2012 Soil for New Peony Beds

Well I finally got the mountains of new dirt raked out into nicely shaped beds for my peonies. One peony bed will be for seedlings. The other peony bed will be for intersectional peonies. I'm kind of excited to see how these grow in the spring. With such nice soil to grow in these should do really well! The intersectional peony bed turned out to be 9ft X 12ft. The peony seedling test bed turned out to be 7ft X 8ft. They're not huge, but they're pretty good size. I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze lots of intersectional peonies and peony seedlings into them for now - and I'm sure the beds will grow in size later! ;) The next thing I need to do is figure out the layout. Then when my fall shipments arrive, I'll know where to plant them. :)
Intersectional Peony Bed Soil


Peony Test Seedling Bed Soil

2012 APS Bulletin Article - Peony Weekend Panoply

Yay! I got the latest issue of the APS Peony Bulletin - September 2012 with my article in it. How exciting! Here's a reprint of the article. Enjoy!

The 2012 American Peony Society Convention was held in Omaha, Nebraska this year, and despite the lack of a local ‘host’ peony club, the convention was well organized, had a great showing of flowers, and had lots of extra activities to keep you busy!

On Friday we visited Joslyn Castle. The grounds of the Joslyn Castle were rich, well landscaped, and nicely manicured. However their beauty did not rival that of the castle. Though it lacked the company of its original furniture, the castle was finely appointed in detail and craftsmanship. From the tiny mosaic inlaid tile to the hand carved mantels and archways, the time and attention to detail was obvious. One of my favorite features was a set of 3 stained glass windows nestled above a comfy cushioned window seat overlooking a tiny yet full and lush conservatory of moisture loving plants including ferns, tropical foliage, and orchids. It also contained a small waterfall and pond, with the noise from the water feature bringing an element of the outdoors inside which, I’m sure, was enjoyed with even greater pleasure in the winter months. Unfortunately the peony bloom season had already passed. So the century old peonies boasted only bare foliage and cut flower stems.

After visiting the castle we headed to Mahoney State Park to visit the Sass Memorial Gardens. The flowers came super early this year to the Sass Memorial Gardens. So we missed them by about a month. However the lack of a distracting abundant floral display gave additional opportunities for the APS members to socialize and discuss the drastic difference in the weather this year and how it affected their own peony bloom seasons.

After visiting the State Park, we headed to Lauritzen Gardens for lunch and a tour. Lunch was simple, but delicious, and a welcome break. The catered lunch was held in the Lauritzen Gardens indoor atrium which was filled with lush tropical plants including beautiful hot pink bougainvillea tree. The Award of Landscape Merit training meeting given by Don Hollingsworth immediately followed the lunch. APS members had their choice of the ALM meeting or additional tour time in the garden. Lauritzen Gardens was a beautiful garden with a contrasting mix of nicely manicured, carefully landscaped areas and fields of wildflowers and open natural areas. In addition to a peony garden, there was also a rose garden, a Victorian garden, a miniature train garden, and much more.

The 2012 American Peony Society flower show was huge even though most of the growers complained about their seasons. I think they were just trying to set the judges' expectations a bit low so they could shine. Everyone was busy with preparations on Saturday morning trying to get ready for the cut off before the judging of the show. The color of Peony 'Hephestos' must have captured the hearts of the judges this year. What a rare and dark color, which is fitting for the god of blacksmiths. It won the Court of Honor for Best Red Lutea Hybrid, and also the Grand Champion Peony, Best of Show ribbon.

The social hour started early and lasted long. The room was cold, but the hearts were warm as everyone socialized and waited for the business meeting and banquet dinner to begin. The business meeting was short and sweet with three new board members elected. The buffet dinner was tasty with beef, salmon, mashed potatoes, veggies, salad, and bread. We all listened to a presentation on the Sass Brothers’ hybridizing feats including all of the medals they’d won over the years. One of the highlights of the talk was the announcement that he’d brought the actual 1943 APS Gold Medal that the Sass Brothers had been awarded (for Peony ‘Elsa Sass’) for everyone to view. The APS Editor, Claudia Shroer, made sure we all had our dessert, and it was very good, a red velvet cake. However the peony auction may have been even better. Lucas Hudson, the APS Secretary, conducted a lively APS peony auction as usual, and there were lots of rare and prized peony varieties to bid on.

