2019 Peony Hybridizing Season is Here!

Bagged Peony 'Martha W.'
It's that time! Time to hybridize peonies!! Somehow between my new job, shuttling kids to/from school, homework, housework, etc. I have found a bit of time to start this important task of hybridizing my peonies! Perhaps it was my first success in hybridizing, getting my own intersectional peonies to finally germinate this year, 2019 I Finally DID IT! My First Intersectional Peony Seedling-s!, that propels me forward during this super busy time in my life. I am grateful to have this opportunity, and will do my best to make the most of it.


Bagged Pollinated Peony
This year was a little different than previous hybridizing years, in that my tree peony bloom season did not really overlap with my early herbaceous peony bloom season. Most years, I am able to harvest fresh pollen directly off of some of my tree peonies to pollinate the herbaceous peonies with. Not this year! This year, the only tree peony that is still in bloom with my herbaceous peonies is Tree Peony 'Angel Emily'. So this year, I saved most of my tree peony pollen in tubes in the fridge. (Luckily I had already purchased the tubes last year on Amazon.) I was planning to use the tubes (instead of aluminum foil) to freeze the pollen for use in future years as well. I will likely freeze any leftover refrigerated pollen this year to use in subsequent bloom seasons - which does work. Both of the intersectional peony seedlings that are now growing in my garden were made with pollen frozen from a previous year.


Bagged Pollinated Peony
I am planning to go outside now to pollinate a few more ripened buds this morning before work. However I am worried about the approaching storm today. I'm not sure if any of the hybridizing work I would do today will hold. The weather reports say we are expecting tornadoes, damaging winds, and possible flooding today. Perhaps I will bag a couple with paper bags today. Or perhaps I'll just go outside and remove these sheer bags (that were from 2 days ago, in hopes their pollination is complete) to make sure these pollinated peonies don't stay too soggy. Who knows? These could all be a wash, and I will start fresh on Saturday, after these severe storms have passed. We shall see...


Bagged Pollinated Peony

2019 Tree Peony 'KC Red' Blooms for the First Time

Tree Peony 'KC Red'
Wow! I must say I was thrilled to see the blooms open on my new Tree Peony 'KC Red'. I actually won (by bidding on) this peony in the 2018 American Peony Society Convention Auction. It was donated by Adelman Peony Gardens. The root they sent was huge, and the growth it has put on this year is evident in the high quality root they sent. It has two huge buds in its first year! I just had to capture the color of the bloom. It was a little hard to match its color to just one card, but I think the RHS "Dark Pink Red" 53C is the closest match. It's also a little hard to capture the true color of the flower. The top photo is the best representation, as the white card in the photo, helps white balance the camera. All together it is a gorgeous flower, and I would highly recommend bidding on it if it comes up in this year's APS Convention Auction, as it looks like it is already sold out at Solaris Farms this year, and I don't see it as an offering at Adelman Peony Gardens.


Tree Peony 'KC Red'

2019 Fake Chinese Tree Peonies on Ebay

Herbaceous Foliage, Fake Chinese Tree Peonies
Remember those tree peonies on Ebay I just had to have (2019 Planting Chinese Peonies from Ebay)? This is probably not a surprise to anyone, but they were fakes. :-( That's too bad since I have never seen that fully double bomb type purple tree peony offered for sale in the US before. I still would really like to be able to grow it. One of my readers seems like they may have a lead on it for me. So let's see if I am ever able to acquire one. I just wanted to let you all know in case you thought about buying one. They are just herbaceous peony roots. I don't know what color they might be, but all 4 roots I received appear to be the same herbaceous peony or rootstock.


Herbaceous Foliage, Fake Chinese Tree Peonies
I guess the only interesting thing about these peony roots is that they came with a couple of lily bulb sections in the box (accidental or bonus - I'm not sure). So I decided to plant them to see if they would grow. As you can see they did grow, but I'm guessing it might be a while before they turn into blooming plants. I am curious to see what kind of of lily they are and what color they will bloom. I guess I can say the same thing for the peonies as well. Only time will tell if they are anything of value that is worth growing. My guess is they will be a hot pink single, but who knows?


Herbaceous Foliage, Fake Chinese Tree Peonies
Lily Bulb Sprouts Growing in the Center

2019 Weak Peony Stems Knocked Down by Torrential Wind and Rain

Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' Stem Knocked Down
I'm not sure that I've ever seen a massacre quite like this one. Yes, usually the weakest stems that are most susceptible to botrytis blight will usually succumb to its stem withering powers. However we've had quite the rain these last couple of days and weeks (maybe for the last year). We've had a few thunderstorms that have been quite mighty with pummeling rain and punishing winds. So I have lots of peonies in my garden whose weaker outer stems have fallen in this tragedy. These two peonies, Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' and Peony 'Horizon', are just a couple of examples of the casualties.


Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' Outer Stems Knocked Down
Some of these buds may have opened had it not been as windy. Too bad that all of buds never seem to make it to opening day for one reason or another. It would have been nice to see these peonies in bloom with even more open flowers on each bush. Oh well, I guess I will cut them off before the weakened stems transmit the disease to the healthier parts of the peony plant. No sense crying over spilled milk, I suppose. There are still lots of other blooms in the garden waiting to open!


Peony 'Horizon' Stem Knocked Down

Peony 'Horizon' Outer Stems Knocked Down

2019 Spring Hill Nursery Peony Order Arrives

Spring Hill Nursery Intersectional Peony Order
I must say I was quite impressed when my Spring Hill Nursery order arrived that I had placed last fall, 2018 Strawberry Crème Brûlée Intersectional Peony at Spring Hill Nursery. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. Honestly I think I was expecting bare root peonies that would have a hard time establishing themselves. However they actually sent growing plants that we in approximately quart sized pots, with several sets of leaves on each plant. The plants were packaged quite well, and I actually left them in the box a day longer than they should have been since I didn't open the box the first day it arrived. They still were doing well and had plenty of moisture in the soil.


Spring Hill Nursery Intersectional Peony Order
Some of the leaves were a bit bent. I'm not sure if that is from their shipping journey or perhaps just being grown in close quarters with their friends and getting a bit tangles up. Perhaps the packers had a hard time untangling them before boxing them up. I'm not sure. So they are a bit tired, and probably won't grow much more this year, but at least they have been grown well and have nice foliage on them. The black pots were bagged up with white bags and twist ties. One of the plants actually had a small immature leaf shoot trying to grow underneath the bag. I'm hoping it will still be able to grow now that I've unbagged them.


Spring Hill Nursery Intersectional Peony Order
I really am looking forward to seeing these bloom. I am hoping they are all the correct varieties purchased. One advantage of having these intersectional peonies shipped as potted plants with foliage growing already is that you can tell that they actually are intersectional peonies. So I know they've gotten one thing right. That leads me to believe that perhaps these will be the correct cultivars (fingers crossed). However these are definitely small plants (most likely cloned) because come on what peony root division is going to fit in a 4 inch pot? But I don't care if they are cloned, as long as they're the right plant! We shall see. Also the 'Strawberry Creme Brulee' Intersectional peony appears to have "strawberry" pinkish colored stems, while 'Oochigeas' and 'Pastel Lilas' do not. So it seems like I have more than one variety here as well. Since they are small plants, it may take several years for them to bloom. Let's hope it's worth the wait!


Spring Hill Nursery Intersectional Peony Order