2018 Southern Peony NOT Selling on Ebay

Southern Peony NOT Selling on Ebay
So this happened... Someone decided to use a photo of mine to sell something on Ebay (without my permission). I just wanted to make sure everyone knows this is not me selling peonies on Ebay. If I decided to sell peony roots on Ebay, you all would be the first to know! I have purchased one root from this seller in 2015, which is mentioned in my 2018 Ebay Peony Seller Reviews, but I am not yet certain of its identity. I sent the seller a nice note asking them to either give Southern Peony credit for the photo and add a disclaimer that we were not selling this peony or to take the photo down. If the seller does not respond, my next step will be to contact Ebay. Let's see how this one turns out...

2018 Tree Peony Seeds from Luoyang, China

Tree Peony Seeds fron Luoyang, China
So there's one thing I didn't mention much about my trip to China this year, the peony seeds I purchased! I got a few here and a few there. Most of the seeds I purchased were just outside the garden gates during my 2018 Southern Peony Visits Luoyang National Peony Garden 洛阳国家牡丹园 (North). The seeds in the tiny plastic zip bags are the ones that came from the Luoyang National Peony Garden. You can see the table they had set up to sell the seeds below. I felt a bit skeptical as to whether these tree peony seeds actually came from the varieties pictured in the packets, but for 1 yuan (17 cents) for 10 packets, how can you go wrong? So I bought two different sets of them. My guess is they may be all the same variety, maybe even herbaceous or p. ostii. Who knows? I must say I am very curious, though to find out. Of course, it will probably take me five years or more to see any blooms from these.


Table of Tree Peony Seeds for Sale

Woman Selling Tree Peony Seeds
The photo above it the woman who sold me the seeds. She told my husband (in Chinese) that she and her husband have their own peony farm. I have no idea if it is true, but it sounds neat. They were also selling several varieties of potted tree (and herbaceous) peonies in full bloom as well. I wish I could have purchased a few of those tree peonies to bring back home! They also showed us how to sprout the tree peony seeds. They just used a plastic water bottle with and inch or inch and a half of water in it. I'm not sure if they put the seeds in the fridge to get them to sprout their roots first or just sprouted both the roots and the leaves in the bottle. That was certainly wild. I wish I could have found out more about how they did it. Maybe I will try a few of my seeds that way just to see what happens. I usually don't have much luck sprouting seeds that aren't in the dirt. I guess I just haven't tried or practiced it enough. I usually end up with mold of some sort.


Peony Seeds Sprouting in Water Bottle

Chinese Tree Peony Seeds
Here are a few more close up photos of the seeds I purchased (front and back of the packaging). You can click any of these photos to see a larger version. I don't know what any of them say. I guess I need to enlist my husband to help me translate them. I just can't decide if it is worth the time and effort to do so. The last time I had him take the time to meticulously translate each and every variety (and make a separate label for each), 2013 Ali Express Chinese Tree Peony Seeds, none of them sprouted!!! (I've placed more than one order for Chinese tree peony seeds in the past, and the other one from Ebay did sprout, 2013 Chinese Peony Seeds from Ebay , 2014 Chinese Tree Peony Seeds Starting to Sprout.) So who knows what these tree peony seeds will do, if they even sprout (I hope so!), or what color they will be, but I am definitely interested to find out!


Chinese Tree Peony Seeds

Chinese Tree Peony Seeds

2018 Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay

When I saw the chance to pick up Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay for a better price than I've yet to see on my 2018 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List, I jumped. Also I have purchased from this seller, jackshouse2008, before. So I'm hoping this will be another positive experience as well. As you can see from my 2018 Ebay Peony Seller Reviews, I purchased Intersectional Peony 'Lemon Dream' from them in 2014, and it turned out to be correct. I featured some photos of that Peony 'Lemon Dream' in my 2018 How to Take Awesome Photos of Peonies (or Any Other Flower) article.


Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay
I have never grown peony 'Luxuriant' before. So I am excited to try it. The coloring of it looks similar to intersectional peony 'Cora Louise', perhaps with a slight more tinge of pink. The petals appear to be more symmetrical and even, fewer of them, with perhaps more substance. You can only tell so much from a photo, but I am excited to take some photos of my own. Intersectional Peony 'Luxuriant' was hybridized by Roger Anderson and registered in 1986. I'm surprised it's not in wider distribution by now, since it looks like quite a nice intersectional peony flower.

