2015 APS Fall Auction Peony Winnings

Even though I've been an APS Member for years, I have never actually bid in the APS Fall Auction. I have donated peonies to the APS Fall Auction to be auctioned off to benefit the APS, like this year's donation to the 2015 American Peony Society Fall Auction - Grace Root. So this year I decided to bid on a few peonies too! Especially since they had the 2015 American Peony Society Gold Medal Winner - 'Mahoghany' in the auction, which is also the Peony of the Year for 2016. I was especially happy to see this one in the auction since I didn't find any commercial growers that were offering it for sale this year. (I'm sure there will be many of them offering it next year, though!) I put in bids on four peonies in the auction, and I won two - Peony 'Mahogany' and Peony 'Roselette'. Not too bad for my first attempt. :-)

2015 APS Auction Win - Peony 'Mahogany'
I have never grown Peony 'Mahogany' before, and I am looking forward to seeing how this APS Gold Medal Winner performs here. I especially like this peony because of the lighter colored flares in the center of the petals. I have grown Peony 'Roselette' here before. It took several years to start to become established. Once it was starting to grow well, I mistakenly killed it with herbicide overspray. This was the year when my Saunders peony garden did not have enough mulch, and the weeds were literally taking over that bed. Now the bed has a nice layer of mulch on it, and the peonies are doing well there. So hopefully this Peony 'Roselette' will find a nice home here!

2015 Intersectional Peony 'Joanna Marlene' on Ebay

I just couldn't not buy it! Isn't this flower just gorgeous? I know, I know. I just had a bad experience buying peonies - those Fake Itohs on Ebay - 4 (Not) Intersectional Peonies, but this one was just calling my name. Plus after checking my 2015 Intersectional Peony Catalog Price Comparison List it is $15 cheaper than any other seller is offering to sell this peony for this year. Plus I had $22.01 in Ebay Bucks that were just burning a hole in my pocket. So after everything was said and done, I got this intersectional peony shipped to my door for about $47, and it's already on the way!

Intersectional Peony 'Joanna Marlene' on Ebay
Also I did check out the seller, 'Garden Breeze Hostas' on Garden Watchdog. They only have 10 ratings, but they're all positive. One of the ratings is even for a Peony 'Bartzella'! Their ratings are all old, I guess because it looks like they no longer sell on their own website. However they do still sell on Ebay, apparently. Both the garden*breeze seller on Ebay and the 'Garden Breeze Hostas' on Garden Watchdog say they are in Mount Tabor, New Jersey. So it looks to be the same seller. Hopefully this time, I'll get what I pay for (especially since this one's more expensive)!

2015 Southern Peony Giveaway - Itoh Peony 'Bartzella'

Southern Peony Giveaway - Peony 'Bartzella'
This month, October 2015, Southern Peony is giving away a peony to one of its email subscribers to celebrate 100,000 pageviews. So if you enjoy reading about peonies, please join us! We are giving away an intersectional Itoh peony, Peony 'Bartzella'. Peony 'Bartzella' is an American Peony Society award winning peony. It has won both their Gold Medal in 2006 and their Award of Landscape Merit in 2009. Peony 'Bartzella' is also a Southern Peony Best Performer. So you know it will grow well in your garden! Intersectional peonies are a cross between a tree peony and an herbaceous peony. If you don't yet have an intersectional peony in your garden, once you get one, it won't be your last. They are easy to get addicted to! Peony 'Bartzella' is one of the most outstanding examples of an intersectional peony. Yellow is a rare color in herbaceous peonies. So this superb hybrid makes an easy to grow yellow addition to your peony garden. :)

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2015 American Peony Society Fall Auction - 'Grace Root'