If you didn’t make it to the convention this year, make plans to attend next year which I’m sure will be even bigger and better! :-)

2012 New Dirt for New Peony Beds

Woo hoo! I got my dirt for my new peony beds today! I am so excited. As you can see there are two mountains of dirt for me to work on. One mountain of dirt is for my new intersectional peony bed, and the other is for my new peony seedling test bed. Now that my Peony Bed Soil Solarization project is complete, I had my new dirt delivered this week. This new dirt is much better than the clay subsoil beneath it. So this should make for a nutrient rich mix of soil for my new peony beds. Now I just need to spread it out and mix it into the subsoil a bit. You can see my APS Gold Medal peony garden and Saunders' peony garden in the background of the intersectional peony bed picture. In the background of the peony seedling test bed picture, you can see the old peony seedling test bed. I am so excited about this new dirt. I have brought good soil in for my vegetable garden before, but never for my peonies. All of my current peonies are just planted right in whatever zone 7 dirt happens to be in my garden, and they grow and bloom just fine. So I can't wait to see the difference this good quality dirt is going to make!
New Dirt for Intersectional Peony Bed

New Dirt for Peony Test Seedling Bed

2012 Carolina Country Old Peonies for New Gardens

I was delighted to see an article on peonies in latest issue of Carolina Country magazine. Carolina Country is a free magazine that's published by my electric cooperative and has several features every month. One of the feature sections is on gardening, and this month there is an article called 'Old Peonies for New Gardens' by L.A. Jackson. It goes over several tips for planting peonies in our area like planting peonies in September, growing them in 6 hours of sun, a planting hole at least 18" deep X 12" wide, and planting no more than 2 inches deep. I agree with most of what he says. However I never plant my peonies 2 inches deep. I plant them pretty much even with the surface, with their pink eyes just barely peeking out. He also mentions, "Setting peony divisions too deep is one of the main reasons these beauties fail to flower.", with which I wholeheartedly agree! That's probably the most important thing in the whole article! It is very important to plant peonies as close to the surface as possible. He also mentions some "time-tested" varieties for southern gardens: Peony 'Felix Crousse' (raspberry red double), Peony 'Festiva Maxima' (white double), Peony 'Flame' (red single), Peony 'Monsieur Jules Elie' (pink double), Peony 'Nymphe' (pink single), and Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt' (pink double). I grow all of these selections, and they have all bloomed for me here in my zone 7 southern garden. So these are all probably safe bets. :) Happy Gardening!

2012 Peony Bed Soil Solarization

Wow! I just came back home to find the sun had done a great job not only solarizing my soil, but also my plastic sheeting! I put down a clear plastic sheet to solarize the soil for my Intersectional Peony Bed Preparation in the middle of June. The plastic sheet I used for the intersectional peony bed was not new. It was a few years old. It held up pretty well until last week when it started to get a few tears in it, but when I came back and took a look at it yesterday, it was half gone and in shreds! So I guess the bed is officially solarized! The ground looks pretty sterile, and it has been a little over 6 weeks now since I first put the plastic sheeting down. It usually takes about 4-6 weeks to complete the soil solarization. So I guess the plastic sheeting held up just long enough! Now the planting bed should be ready for the new, good soil to go on top and get mixed in - after I have fun picking up all of the plastic bits, of course! ;-)

Intersectional Peony Bed Soil Solarized

I also started another soil solarization project a couple weeks after the first one for a new peony seedling test bed. I used a newer plastic sheet, and this one seems to be holding up much better. As you can see the weeds and grass underneath the plastic are all dead and brown. So this bed should be ready soon too. Maybe I can get the dirt next week!

Peony Seedling Test Bed Soil Solarization

2012 New Intersectional Peony Foliage

After quite a long hot and dry spell with 90-100 degree days, it has been nice to get some rain from summer thunderstorms and a bit cooler temperatures. I'm sure my peonies have appreciated it as well. The foliage on my newly planted intersectional peonies seems to be progressing nicely. All four of them have nice green foliage now three weeks after planting them. The foliage is a mix between a tree peony's foliage and an herbaceous peony's foliage since intersectional peonies are a cross between these two types. Tree peonies have woody stems that generate new growth each year while herbaceous peonies have soft stems that grow anew and die back to the ground each year. It is recommended to cut back the intersectional peony foliage to the ground each year, but I have found in my southern climate that some of the woody stem can be left over the winter and will generate new growth and blooms the next year. See my post on 2011 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Blooms for more information and pictures.

