2016 Peony Purchases from Klehm's Song Sparrow Tour

Potted Peonies Purchased on Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm Tour
Wow! My plants from the APS Peony Convention Tour of Song Sparrow arrived this week, and I got them planted today. I purchased three peonies in their $15 potted plant sale - Peony 'Carl G. Klehm', Peony 'Lake o' Silver', and Peony 'Lora Dexheimer'. Two of these peonies had blooms on them when I purchased them. So I know I was getting the correct variety. I really like that. Unfortunately one of them didn't have a bloom on it, but I wanted that one so bad I bought it anyway. It was the last one of that variety that they had, that was potted and on sale for $15. It was Peony 'Carl G. Klehm', which got many votes and several nominations in the American Peony Society Gold Medal voting this year. So I guess Peony 'Carl G. Klehm' must be a pretty good peony to grow. Since it is so small, it might take a while to settle in. Hopefully I'll get some blooms from it eventually! :-)

2016 Peony 'Dreamtime' Pollen from Bill Seidl's Garden

Bill Seidl Showing Off His Peony 'Elizabeth Black'
After the American Peony Society convention, I had the opportunity to visit the garden of Bill Seidl as well as meet him in person. It was a lovely afternoon to tour his garden in a quiet subdivision in Manitowac, WI. The weather was perfect, and the flowers were even better. Bill seemed to be a very knowledgeable gardener, not just in peonies, but all kinds of trees, shrubs, and perennials. He had a story about each plant, and you could tell that each one of them was special to him. He told us the story of Elizabeth Black, an artist that drew portraits of WWII soldiers, for which he named the peony flower he is holding in the photo above, a yet unregistered seedling of his.
Me with Bill Seidl


Bill Seidl Showing Off His Garden to Fellow APS Members
While in the garden a peony stem was given to me on a whim, just before I had to leave for the airport. At first I kept it because it was pretty. What girl doesn't like flowers? ;-) It was Peony 'Dreamtime', a peony cultivar registered by Bill Seidl and Nate Bremer in 2013. I decided later that I would save this peony flower and try to use its pollen for breeding. So Peony 'Dreamtime' made the trip with me through the airport in Wisconsin, where it made everyone who saw it smile! :-) Now the pollen has been dried and put into the freezer for next year. Only time will tell if I'll get any babies from it...
Peony 'Dreamtime' in Bill Seidl's Garden


Peony 'Dreamtime' Pollen Drying

2016 APS Peony Convention Banquet and Auction

2016 American Peony Society Banquet
The 2016 American Peony Society banquet was a nice meal with good friends and great times. The food was tasty - chicken, beef stew, ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, tomato and artichoke salad, garden salad, and corn bread. There was also strawberry cream cake and apple cobbler for dessert. The APS General Meeting was short. However, the APS did announce and recognize all of the individuals that got a peony on the Court of Honor, as well as those with special awards as well. Nate Bremer by far received the most ribbons of anyone in the show, including the Best in Show award, which were all well deserved. If you went on the tour of his farm during the 2016 APS Peony Convention Tour of Solaris Farms you'd know why.
2016 American Peony Society Special Award Winners
If you were looking for a good deal on peonies, the 2016 APS Convention Auction was the place to be. Jim and Lore did a great job as usual keeping us entertained while helping auction off plants to benefit the APS as well. This year there was a much larger variety of plants auctioned off - more than just peonies. There were magnolia trees, ginko trees, crabapple trees, Japanese maple trees, clematises, and a fringe tree that was quite popular. Of course the peonies were the main attraction, and there were so many to choose from. Many varieties went for $30 or less. However, there were some rare varieties in high demand that fetched more than $200-$300 dollars. There was also a silent auction that was new this year, and I think the best items in that auction were the honey from Blossom Hill Nursery and Don Smith's hat! :-D
2016 American Peony Society Auction Donations