I don't see another Peony 'Luxuriant' on Ebay from jackshouse2008 for sale right now, but I do see a couple other peonies. They are currently selling Peony 'Lemon Chiffon', which I highly recommend if you don't yet grow it. They are also selling Intersectional Peony 'Chief Black Hawk', which I do not yet grow. I'd be curious to grow this one since it is supposed to be quite dark in coloring, but the price is still quite expensive. So I have not yet tried it. They also have a Paeonia lutea 'delavayi' yellow peony for sale. I haven't had much luck with P. delavayis yet, but I would like to keep trying. Perhaps I will order this one in the future. They seem to grow so well in Austria, 2016 University of Vienna Botanical Garden Peonies, (almost as tall as me!), that I feel encouraged to try them again at some point...

2018 Ebay Peony Seller Reviews

Okay, so this article is about 3 years behind schedule, and while I have been procrastinating on posting it (due to wanting more information), I've finally decided that partial information is better than no information. I guess I will just update it later or create a new updated listing in the future as more information presents itself in my garden. I already see a need to reorganize the information by seller instead of by peony variety, but I will save that for a future article.


Mislabeled Intersectional Peony
(Sold to Me as Peony 'Lollipop')
In hopes that you may learn something from Ebay sellers I've purchased from over the years, I decided to create this reference for which sellers send the actual peony stated and which sellers do not - especially since an initial investment in a peony root can take years to show its true colors. Also if you have some direct experience with these same Ebay sellers or different sellers, please leave any concrete information you may have in the comment section below so that we may all benefit from our combined peony purchasing experiences.


Mislabeled Intersectional Peony
(Sold to Me as Peony 'Scarlet Heaven')

Review Key
✓	right	bloomed with the correct color and form
:(	died	died before blooming
X	wrong	bloomed with an incorrect color and/or form