This year I am making another donation to the American Peony Society for their 2015 APS Online Fall Auction. Two years ago, I donated two peony plants to benefit the 2013 American Peony Society Fall Auction. Even though I am not a commercial grower, I will still try to donate something to the auction this year. So this year I am donating Peony 'Grace Root'. This peony is a terrific grower here in my Southern garden. So if you are looking for a plant that will do well in a more Southern region of the country, this is one peony I would definitely recommend. Plus it blooms very early and is an A. P. Saunders hybrid. So if you'd like the chance to bid on this gorgeous peony, the bidding is going on this weekend, October 10-11th. The APS Fall Auction is for APS Members only. So if you're not yet an APS Member, now's a great time to join! :-)
Southern Peony 2015 APS Fall Auction Donation
Peony 'Grace Root'

2015 Southern Peony Reaches 100,000 Pageviews!

Wow! I can't believe it. Southern Peony reaches 100,00 pageviews! It seems like only yesterday I was posting about our first 20,000 pageviews in Southern Peony Milestones & Popular Topics. The Southern Peony site is successful because of all of you, and I am very grateful for each one of my readers - that's YOU! So to celebrate this milestone, Southern Peony is hosting a giveaway! The only thing you need to do to sign up for the giveaway is join us! If you enjoy reading about peonies, and would like to receive Southern Peony delivered right to your email address, please sign up "Subscribe via email" box on the left side of the page. All members of our email subscriber list as of October 31, 2015 are eligible for the giveaway. More details about the giveaway to come in the next post!
Southern Peony Celebrates 100,000 Pageviews

2015 Peonies for Fall Carolina Plant Swap

Peonies for the Fall Carolina Plant Swap
I was busy in the garden this past Saturday digging up plants for the Carolina Fall Plant Swap. I managed to dig up 5 peonies for the swap. I hope these babies will grow in thrive in their new owners' gardens. Fall is the perfect time to plant peonies. So if you're thinking about adding these gorgeous spring beauties to your garden for a spring show, fall is the time to get them settled into your garden. I cut the foliage off of the three largest plants that bloomed this year, and kept the foliage on the two smaller ones. The gardeners at the swap actually picked up the smaller plants with the foliage first, perhaps mistakenly thinking that these were the largest or most established peonies. When it comes to peonies, the root size is actually what matters most. To get a peony that will have the best chance of establishing itself in your garden, you'll want to select a peony with lots of eyes on it, and a good root system.

2015 Peony obovata Seed Pod with Explosive Red Color

Paeonia obovata var. willmottiae Colorful Seed Pod
Wow! WoW! WOW! This isn't the first year that Paeonia obovata var. willmottiae has bloomed for me, and I hope it's not the last! If you don't currently grow any species peonies, this is my argument for you to start! :-) Of all of the species peonies I've tried to grow, this is the one I've had the most success with. It did take some time for it to get established, but it was well worth the wait! Paeonia obovata var. willmottiae first bloomed for me in 2014 First Bloom on Peony P. obovata var. willmottiae. The white flowers are quite nice and will brighten up a shady spot that most peonies won't grow in. If you are looking for peonies with fall color, the red color of this species peony seed pod is just amazing!
Paeonia obovata var. willmottiae Colorful Seed Pod

2015 Fall Peony Seed Planting and Donation

Well, it wasn't a bumper crop of seeds this year, but I did get some varieties of seed that I haven't gotten seed from before. So I'm really excited to see those grow. A couple of the plants that produced seed only produced one seed - like Peony 'Cream Delight' and Peony 'Rose Garland', and also this very red semi-double peony that I got from Klehm's Song Sparrow, which was supposed to be Peony 'Paree Fru Fru' (a light pink bomb), but was not... Anyway, I'm excited to see what kind of children these plants will produce.