2016 American Peony Society Auction Donations

2016 APS Peony Convention Tour of Solaris Farms

Nate Bremer Giving us an Introduction to Solaris Farms
Okay, I think the tour of Solaris Farms can be summed up in two words: PEONY HEAVEN. If you missed the tour of Nate Bremer's farm today, you missed a rare chance at a peek inside of not only a great peony farm, but a spectacular display garden, and a working hybridizers's garden too. There are treats everywhere for every kind of peony lover there is - from novice collector to connoisseur, from scholar to hybridizer to even peony grower. Every person I talked to said it was hard to find a peony they didn't want, and I wasn't the only one proclaiming his garden "peony heaven". The phrase passed many lips, and the garden sparked the imagination of so many - with ideas of from Nate's garden that they wanted to incorporate into their own, whether it be the immaculately kept weed-free beds, to the gently shaded peony rows.
Tree Peony 'Shiamine Chojuraku' at Solaris Farms
The design and layout of the garden is ultra organized with matching hand lettered, wood burned signs giving you directions around the garden and a peek inside the ideals of his hybridizing program. I like that his goals were right there in the garden spelled out on a huge natural, wooden sign - with him every day - reminding him of the qualities he most desires from his hybrids. His ideologies are evident not only on the sign, but in the beauty surrounding you in his gardens. Healthy, floriferous plants smile at you at every turn, begging a closer look and perhaps a photo or two or three!
Solaris Farms Seedling Field Sign with Hybridizing Goals
If you need a break from visiting the flower fields, there are many shaded and quiet spots in the garden where you could find a nice place to relax. There are picnic tables, benches tucked under flowering trees, arbors covered with vines to provide a bit of extra shade, and even a hammock hanging underneath a row of trees overlooking the peony fields. All of the planting beds are nicely edged with grass or rocks. The mulched beds contain paths of slate and stepping stones, leading you on a garden adventure through beds of peonies, daylilies, and lilium. A big, fluffy brown and white collie dog was happy to see the visitors as well and toured the garden with us. A bit of whimsy and an element of delight is added to the garden by the 'Tornado Chimes' - large musical instruments to be played by the wind with cast iron pots and old metal farm tools and equipment hung from ropes. (Of course I had to play them too!) There are so many unique plants to see and garden nooks to enjoy here, I wished we could have stayed and explored Solaris Farms all day.
Nate Bremer and Me at Solaris Farms

2016 APS Peony Convention Tour of Song Sparrow

Klehm's Song Sparrow Hay Ride Tour
Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm was a joy to visit with fields full of a multitude of blooming rows of peonies. There were hay rides on tractors to fields of peonies blooming in almost every color you could imagine. The clouds in the field were as nice and fluffy as the clouds floating in the blue sky (maybe fluffier). My favorite peony blooming in their field was Peony 'Chiffon Clouds'. It is a super floriferous peony that opens a very pale pink and ages to white, covering the plant in a cloud of pink and white chiffon blossoms.
Klehm's Song Sparrow Shopping
I think most everyone was able to find something to take home with them from one of Song Sparrow's many greenhouses. They were running a special for $15 potted peonies, which was a great deal! I was able to find three I just had to have, and had shipped back home - Peony 'Carl G. Klehm', Peony 'Lake of Silver', and Peony 'Lora Dexheimer'. APS Members found much more than peonies at Song Sparrow's Farm and Nursery - there were carts filled with hostas, magnolia trees, clematises, and various other perennials too! We had a nice boxed lunch from Panera Bread with sandwiches, pickles, chips, and a cookie. Everyone had a chance to sit, eat, relax, and talk about their favorite peonies from the fields and the greenhouses.
Klehm's Song Sparrow Catered Lunch

2016 APS Peony Convention Picnic at Bay Beach

Well, I made it to Wisconsin. I must say Green Bay is much different than I expected. I was thinking that since they have a professional football team, the city would be large, but it is actually kind of small. However, the welcome picnic at Bay Beach park was very nice. The people were all very friendly and the picnic food very tasty - fried chicken, cole slaw, and green beans. We also got to sample some Wisconsin cheese in the cheese potato casserole.
APS Welcome Picnic at Bay Beach Park
The best part of the picnic was being able to meet friends new and old. Plant people are always the nicest people, and an APS Member you haven't yet met, is just a new friend waiting to be made. We arrived at the Bay Beach Park a little after 5pm, and most people were already there. We stayed until after 8pm when it was wrapping up and starting to get a little chilly. Everyone seemed to be excited about the upcoming tours and of course the flower show! APS Convention Registration at Bay Beach Park

