2019 Peony Pollen Collection Tubes

I finally found something decent to put my tree peony pollen in, as I mentioned in my hybridizing article, 2019 Peony Hybridizing Season is Here! I bought these plastic tubes with screw on lids on Amazon last year. I didn't actually use them last year, though, as I purchased them right after tree peony season was over (and I decided I needed something better than just aluminum foil to save and store my pollen in). I have really been putting them to good use this year. I have collected 7 types of tree peony pollen so far this year - 'Angel Choir', 'Angel Emily', 'KC Red', 'Lavender Hill', 'Lavender Grace', 'Sahohime', and 'Shimadaijin'. I am so glad I purchased them, as they have really come in handy. I take them out into the garden when I want to pollinate some flowers, and then return them to the fridge when I am done.


Tree Peony Pollen in Plastic Tubes
I have been keeping them in the fridge with the lids off, but I plan to put the lids on and freeze them when I'm done with my hybridizing season for use in future years if I need them. At first I just put a little piece of tape on the lid with the pollen name on it, but then I also labeled the bottles too (so I will know what the pollen is when the lid is off). Also having the name on the lid and the bottle makes sure I don't intermix the pollen by putting the wrong lid on the wrong bottle. I also plan to write the year on them before I put them in the freezer, so I can keep track of how old they are, in case I need to throw some out in the future. If you'd like to get your own tubes for pollen collection, just search for "dime coin tubes". Yes, these are actually meant to hold coins! If you want to adjust the size to fit your needs, just look for the coin size you would prefer for your bottle circumference. Happy Pollinating!

2019 Severe Thunderstorms Damage to Peonies

Peony Damaged During Severe Thunderstorms
Luckily there wasn't much damage to the peonies here in the severe thunderstorm we had this weekend. I guess you could say we got off lucky. Two of our neighbors had large pine trees come down. One of them crashed through a standalone garage and really busted it up. Luckily no one was hurt. The worst we had here were some small sticks and dead branches that fell, nothing major. This is really the only damage to a peony that I found, and I'm sure that this peony will be fine. The peony stem was not broken, only smashed to the ground. So really all we needed to do was some minor cleanup, pick up an overturned potted tree, blow off the deck and driveway, and pick up lots of sticks!


Tree Peony 'Angel Choir'

Tree Peony 'Angel Choir'
Also it was nice to see this beautiful peony bloom after the storm was over. This is the first time this peony has bloomed for me. I planted it in 2017, as a fairly small division. I'm glad the "Angel" came out to sing after the storm. :-) I can't wait to see how this peony will look as it matures. It was my favorite peony in bloom when we toured Kris Casey's garden during the 2016 American Peony Society Convention. It looks like I never wrote an article about that garden tour. Perhaps I'll get back to it one day! You can tell from this photo how beautiful the plant looks when mature, with nice foliage cover, the blooms held high above the bush, and covered in huge, gorgeous white blooms!


Me with Tree Peony 'Angel Choir'

2019 Intersectional Peony Blooms Week 3 Early Mid

There was actually only one intersectional peony in bloom this week, and only one single bloom has opened on the bush so far. It almost looks a bit like a rose opening up. I am always happy to see the blooms on Intersectional Peony 'Hillary'. This is quite a reliable peony bush, and quite a reliable bloomer as well. I have divided this peony into several pieces, and it has just shrugged it off, and zoomed back to its original size. The extra smaller pieces from it have grown as well. It was our giveaway prize last year to celebrate how much we've grown, 2018 Southern Peony Intersectional Peony 'Hillary' Winner Selected.


Intersectional Peony 'Hillary'
This plant is also a Southern Peony Best Performer. It was selected last year as a week 4 Southern Peony Best Performer, 2018 Peony 'Hillary' Best Performer - Week 4, which makes sense since it has only opened one bloom thus far in week 3. It will be awesome in Week 4 again this year! If you haven't yet added this intersectional peony to your collection, I highly recommend it! Intersectional Peony 'Hillary' has come down in price quite a bit too. So you can easily find this one around or below the $50 price point (as low as $35). Check out our 2019 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List for more pricing info.


Intersectional Peony 'Hillary'

2019 Peony Blooms Week 3 Early Mid

The very early herbaceous peonies have definitely started to come out this week (mostly single and semi-double). It was nice to see a beautiful bloom on Peony 'Nova' this year, as I often don't get to see it (due to cold bud blast) or only get to see cold damaged flowers. Peony 'Coral Fay' offered her bright and deep reliable, early color again this year. 'Coral Sunset' just started to pop this week, and this bloom on Peony 'Paladin' was more gorgeous than usual with so many petals. Peony 'Horizon' went nuts this year with so many blooms! Peony 'Dreamtime' is just as I expected, and I am so grateful to see this one bloom for the first time. It really is "Dreamy"! Peony 'Roselette's Baby' didn't disappoint with her very dark and moody petals. Peony 'Juliska' also bloomed for the first time this year as well, and it was a nice early surprise to have such a large double blooming much sooner than the rest.


Peony 'Nova'

Peony 'Coral Fay'

Peony 'Coral Sunset'

Peony 'Paladin'

Peony 'Horizon'

Peony 'Dreamtime'

Peony 'Roselette's Baby'

Peony 'Juliska'

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