2012 Peony 'Angel Cheeks' Best Performer - Week 6

Week 6 was another great week in the peony bloom season here in the South! It's been amazing how many peonies have been blooming and the number of blooms. Peony 'Angel Cheeks' was definitely the winner in my garden this week, and the cheeks on this peony were too cute to resist! This peony started blooming on April 22, and still has a few blooms left today, May 9th! The varied form of the double blooms and the variety of colors in each bloom make this plant very attractive. Each bloom is unique in form and color, and it's always a pleasant surprise! Peony 'Angel Cheeks' is also an American Peony Society Gold Medal winner from 2005, and this hard working and beautiful peony really earns its medal!

Peony 'Angel Cheeks'
Southern Peony Best Performer


Peony 'Angel Cheeks'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2012 Peony Blooms Late Season - Week 6

Wow, I think this is going to be the best late/very late season I've ever had in my garden. I actually have enough mature varieties to keep the blooms going a bit later this year. That and the weather has been much more cooperative this year. The rain has come only a day at a time, giving the blooms time to dry out after a shower. Peony 'Myra MacRae' has a lovely lavender tint to her pink double blossoms. Peony 'Solange' has a complex coloring with hints white and salmon in a pale pink very full double bloom. Peony 'Vivid Rose' has a nice medium pink shade with casual petals arranged in a symmetrical shape. Peony 'Walter Mains' has hot pink guard petals around central yellow tuft with sometimes small hot pink petaloids in the center. Nice!

Peony 'Myra MacRae'	Peony 'Solange'
Peony 'Vivid Rose'	Peony 'Walter Mains'

2012 Peony 'Bartzella' Best Performer - Week 5

To see the pictures from my favorite individual blooms from week 5, you can find them in my post 2012 Peony Blooms Late Mid - Week 5. My best performing peony plant as a whole was definitely Peony 'Bartzella'. She really outdid herself this year. Every year she has grown in stature, foliage, and blooms. There were so many blooms this year, the plant was laden! The color of the petals is such a bright yellow, and it really stands out in the garden, especially since yellow is a rare color in peonies. The bold yellow blooms are made possible by the plant's tree peony heritage. Peony 'Bartzella' is an intersectional peony, a cross between an herbaceous peony and the tree peony, Paeonia Lutea. Peony 'Bartzella' is also an American Peony Society Gold Medal winner from 2006.
Peony 'Bartzella'
Southern Peony Best Performer


Peony 'Bartzella'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2012 Peony Blooms Late Mid - Week 5

The blooms for week 5 have been awesome. The single and semi-double midseason blooms really shined in my garden this year. Peony 'Bartzella' is always beautiful and quite the showstopper with its bright yellow blooms. Peony 'Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt' always has such a delicate and feminine shape to her blooms, which is complemented by the delicate pink color of her petals. Peony 'Pink Princess' is a tall and proud peony with pale pink blooms that fade to white near the center and have beautiful spots on the petals that are so interesting to the eye. Peony 'Scarlet O'Hara' is the classic southern belle of a peony, with bright red petals surrounding a golden yellow center and pink tipped carpels.

Peony 'Bartzella'	Peony 'Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
Peony 'Pink Princess'	Peony 'Scarlet O'Hara'

2012 Peony 'Do Tell' Best Performer - Week 4

If you want to see the pictures from my favorite individual blooms from week 4, you can find them in my post 2012 Peony Blooms Mid Season - Week 4 . As for my favorite overall performer for the bush as a whole for week 4, there is no contest. It is definitely Peony 'Do Tell'. This peony has a multitude of pink blooms with an interesting pink and white center of tiny wavy petals. It almost looks like a hairdo that Ke$ha would wear! The blooms open on different days. So they will usually last for a couple weeks. The plant is a consistent bloomer and grower year after year in this climate, multiplying steadily at a rapid pace. It seems to be very happy here in my southern climate. It definitely earns its 2004 American Peony Society Gold Medal every year in my garden!
Peony 'Do Tell'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2012 Peony Blooms Mid Season - Week 4

The double and bomb type peonies really made their debut this week in the Midseason of the peony bloom season, Week 4. With bright colors and giant blooms how can anyone resist? Peony 'Kansas' did really well this year for me. The hot pink blooms really stood out. Peony 'Many Happy Returns' has such a nice red color and form. Peony 'Red Charm' is an awesome bomb type peony and the most true red you'll find. Peony 'Rose Heart' bloomed for me for the 2nd time this year, and the bloom was so much larger with the characteristic pink heart (center).