Ebay Peony Seller Reviews
Peony	Seller	Year	Review
Adolphe Rousseau	Ebay - greenerpastures101	2006
Bartzella (Intersectional)	Ebay - mcgper1	2007	✓ right
Benjamin Franklin	Ebay - willowcreekgardens	2007	✓ right
Berry Garcia (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Berry Garcia (Intersectional)	Ebay - irislady55 (Joni L. Renshaw, Joni's Dance-In-The-Wind Iris Garden - Tekamah, NE)	2015
Black Lotus (Hatsugarasu) (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong tree peony white
Bowl of Cream	Ebay - luckybusya	2007	✓ right
Canary Brilliants (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	:( died
Canary Brilliants (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Chocolate Soldier	Ebay - bigmikek	2007	✓ right
Chojuraku 長寿楽 (Longevity Music) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2016
Coral Fay	Ebay	2004	✓ right
Coral 'N Gold	Ebay - mr.greengenes1	2007	✓ right
Coral Sunset	Ebay - nielsvnoort2c2z (Niels L. Van Noort - Woodland, WA)	2015
Dinner Plate	Ebay - luckybusya	2007	✓ right
Dr. Alexander Fleming	Ebay - willowcreekgardens	2007
Duchesse de Nemours	Ebay - luckybusya	2004	✓ right
Flame	Ebay - superchukcha	2007	✓ right
Fragrant Jade (Xiang Yu) (Tree)	Ebay - hungsupplysolutions	2013	✓ right
Golden Wheel (Huang Jin Lun)	Ebay - beautifulpeony	2007	✓ right
Goldmine (Huang Jin Lun)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2016
Hanakisoi 花競 (Floral Rivalry) (Tree)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2016
Houki 芳紀 (Charming Age) (Tree)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2016
High Noon (Tree)	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2018
Hillary (Intersectional)	Ebay - ricknken03cw	2007	✓ right
Impossible Dream (Intersectional)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong itoh yellow
Joannna Marlene (Intersectional)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2015
Julia Rose (Intersectional)	Ebay - ricknken03cw	2007	✓ right
Kamata-nishiki 鎌田錦 (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	:( died
Kamata-nishiki 鎌田錦 (Tree)	Ebay - orientalpeony (Yongdong Wu - Upper Malboro, MD)	2016	✓ right
Karl Rosenfield	Ebay - willowcreekgardens	2007
Kinkaku (Souvenir de Maxime Cornu) (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong tree peony white
Koukamon 皇嘉門 (Floral Gate) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2017
Lemon Dream (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	:( died
Lemon Dream (Intersectional)	Ebay - jackshouse2008 (Therese Sprauer - Brooks, OR)	2014	✓ right
Lollipop (Intersectional)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong itoh yellow
Love Affair (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Mother's Choice	Ebay - mcgper1	2005	✓ right
Mr. Ed	Ebay - hostagardens	2007	✓ right
Nymphe	Ebay - superchukcha	2007	✓ right
Old Rose Dandy (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	✓ right
Paeonia delavayi var lutea ludlowii (Tree)	Ebay - dogwooderitternet	2013	:( died
Paeonia rockii (Tree)	Ebay - zwan2392 (Zuncai Wang)	2013	✓ right
Paula Fay	Ebay - mr.greengenes1	2007	✓ right
Petticoat Flounce	Ebay - bigmikek	2007
Pink Firefly	Ebay - hostagardens	2007	✓ right
Pink Jazz	Ebay - luckybusya	2004	✓ right
Prairie Charm (Intersectional)	Ebay - vasyl_svet (Sergei Snitkovskiy - Brooklyn, NY)	2015
Prairie Charm (Intersectional)	Ebay - orientalpeony (Yongdong Wu - Upper Malboro, MD)	2016
Raspberry Firefly	Ebay - greenatlatl	2007	✓ right
Red Double Fernleaf	Ebay - hanskaflowers	2006
Red Dwarf Single Fernleaf	Ebay - bigmikek	2007
Reine Hortense	Ebay - luckybusya	2005
Scarlet Heaven (Intersectional)	Ebay - macao2000	2012	X wrong - wrong itoh old rose dandy?
Scarlet O'Hara	Ebay - mr.greengenes1	2007	✓ right
Sorbet	Ebay	2004	✓ right
Shimadaijin 島大臣 (Island Minister) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2016	✓ right
Shimanishiki 島錦 (Island Brocade) (Tree)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2017
Taiyo 太陽 (The Sun) (Tree)	Ebay - tyebrook (Samuel Saunders - Lovingston, Virginia)	2016	✓ right
Tom Eckhardt	Ebay - hirtsgardens (Hirts - Wadsworth, OH)	2007
Tria (Tree)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong tree peony white
White Phoenix (Feng Dan Bai) (Tree)	Ebay - easyplantingli	2013	✓ right
White Phoenix (Feng Dan Bai) (Tree)	Ebay - hungsupplysolutions (Henry Hung, Hicksville, NY)	2016	✓ right
Yao's Yellow (Tree)	Ebay - orientalpeony (Yongdong Wu - Upper Malboro, MD)	2016	✓ right
Yellow Crown (Intersectional)	Ebay - mcgper1	2007	✓ right
Yellow Heaven (Intersectional)	Ebay - bernard*sweety (Anna Snitkovskaia - Brooklyn, NY)	2014	X wrong - single hot pink root stock
Yellow Waterlily (Intersectional)	Ebay - craftygalinmi (Kathy Carrigan, Lacy Creek Growers - Vermontville, MI)	2015
Yumi ?? (Possess Beauty) - Yellow Doodle Dandy (Intersectional)	Ebay - atskor8 (Svet Vasyl - Moscow, PA)	2014	X wrong - wrong itoh peony prairie charm?
Yumi (Possess Beauty) - Yellow Doodle Dandy (Intersectional)	Ebay - garden*breeze (Garden's Breeze - Mount Tabor, NJ)	2016	✓ right

2018 Greensand, Vitamins for Peonies?

Organic Green Sand

After answering a question from a reader about fungus in my 2018 Question Growing Peonies in the Deep South, Dealing with Fungus article, I received a comment via email from another reader suggesting that greensand might be helpful to prevent/retard fungus. I was hoping that reader would add the comment to the article, but it doesn't look like they ever did, so I just added the comment to the post myself. Anyway I decided to purchase some to see if it would help my peonies. Greensand seems to contains minerals like potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and lot of others. So maybe it is kind of like vitamins for peonies. I'm not really sure since I've never used any in my garden, but I'm curious to see what it can do. I tried to find a local source for the larger bag, but it didn't seem to be very cost effective to order it locally. So I ended up purchasing it on Amazon. Do any of my current readers have experience with Greensand? Have you ever used it on your peonies? If so what results have you seen?