Peony 'Canary Brilliant'	Peony 'Lemon Dream'
Peony 'Old Rose Dandy'	Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'

2012 Peony Reference Site - Web Project Paeonia

So you've always wondered if the peony variety you have is labeled correctly? Or maybe you want to know the hybridizer for your peony. Or perhaps you want to know the bloom season for a peony you saw and are interested in. Well, I'll tell you what. There's this site I really like. It is the best peony reference site out there. No, it's not the Wikipedia. (Although there is some interesting information there, it definitely leaves something to be desired.) The site is Carsten Burkhardt's Web Project Paeonia. I have used this web site for years for peony identification and information. It is really an awesome resource for the peony community. I hope you find it as useful as I have. So go look up your favorite blooms. Oh, and be careful. You can get lost in there!!! :)

Carsten Burkhardt's Web Project Paeonia

2012 Intersectional Peony New Growth

The new intersectional peonies I just planted a week and a half ago are growing nicely. One of them seems to be having a bit of trouble, but it is still growing. The pink growth on Peony 'Scarlet Heaven' has a bit of brown/black on the end of it. It also seems to be a bit slower growing and turning green than the other three. Here are a few pictures of some of the new growth on these intersectional peonies. I think they are happy in their partly sunny, moist spot near my deck. These peonies were originally purchased on Ebay, and they are definitely intersectional peonies. The new growth and the foliage on these is exactly the same as my other intersectional peonies, and quite different than the new growth on herbaceous peonies. Whether the cultivar names are accurate is yet to be determined, but I think they will probably be correct.

Peony 'Canary Brilliants'	Peony 'Lemon Dream'
7/1/2012	7/1/2012
7/7/2012	7/7/2012
7/11/2012	7/11/2012

Peony 'Old Rose Dandy'	Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'
7/1/2012	7/1/2012
7/7/2012	7/7/2012
7/11/2012	7/11/2012

2012 Growing Weed Free Peonies

The weeds in my peonies have been greatly reduced this year, thanks to a new layer of mulch. However I have still gotten a few weeds. Most of them have either been at the edge of the peony bed or right next to the peony crown, where the layer of the mulch is the thinnest. It is not good to put a thick layer of mulch right on top of the peony crown (where the stems grow from the plant). In my climate I do not put any mulch right in the center of the peony plant. It is best to side dress the peonies with mulch to keep their small feeder roots cool and moist. A couple of weeds have surprised me this year, though, growing right from the crown hidden by the peony foliage, and were able to develop into quite large weeds. I was really surprised by this one in particular. This weed grew bigger and taller than my 5 year old peony in a couple months! Needless to say, it has now been extracted! :)

Peony 'Firelight' with Giant Weed

2012 First Peony Planting

I got my order of Peonies on Ebay planted today. I figured since we got a small break in the 100°+ heat wave it would be a good time to get them in the ground. Since some of the peony seedlings in my seedling test bed almost looked like toast, I decided I should probably plant these new peonies, that are going to be stressed with no roots and no leaves in the middle of summer, in a different location. I planted them next to my deck instead which seems to have more moist soil and only about a half day of sun. So this will hopefully be a better location. As you can see I planted these intersectional peonies with their sun starved pink shoots showing just above the mulch. Hopefully they will survive our harsh summer and develop some substantial roots this fall.
Peony 'Canary Brilliants'


Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'

2012 Ebay Peony Order - American Greenhouses

I decided to buy some Peonies on Ebay last week, and they arrived yesterday. The label on the Priority Mail box they arrived in said they were from American Greenhouses, Hosta Gardens of Burr Ridge. It appears that this company imports many of their plants, and the plants I received appear to have been purchased for resale, not grown by the seller. The peonies were packed with peat moss inside brown paper bags. These peonies have not yet had food, water, or sunlight this year. It is almost July here, well into summer, so I will try to baby these plants in hopes they are able to establish some roots this year. The buds on the peonies had already sprouted, and they are all past ready to leaf out. So hopefully with some sun, soil, and water, they will survive.
Ebay Intersectional Peony Order


Intersectional Peony Bare Roots

This morning after I unpacked the roots, I put them each in a bowl of water to soak for a few hours. Hopefully this will restore a bit of moisture to the roots before I plant them out. I think since my Intersectional Peony Bed is not yet ready for plants, I will plant these in my seedling test bed until this fall. By then the Intersectional Peony Bed should be ready for planting, and I will move these peonies when the weather is cooler.
Peony Roots Soaking in Bowls of Water