2016 American Peony Society Convention in 3 Days!

The biggest and best peony event all year starts in just 3 short days! This year the American Peony Society Annual Convention is convening in Green Bay, Wisconsin. If you haven't booked your trip yet, it's probably too late to register for all of the convention tours and activities. However, the Peony Exhibit and educational Peony Seminars on Saturday are FREE and open to the public! So there's still time to join us for those! If you are coming to the convention, I hope to see you there. If you're not attending this year, don't worry. I'll have full coverage of all of the APS Convention Events right here for you to enjoy just like I did last year in these Southern Peony Convention Articles. Hopefully you'll see how much fun you're missing and join us all next year! :-)

Southern Peony APS Convention Collage

2016 Peony Blooms Very Very Late - Week 8

Wow! This is definitely a first for me! We had our first every Week 8 of peony blooms! (And there are still a few stragglers left on the bushes in Week 9!) I think it is safe to say that we had really weird weather during our spring warm up this year. Most of these peonies are normally Week 6 peonies. Except for Peony 'Guidon', which is normally a Week 5 bloomer and Peony 'Kelway's Glorious', which is normally a Week 7 bloomer. Usually by Week 7 we don't have too much left here. However, this year's 2016 Peony Blooms Very Late - Week 7 had many types still opening, and also there were many peonies still opening into a full Week 8. Amazing! This year's very cool and very slow warm up, with many cloudy days and plenty of rain later in the peony season gave us just the right weather needed to extend the peony blooming this year! Awesome! I hope you enjoyed your peony bloom season this year (or are still enjoying)! :-)

Intersectional Peony 'Garden Treasure'	Peony 'White Frost'
Peony 'Raspberry Sundae'	Intersectional Peony 'Yellow Crown'
Peony 'Guidon'	Peony 'Kelway's Glorious'

2016 Peony 'Guidon' Best Performer - Week 7

I have had Peony 'Guidon' for a long time now - (over 10 years!), and it always makes a huge bush with loads of flowers. There are always multiple buds per stem. Even with the weight of several very large and very double pink flowers, the extra strong stems usually keep most blooms off of the ground. The characteristic of having multiple buds per stems also allows the flowers to open over a longer period, keeping this peony full of flowers for a couple of weeks. Peony 'Guidon' was hybridized by C. J. Nicholls and registered in 1941. This peony is a late bloomer. However, it doesn't always bloom this late in my garden. This has just been quite a weird weather year. However, if you are looking for a late blooming peony to brighten up your landscape (and your mood!), Peony 'Guidon' is it! This peony has is all - tons of colorful blooms, large healthy foliage, and perfectly shaped flowers, each one unique!
Peony 'Guidon'
Southern Peony Best Performer


Peony 'Guidon'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2016 Peony Blooms Very Late - Week 7

I guess you could say our bloom season is a little mixed up this year. The waves of cold weather we had earlier this year left the peonies confused. Some bushes only came up half a bush at a time, with some stems blooming much earlier and other stems on the same bush bloomer much later. Many of the peonies bloomed in different weeks this year, and it seems we will get 8 weeks of peony blooms this year. I'll give a report next week so you can see what was still blooming in our first ever "Week 8"! Only one of these peonies is a very late bloomer and the rest are not. Peony 'Celebrity', Peony 'Strawberry Wine', and Peony 'Karl Rosenfield' all usually bloom in Week 5. Peony 'Feather Top' and Peony 'Paul M. Wild' usually bloom in Week 6, and Peony 'Candy Stripe' is right on time since it does usually blooms in Week 7.