Peony 'Kansas'	Peony 'Many Happy Returns'
Peony 'Red Charm'	Peony 'Rose Heart'

2012 Peony Blooms Best Performers - Weeks 1-3

I already posted pictures of my favorite peony blooms from Weeks 1-3 of the peony bloom season in my post 2012 Peony Blooms Very Early to Early Mid - Weeks 1-3. However I thought it might also be beneficial to post some of my favorite overall performers from Weeks 1-3 here in my Southern growing climate. The best two peony bushes overall were Peony 'Seraphim' and Peony 'Honor'. Peony 'Seraphim' is just so lovely and has a multitude of blossoms on tall stems with multiple blooms per stem. The bright white flowers just look so lovely and feminine and the foliage is very sturdy and a nice dark green color. Peony 'Honor' is a plant of much shorter stature, but no less lovely. The dainty pink blossoms are one to a stem, but with a staggered opening, which showcases the beautiful range in color of the petals as they open. The foliage also seems sturdy here, and the green is a bit lighter in color, a nice contrast with the pink blooms.
Peony 'Seraphim'
Southern Peony Best Performer


Peony 'Honor'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2012 Peony Disease Bud Blast

I've had several peonies with buds that weren't able to develop. I think it has to do with the weather, which has been a bit weird this spring. It was really rainy right before the foliage and buds started to develop, and then it was dry for quite while they were growing. I could tell that there was some bud blast and blight on some of the foliage, but I think the succeeding dry period prevented it from developing further (which could have been much worse). Established plants seemed to make out with only a bit of brown near the edges of leaves or a rotten stem or perhaps a bud or two that succumbed to the disease. However some peonies that I ordered just last fall were really taken over by blight and disease. I planted these roots in brand new locations. So no other peonies had been planted there. It was previously just organically maintained lawn. It makes me wonder if the peonies had been sprayed with fungicides by the growers to keep the diseases at bay. Then perhaps when they were planted here in my garden, the plants succumbed to the disease that had been previously kept in check by chemicals. Maybe the peonies will come back next year or maybe they will die. I have had both outcomes with new plants from reputable vendors. Let's hope for the best...

Established Plant - Peony 'Do Tell'

Established Plant - Peony 'Scarlet O'Hara'

Newly Planted - Peony 'Carina'

2012 Peony Blooms Very Early to Early Mid - Weeks 1-3

Wow! I can hardly believe the peony bloom season is already more than half over here! I have thoroughly enjoyed it so far this year. I have seen a couple new varieties bloom this year, plus I've seen some of my favorites really increase and flourish. Here are some of my favorite blooms from the first 3 weeks of my southern peony bloom season. The color on the 'Coral Charm', 'Lavender', and 'Morning Lilac' peonies is intoxicating. Peony 'Coral Fay' has such a sweet nodding form, Peony 'Firelight' has really nice dark pink flares against its lighter pink petals, and Peony 'Paladin' looks almost double before it fully opens. Enjoy!

Peony 'Coral Charm'	Peony 'Coral Fay'
Peony 'Firelight'	Peony 'Lavender'
Peony 'Paladin'	Peony 'Morning Lilac'

2012 Peonies in the Landscape

Growing peonies is great because of the flower size, colors and forms available, and lots of them even have a nice fragrance. Their bloom period can be short, but it can be extended with different varieties of peonies that bloom in different periods. Some people may find it challenging to integrate peonies into their landscape, but peonies can be used everywhere! They are great in mixed perennial beds with other flowers that bloom at different times. Their foliage is quite sturdy and makes and excellent backdrop for other flowers and even bulbs, and the foliage will usually last until frost. Peonies can be planted alone as accent plants or en masse in a large bed or border. However and wherever you decide to plant your peonies, you can look forward to years and perhaps even generations of flowers from a sturdy and long lived plant. :)

Peony 'Morning Lilac'	Peony 'Scarlet O'Hara'

Peony Landscape Beds

2012 Peony Colors

So far this year I seem to be on top of things for the most part. I have missed recording the colors of some of my early peonies in the past couple of years. It seems like by the time I remember to do it, the early peonies are finished blooming. However this year I have gotten the chance to record the colors of several of my early blooming peonies, including one of my favorites, Peony 'Lavender'. I still missed Peony 'Early Scout' this year. Perhaps I will get that one next year! I plan to update my Inventory page with the RHS colors and bloom types data from my surveys soon, and I plan to add the bloom season eventually, when I collect enough data for the bloom seasons for my growing zone.
Peony 'Honor'


Peony 'Roy Pehrson's Best Yellow'


Peony 'Firelight'

2012 Peony 'Lavender'

I had a feeling that another one of my peonies had bloomed today. Good thing I checked them this morning before work (and took my camera with me). :) My favorite color is purple, and of course my lavender peony, Peony 'Lavender' bloomed today, and how beautiful it is! This is only the second year I've had this plant bloom for me, but it is just as lovely as last year, although I think there is one less bud. It bloomed much earlier though. Last year it was April 18th, and this year it bloomed today, April 2nd. I think it may have more stems than last year, though. I just checked my data and I don't have the RHS color for it or 2 of the other 3 (Early Scout, Chalice, Ludovica) peonies that are also in bloom now. So I just got out my color chart so that I can get an accurate color for the Peony 'Lavender'. It has such a beautiful and unique color to it.

