Drop me a line and let me know what's on your mind or let me know if you have any feedback or requests for our site. Also if you have any Peony Questions you've been really wanting to ask, send them in.

Top 10 Countries by Pageviews

1	United States	6232
2	Russia	1031
3	Canada	656
4	Poland	375
5	United Kingdom	276
6	Latvia	219
7	Ukraine	165
8	Germany	153
9	Japan	138
10	Sweden	94

Top 10 Most Popular Topics of All Time (as of 1/31/13)

1	2009 Fall Peony Foliage
2	2012 Peony 'Angel Cheeks' Best Performer - Week 6
3	2012 Peony Blooms Mid Season - Week 4
4	2012 Peony 'Bartzella' Best Performer - Week 5
5	2012 Peony Blooms Very Early to Early Mid - Weeks 1-3
6	2010 Peony Blooms - Weeks 1-3
7	2012 APS Peony Court of Honor Winners
9	2012 Peony Blooms Very Late - Week 7
8	2010 APS Grand Champion Peony - Flying Pink Saucer
10	2011 Intersectional Peony Blooms

2013 American Peony Society Convention at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

I know it's still cold outside. It's even cold here. We had quite a bit of ice last night (but it's all melted now). So it's definitely not time for spring, but it is a good time to start making plans to join us at the 2013 American Peony Society Show & Convention. I just made my travel arrangements today, and I am really excited. This year's convention is being held at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (which is pretty close to Philadelphia - so you might be able to score a decent priced non-stop airline ticket like I did!). Not only is the convention being held "Longwood Gardens - the world's premier horticultural showcase", but there's also an optional tour on Sunday of Winterthur - "the premier museum of American decorative arts" along with a "60-acre naturalistic garden." I've been wanting to go there for a few years now. I love magnolia trees too, and I've heard they have a nice collection of these as well. Although I'm sure I'll miss the magnolia bloom season, I'm hoping to see the peony bloom season this year! :)

2013 American Peony Society Silver Medal

American Peony Society Gold Medal Black & White Image

OMG! I am so excited! Again! Yesterday when I was searching Google for an American Peony Society logo that I wanted to use in my APS Board Member post, I came across a picture of a silver colored American Peony Society medal. It was for sale on Etsy for $8! Of course I bought it right away! The description says it was issued to Marvin Karrels, who according to the APS website for APS Best in Show won the Best in Show - Grand Champion 9 different years - 1946, 1951, 1956, 1966, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1976, & 1983! Wow! I found a black & white image of the APS gold medal, and this silver colored medal appears to be an exact copy of the black & white image of the APS Gold Medal from 'The Manual of the American Peony Society'. I'm not sure if you remember seeing my post on the 2012 APS Peony Convention Banquet & Auction, but one of the speakers passed around an actual gold medal from the APS, and it was gold colored. I can't wait to receive this silver colored APS medal in the mail! Too cool! :)
American Peony Society Silver Colored Medal


American Peony Society 1943 Gold Medal