2012 Peony Viruses

A couple of my peonies have been affected by viruses. The virus seems to affect the same peonies every year. I don't think there is anything you can really do to get rid of it. Viruses in humans are not curable by any medicine, the symptoms can be controlled or suppressed, but the immune system of the body is the only thing that can actually defeat the disease. So either the peony would have to fend it off on its own or find a way to live with it. It seems that most of the time peonies can live with a virus without the plant being too adversely impacted. Also I've noticed that several of the peonies I have planted in shade have a virus. So it seems like peonies that are stressed because they are not planted in ideal conditions are more susceptible to viruses. Those virus infected peonies that I have seem to bloom just fine and are able to increase as well. Most of the time, the foliage of the entire plant is not affected. Sometimes only a portion of the plant is diseased. I'd be curious to see if you divided the plant and threw away the infected portion if the plant would be virus free or if the virus would come back the next year. That may be an experiment for another day...
Peony 'Duchesse de Nemours' with Mosaic Virus


Peony 'Laura Dessert' with Mosaic Virus

2012 Peony Questions and Topics

I received a question on growing peonies as a comment on one of my posts. I would like this site to be as helpful to others as possible. So to that end, I would like to invite you to send me your peony questions, concerns, or topics you'd like me to cover. It doesn't matter how crazy or silly it might be, as long as it pertains to peonies, send it in! I will also creating a permanent link for Questions on the front page. So if you've got some burning question, that you'd love to have answered, please send it in. I'd be happy to answer any questions I know the answer to, try to research it for you if I don't have the data, and possibly even do some experiments to get an answer! You can contact me by email Send Your FAQ to Southern Peony. Also if you'd like to subscribe to this blog, you can do so here Subscribe to Southern Peony by Email.

2012 Peonies on Ebay

I decided to buy some intersectional peonies on Ebay this week. I ended up paying about $40 each with shipping. So the prices were reasonable for intersectional peonies, since they are usually much more expensive than herbaceous peonies. I am curious to see them when they arrive. I've purchased peonies on Ebay before in the past, but never Itoh Intersectional Peonies. It will be quite obvious when the peony roots arrive if they are actually intersectional peonies or herbaceous peonies. I've actually had pretty good luck getting the correctly labeled peony varieties on Ebay (better than Wild's). :) I'm sure it depends on the vendor, though. So hopefully these will be the correct varieties. I'm wondering if they are tissue culture peonies or actual root divisions. Also I'm curious to see how they perform, grow, and bloom. The varieties I got were: Peony 'Canary Brilliants', Peony 'Lemon Dream', Peony 'Old Rose Dandy', and Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'. All but one of them were hybridized by Roger Anderson and registered in 1999. Peony 'Old Rose Dandy' was hybridized by Laning and registered in 1993. I'm really looking forward to receiving these intersectional peonies and hope to get them into my new intersectional peony garden bed soon!

2012 Intersectional Peony Bed Preparation

Since I decided to create a new bed for my intersectional peonies, my mind has been busy thinking of all the things I need to do to complete the project. Last weekend I started the process by laying out a clear plastic tarp over the section of ground where I will plant the new peony bed. I placed bricks on the edges of the tarp to keep it in place. The sun will heat up the ground and the plastic will prevent the heat from escaping. So it will get really hot under there to kill the current grass, weeds, unsprouted seeds, even bugs and plant pathogens such as viruses and bacteria! This process is called soil solarization, and the best time to do this is in the summer. So now is a good time to start if you'd like to prepare some peony beds for fall planting! If you're leery of chemicals, this is a good organic way to prepare the soil since no chemicals are needed to kill weeds. After the soil has been sterilized, I am planning to get a truckload of pro-mix and garden soil delivered. I usually just plant my peonies in the ground as is with a bit of lime and organic fertilizer mixed in. However the soil in the site for my new intersectional peony bed is not very good since this is a section of my yard that used to be forest and was scraped clean with when my house was built. So there is little to no top soil in this area. The grass and weeds don't even really want to grow here. Since I want to make sure my intersectional peonies are successful, I am going to do a little more advance preparation this time.

