Saturday, June 5, 2010

2010 APS Grand Champion Peony - Flying Pink Saucer

Flying Pink Saucer

Flying Pink Saucer is the Grand Champion of the 2010 American Peony Society National Convention. This flower was hybridized by William Krekler and Roy Khlem. I guess it is fitting since the peony convention is here in Wisconsin, and Roy gave everyone at the convention a personal tour of his farm. I'm sure he's thrilled. Roy gave the talk on my tour bus, and he was quite entertaining. The flower seems to be listed for sale on his web site currently, name misspelled. I am guessing this one may sell out this year. It is listed as a double on his web site, although the bloom displayed at the convention was semi-double, and the APS registry description lists it as semi-double as well. It is a beautiful flower, though. Check it out...

Friday, June 4, 2010

2010 APS Peony Convention Farm Tour

The weather did not cooperate this morning for the tour of Klehm's Song Sparrow farm. It rained quite a bit. However, it did start to clear up this afternoon. I was able to get several shots of varieties that interested me. I saw a few peonies in person that I had been interested in, in the past, and after seeing them in person, intensified my interest. The Award of Landscape Merit meeting is tonight, and the flower show opens to the public tomorrow after judging. I met several people that I have ordered peonies from, talked to over email, or heard of in the APS bulletin. It is nice to put faces with names.

Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm


Thursday, June 3, 2010

2010 APS Peony Convention Park Picnic


Today I arrived in Wisconsin. The weather is nice, and so are the people. The recently formed Wisconsin Peony Society hosted the welcome picnic. I made some new friends today at the picnic and hope to make many more tomorrow during the farm tour. I haven't seen a peony yet, but I am so ready! It would be nice to see more intersectional peonies in bloom, but I think their season has probably passed here. Also I don't think Klehm grows very many of them, as I haven't seen too many listed in their catalog for sale. They did hand out an abbreviated version of their catalog in the registration packet, and I did see 3 yellow intersectionals for sale on the back cover. I don't recall seeing any more, but I haven't had time to review the catalog in detail. It will be so nice to see the peonies in person tomorrow!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

2010 APS Peony Convention Preparation


I now have a place to stay for the convention, and less than 48 hours before my flight leaves for Milwaukee. My focus now is on what I need to bring to the convention and what I can learn from it. My camera is the most important thing I can think of to bring. I am hoping to learn a little bit about displaying flowers for showing. I don't think I'll be showing peonies any time soon, but I did enter the NC State Fair flower show last year for the first time and won three 3rd place ribbons. I think I will do much better this year as I already have plans to adjust my strategy, but I hope I will learn even more about showing flowers from this year's peony convention as well. Since the NC State Fair is always in the fall I won't ever be entering any peonies into their contest (alas), but I think some flower showing tips in general will help me.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

2010 American Peony Society Convention Registration

I just registered for the 2010 American Peony Society Convention. The dates for the convention are June 3-6, 2010, and it is in Janesville, WI. I don't know where I'm going to be staying yet, but I have a flight, a rental car, and my APS registration completed. I am so excited. This year they are going to tour Khlem's Song Sparrow Farm and Nursery. This is one of my favorite peony vendors. I am thrilled to be able to visit them, and I hope to learn a lot on this trip. Their peonies are a bit pricier than others, but their quality and end product is exceptional. I like their business model and am interested to learn more about it. Also there are going to be several seminars about peonies during the convention to learn from. I am also looking forward to having 2 "peony seasons" this year since my peony season is now over for the year. All of the flowers in Wisconsin should be in full bloom. Awesome! Instead of recording and documenting the peonies, it will be nice to just be able to photograph and enjoy the flowers. Ahh!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

2010 Rain on Peonies

Rain sure can put a damper on things. I am so grateful for the rain, though. Everything was drying up around here. The grass was getting so dry. So I am sure the peonies appreciate the rain since I don't usually give them any extra water besides what Mother Nature provides. I have watered them on rare occasions in the summer when they've looked so droopy and desperate. Let's hope they don't get that way this year. Right now however we are dealing with a wet spell... I'm curious to see what affect this rain has on the foliage, since it seems most of the peonies have been disease free in the dry spell. Here's a picture of what were some lovely blooms all turned to mush from a couple days of rain...

Monday, May 17, 2010

2010 Peony Blooms - Week 6

The last week of peony blooms are here. Usually there are about 7 weeks of bloom with peonies. Either I don't have enough of the first week early season bloomers or the hot dry weather shortened the season this year (maybe both). These late season beauties keep the peonies coming for a bit longer. Peony 'Nymphe' and Peony 'Uncle Tom' both bloomed for the first time for me this year. So I am slowing extending my peony bloom season in form and color. Enjoy!
Peony 'Nymphe'
Peony 'Uncle Tom'
Peony 'Felix Supreme'
Peony 'Rozella'