2015 Peony Seed Planting Labels
Since seed production was kind of low this year, I planted most of my own seeds. There were only two varieties that produced more than 10 seeds this year - Peony 'Pink Spritzer' which had 40 seeds and Peony 'Raspberry Firefly' which had 37 seeds. I planted 10 of the Peony 'Pink Spritzer' seeds and 7 of the Peony 'Raspberry Firefly' seeds. The rest of the seeds from these two varieties, I will donate to the American Peony Society Seed Distribution Program. From checking their seed list, they don't currently have any seeds of Peony 'Raspberry Firefly'. So that's exciting to be able to share seeds that no one currently has access to purchase.

2015 Intersectional Peony Seeds 'Lafayette Escadrille'

Seed and Seed Pod of Peony 'Lafayette Escadrille'
Of all the seeds I collected this year, I think the ones I am most excited about are from Peony 'Lafayette Escadrille'. Yes, that's right 'Lafayette Escadrille', an intersectional peony. I have only ever gotten one seed from an intersectional peony before, and that was from Peony 'White Emperor' in 2014. That one seed did not sprout. This time instead of just one seed, I got 9 seeds. However I am not sure if they are viable, but I am going to plant them anyway and hope for the best. Intersectional peonies do not usually set seed and are mostly infertile. So I'd love to be able to get one of their seeds to actually grow and get an intersectional seedling. I'll let you know if anything comes up!

Seed Pod and Seed of Peony 'Lafayette Escadrille'

2015 Peony 'Miss America' Hybridizing Unsuccessful

Remember that peony garden party with all of the Peonies in Their Party Hats? I think those peonies had too much fun at their party (or maybe not enough???) Well, anyway, it looks like I have another year of hybridizing attempts with no success. The two crosses I tried to make with Peony 'Miss America' did not produce any seed. However none of the flowers on this usually abundant seed producer produced any seed. I only tried to cross two of the flowers, and I left all of the other flowers to Mother Nature to hybridize. However none of the many flowers on this bush produced any seed. So I guess it wasn't just me. I guess next year I need to try many more crosses with many more flowers and many different mother plants. It seems that hybridizing requires more than just picking two suitable parents, but perhaps a little luck and cooperation from Mother Nature as well. It also seems like a bit of a numbers game. The more crosses you try, the more chances for success.

Unsuccessful Cross on Peony 'Miss America'	Unsuccessful Cross on Peony 'Miss America'

2015 Collect Late Peony Seeds

This week I made the last search through my garden for peony seeds. There were lots more seeds ready now at the beginning of September than there were about a month ago at the end of July. One month makes a big difference in peony seed production. In fact some of the seeds I went to harvest had already fallen to the ground. Luckily it was easy to identify which peony they came from since my peonies are not planted too close together and not all of them produced seed. So don't wait too long to collect your peony seeds in your garden so they don't get lost.
Seed Pod and Seeds of Peony 'Raspberry Firefly'
This year wasn't a stellar year for seed production. Some of usually most reliable and productive seed producing peonies failed to make any seeds this year. However I did get some seeds from peony varieties that I have never gotten seed from before. Some of those varieties that produced seed for the first time for me were: Peony 'Bowl of Beauty', Peony 'Green Halo', Peony 'Green Lotus', Peony 'Lafayette Escadrille', Peony 'Pink Spritzer', Peony 'Raspberry Firefly', Peony 'Rose Garland', and Peony 'Strawberry Wine'. I am really excited to have some different genetics in the peony seedlings I'm growing. I can't wait to see what these peonies grow up to be 5 years from now!
Fallen Seeds of Peony 'Raspberry Firefly'

2015 Vintage American Peony Society Annual Show Pin

American Peony Society 20th Annual Show Pin from 1923
I am really excited about another vintage find on Ebay this past week! I purchased an American Peony Society 20th Annual Show Pin from 1923. I had seen this pin listed for sale several months ago, but they wanted more than $40 for it. They recently dropped the price down to $25. I decided I could afford that. ;-) So now I have another American Peony Society collectible to add to my collection of Vintage American Peony Society Award Ribbons and American Peony Society Silver Medal. Just think, in another 8 years, this pin will be an antique! :-)