Intersectional Peony Bed Soil Solarization

2012 Intersectional Peony Order

Sometime last week I got the idea that I wanted to put in a new bed for intersectional peonies. I currently have my intersectional peonies planted in various sunny spots in the garden, and one bed that I think has too much shade (see my post on 2012 Peony Experiments - Sun vs. Shade ). So I decided I would move the plants that are in too shady of a location and create a new bed for them in a sunnier spot. And since I was creating a new intersectional peony bed, it seemed only logical that I needed to add a few more to my collection to help fill up this new bed. :) So it seemed to be good timing that I got an email from Song Sparrow advertising 15% Off All Container Plants! Their sale lasts until June 20, 2012. So I decided to get a couple of intersectional peonies from them, and a couple from Swenson Gardens as well. I've never placed an order with Swenson Gardens before. So I'm curious to see their shipment and plant quality. I'm also excited to get this new intersectional peony bed planted! :)

Peony 'Lafayette Escadrille'	Peony 'Little Darlin'

2012 Peony Experiments - Sun vs. Shade

I have one Peony 'Bartzella' that is growing in full sun, and another that is growing in partial shade. The difference between them is huge. The one in full sun has loads of blooms and the foliage is fuller and lower to the ground. The one in shade had only a couple of blooms, and the foliage is much thinner, taller, and upright. Both peonies were planted in 2007. So I've been growing both of them for 5 years. The number of stems and blooms on the one in full sun really outnumbers the one in shade. The plant growing in partial shade had 6 stems and 2 blooms this year. The plant growing in full sun had 20 stems and 19 blooms this year. So it is quite obvious that intersectional peonies can grow and bloom in shade, but their vigor and number of blooms is greatly reduced. So if you have a peony that's not doing very well that is in partial shade, find a nice sunny spot in your garden for your peony and move it there! :-)

Peony 'Bartzella' Growing in Sun


Peony 'Bartzella' Growing in Partial Shade

2012 Peony Experiments - Cutting Back Dead Flowers

I usually don't get around to cutting back dead flowers on my peonies. The past couple of years I have just left them to fend for themselves until the entire stem dies back. That way I would leave the flower head intact so that seeds could develop. However I have noticed quite a bit of fungal disease, and I wondered if it had any correlation to leaving the spent bloom on the plant. The flower type really seems to make a difference in this. The single and semi-double type flowers that shed their petals easily do not seem to have as much fungal disease as the more full double flowers that seem to hang onto their petals. Also I have noticed that dead petals that have fallen onto foliage below actual contribute to additional fungal growth that otherwise may not have developed. It seems the dying petals create just the right environment (more moist and warm) that the fungus needs to develop.

Dried Peony Petals on Foliage


Fungus on Peony Foliage
Over time I have been able to better recognize which seeds pods actually have developing seeds in them. So this year, I have started cleaning up my full double flowered peonies to remove the spent blooms. I also have 2 peony bushes of a white double peony that are the same variety. I decided to cut back the spent blooms on one of them, but not the other. I will check the amount of fungal disease later in the season. I also plan to cut down the dead foliage on the same one I cut back the flowers on and leave the dead foliage intact on the one I didn't cut back the flowers on. So we shall see how much difference it makes in the amount of fungus on the plants this fall and next spring.

Peony Spent Blooms Not Cut Back


Peony Spent Blooms Cut Back

2012 APS Convention Peony Seed Sale

From the moment I got to the American Peony Society convention this year, I was looking for the seeds from the APS Peony Seed Sale. Finally on Saturday afternoon, Scott Parker, the administrator of the APS Seed Distribution Program, set up the hundreds of seed packets right outside the door to "heaven". (I'd heard one of the APS flower show attendees exclaim earlier in the day, "It smells like heaven in here!", and indeed it did.) There weren't quite as many Paeonia species seeds available this year as there were 2 years ago, but there were loads of hybrid peony seeds available.

APS Peony Seed Sale

I managed to snag 6 packs of seeds, with 4 of them being tree peonies and 2 herbaceous species peonies. I don't really grow many tree peonies currently, since with the few tree peonies I have tried (P. delavayi, P. lutea, and P. 'High Noon') only one of them is still alive (P. delavayi). Perhaps with these new tree peony seeds I will hopefully get one or two that will thrive in my climate and under my harsh gardening regime. ;) The tree peony seeds I purchased are P. rockii from Cricket Hill Gardens, P. rockii and P. suffruticosa Mixture, P. 'Kamada Nishiki' (suffruticosa group), and a generic pack of tree peony purple flower. The herbaceous peony seeds I purchased are P. Ostii and P. Veitchii (pink single), neither of which came up for me the last time I tried them. So maybe this time I'll have better luck with those too. Better luck this time might = more water. :) If you want to get your own peony seeds for growing in your home garden in hopes that one day you may get something worth registering, you can join the APS and contact the APS Seed Distribution Program Administrator, Scott Parker. (It's one of the benefits of APS Membership.) :)