2018 Brooks Gardens Final Peony Root Sale 25% Off Everything

If you just *need* one more root (or a few) to sneak into your garden beds before spring hits, Brook Gardens appears to be having a great "final sale" to close out their season - 25% off everything. It looks like their Final Peony Root Sale of 2018 will last through the end of November, but there's not much time left in November. So you need to make up your mind quickly before the sale is over. One thing that's great about having a more Southern peony garden is that your ground is not yet frozen (unlike some of our Northern neighbors), so we definitely have the opportunity to take advantage of these last minute peony sales and still have time to get them planted this year.


Brooks Gardens Final Peony Root Sale 25% Off
Another great thing about this sale is getting an opportunity to pick up some intersectional peonies for a lower price. If you missed the 2018 Song Sparrow 25% Off All Itoh Peonies sale (which is now over), you have one more chance to pick up some intersectional peonies on sale. Intersectional peonies are very reliable increasers and bloomers here in our warmer climate, and they are quickly becoming the stars of our Southern Peony garden. Intersectional peonies are often priced much higher than traditional herbaceous peonies, 2018 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List. So this is a great opportunity to try a few new varieties (or purchase your very first intersectional peony). :-)

2018 Transplanting My First Tree Peony

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Bud
It was past time to move the first tree peony that I'd like to watch. That peony, a very vigorous pink-lavender P. Rockii peony is featured as the first peony in my recent 2018 Southern Peony Seedlings article. I've never moved a tree peony before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I've always heard that tree peonies don't like to be moved. However I'm hoping this one won't be hurt since it is still a young plant and not fully established in its original location. I was a bit surprised to see that this tree peony still had some green leaves, as almost all of my other tree peonies have already died back. The first thing I did before I tried to dig it was create a planting hole for it. I also added a bit of EcoScraps fertilizer in the hole. I never fertilized the P. rockii tree peony seeds when I planted them. So I'm curious to see what this peony can do with some extra food and more sun. I decided to plant it in a nice, sunny spot right next to my bird feeder.


P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Tagged for Watching

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Leaves

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Planting Hole
I tried to be very careful when digging it out, especially since it was very crowded (and I mean very) in original location. I put the original seeds in my peony seedling bed about 2-3 inches apart when I originally planted them. (I know, I know - that is too close, but I wasn't even sure if they would sprout or not since I'd previously not had much luck growing tree peonies from seed.) It's a wonder these tree peonies are able to grow at all, much less bloom with that much competition. However this particularly vigorous seedling was the tallest of all its siblings, and it had pretty much figured out how to beat the system. It had sent out a very long lateral root that was actually taller than the plant itself. The root was growing past all of the other sibling tree peonies out of the peony seedling bed. I tried to get all of it out, but it looks like I still lost a bit of the root at the tip.


Digging P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Roots

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Root Length

P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony Stem Height
The root actually ended up being even longer than the tree peony was tall. The root (what I got of it) was 30" long! So that means it would have been even longer if I hadn't snapped the end off. The tallest stem was 28.5" tall. I'm curious to see how tall this tree peony grows with time. Since the hole I dug for the root was not 3 feet wide (or larger), I decided to dig a trench for the long lateral root next to my planting hole. Maybe that's not the best solution, but that's what I decided to do. I don't really have the time or energy to dig a hole that big anyway! I am really, really excited to see what this tree peony can do next year. I also planted a newly purchased tree peony 'Leda' that I just decided to purchase this fall from Song Sparrow near it. It won the APS Gold Medal in 2014, but I never bought it until now. I am curious to see how these two tree peonies compare as they grow...


P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony in Its New Home

Transplanted P. Rockii Lavender Tree Peony