Peony 'Lavender'


Peony 'Lavender'

2012 First Peony Bloom of the Season!

I can hardly believe it! My first peony bloom opened this week on Monday, March 26, 2012. It was Peony 'Early Scout', a single red peony of short stature. Many of the single peonies bloom first, and 'Early Scout' is usually one of the first peonies to bloom here for me. I knew it had been an extremely warm spring, and that it could have been any day for the peony blooms to start opening, but somehow I still feel like it snuck up on me. I hope this year will be a good one for the peony blooms. It has already rained quite a bit right before the bloom season, so maybe it will be a bit dryer this year during the bloom season. Last year it was so wet during our peony bloom season that most of the flowers turned to mush which didn't allow for very many pictures taking opportunities. So hopefully this year the rainy weather will be a bit more even tempered instead of continuous! I've volunteered to host a family gathering next weekend. So I'm hoping that several peony varieties will be in bloom then because my mother and grandmother (who was a big influence in my love of gardening) also love peonies. Spring has sprung! :)
Peony 'Early Scout'

2012 Peony Mulch

Wow! What could be better than freshly mulched peonies? What about FREE freshly mulched peonies? (Well I suppose it did require a bit of time and some elbow grease on my part, but I didn't pay any money for it!) I just happened upon a tree service truck that was about to dump some freshly mulched trees, and they were more than happy to dump their truck load of mulch in my back yard! Yay! Here are a couple of pictures of my freshly mulched peonies. The first one is of my Saunders Peony Garden. Many of the varieties in that garden are early, and as you can see they are finding their way out of the ground! Also Peony 'Coral Charm' in my Gold Medal Peony Garden is up tall and early as usual. The mulch should help to prevent weed growth and prevent the growing peonies from drying out too much this summer. They are all getting ready to burst open. I can hardly wait! :)

Saunders Peony Garden
Peony 'Coral Charm'

2012 Peony Season is Coming!

I can hardly believe it. It's just the end of February, and the foliage on a couple of my peonies has already broken though the earth. They look like tiny red tendrils sprouting from the ground. Before I know it they will be blooming. I generally get my first peony bloom near the beginning of April. So that's only a little over a month away! So I guess now is the time to dream about what type of peony crosses I'd like to make. I'm hoping to also get more peony Photos this year. It seems like I was really busy last year during peony season. Combine that with lots of wet weather to make the blooms mushy, and I didn't get as many photographs as I'd hoped. Here's hoping this year will be better!
Peony 'Coral Charm'

2012 Spring Peony Orders!

Wow! It's not even spring yet, and I'm getting my peony orders in early this year. I decided it would be a good idea since the past couple of years I've waited until the fall, and some of the peonies I had hoped to order were already sold out. Today I finished cutting back and removing all of the dead peony foliage from last year. So now I'm dreaming about all of the new varieties I want to order from the peony catalog I got in the mail and the online catalogs as well. :) Here are a few of the peonies that I'm ordering tonight. One of them is Peony 'Garden Treasure' which was hybridized by Hollingsworth. I've been wanting this one since 2007 when the price was $120. The price this year is almost half of that ($68), so I figure it is time to buy it. Patience definitely pays off. I'm also ordering some lavender/purple hued peonies and some brownish-red 'chocolate' colored peonies. I love all the different colors!

2012 Peony New Beginnings

Dead Foliage in Peony Bed

2012, a new year, a new opportunity to see peony blossoms you've never seen before, to watch the growth of your existing plants, and reflect on growing seasons past. We have had such a mild winter so far. I am curious to see how this will affect the number and quality of the peony blooms. The weather was so warm I took the opportunity to do some cleaning up. I was out in my garden today cutting back dead peony foliage. However one of my peonies hadn't completely died back yet. It was the intersectional 'Yellow Crown' peony that so nicely produced a beautiful fall bloom for me last year. The foliage contained beautiful fall colors of red, orange, and gold. I went ahead and cut the remaining foliage off. Perhaps next year I will leave the foliage on as an experiment to see what happens.

Fall Colors of Peony 'Yellow Crown' with Dead Foliage of Peony 'Bartzella' in the Background

Peony 'Yellow Crown'