Peony 'Celebrity'	Peony 'Candy Stripe'
Peony 'Feather Top'	Peony 'Strawberry Wine'
Peony 'Karl Rosenfield'	Peony 'Paul M. Wild'

2016 Southern Peony Garden Party

My First Ever Southern Peony Garden Party was yesterday, and it was definitely a success, and brought a smile to many faces (including mine)! :-) There were still some peonies blooming. However, I will definitely have the party earlier next year when there are more peonies blooming. We are at the end of Week 6 / beginning of Week 7 here. So we are really at the end of the peony season. I think Week 4 / 5 would probably be ideal. So I am going to try for the beginning of May next year. The foliage as well as the flowers of my garden entertained (as well as my fairies!) ;-) There were some other things blooming besides peonies too - amaryllis, polyantha roses, irises, daylilies, annuals, etc. There were plenty of snacks, flavored teas, and of course homemade ice cream - the blueberry and strawberry combination flavor was definitely my favorite! All in all, it was a good day, with nice weather, and great company!

Southern Peony Garden Party

2016 Peony Blooms Late - Week 6

We finally got a break in the rain this week, and the peonies have decided to come out to play again. This year has been quite a weird year as far as peony blooms go. Some of the peony stems grew much later than the first flush leading to peony bushes that only bloom half way with the other half blooming a week or more later than the first bloom flush. Also some peonies have switched weeks and bloomed a bit later. We may even have 8 weeks of blooms here instead of 7 this year! I love the contrasting, multicolored centers on Peony 'Top Brass', Peony 'Sorbet', and Peony 'Laura Dessert'. Both Peony 'Mother's Choice' and Peony 'Angel Cheeks' are huge, fluffy double flowering peonies - the classic type. Peony 'Topeka Garnet' is a huge, red, single flowering peony with a rare color and form this week. I can't believe my peony season will be coming to a close soon. I feel like I need to get out there and snap lots more photos before they all disappear! I hope you are enjoying your own peony bloom season!

Peony 'Sorbet'	Peony 'Top Brass'
Peony 'Mother's Choice'	Peony 'Topeka Garnet'
Peony 'Angel Cheeks'	Peony 'Laura Dessert'

2016 Southern Peony BEST. FLOWER. EVER.

I just couldn't resist sharing this photo of my flower, my little baby Maddox. I can only call him baby for a little while longer as he's almost a toddler. (Although he'll always be my baby.) He'll be 2 on June 1st. Maddox loves the "hua huas" - Chinese baby talk for flowers. He wanted to smell this peony and accidentally took a few petals off to smell them. I usually don't want him to pick them, but how could I resist this cuteness? Being a Mama is definitely a lot of work, but so worth it. I love him so much, and will always treasure this time when he is little, and I can have him near me every day. :-)
Maddox Smelling Peony 'Burma Joy'
Also here is a picture of Isabella pulling Maddox in the garden cart. When Maddox is "helping" me in the garden, I will sometimes give Maddox a ride back in the garden dump cart after the cart has been dumped. Isabella remembered this, and decided to take Maddox on a garden cart joy ride! They were so cute, I just couldn't resist snapping this photo!

Isabella Pulling Maddox in the Garden Cart

2016 Peony 'Takara' (Treasure) Best Performer - Week 5

Peony 'Takara' 慈悲 (Treasure) aka 'Smith Opus 2' is another one of the peonies in Monrovia's Japanese Itoh Collection that was hybridized by Don R. Smith. This bush surprised me this year with its beauty and blooms this week in the mid late season. The flowers on this plant are more like a single. However, the color of the blooms is just gorgeous, with a pink orange color in the center of the petals with a wide picotee edge of an almost pink lavender color. Then the center of the blooms have hot pink red center flares that kind of form a star pattern! The blooms themselves may be single, but they are huge! If you are looking for another valuable and worthy intersectional peony to add to your collection, Peony 'Takara' 慈悲 (Treasure) is it!
Peony 'Takara' 慈悲 (Treasure)
'Smith Opus 2'
Southern Peony Best Performer


Peony 'Takara' 慈悲 (Treasure)
'Smith Opus 2'
Southern Peony Best Performer

2016 Intersectional Peony Blooms Late Mid - Week 5

The intersectional peonies in my garden have really been at their peak this week. This is the week that the majority of the cultivars began to open, and there are also the most total intersectional peony blooms of any week so far. The beauty of these blooms just blows me away. (BTW - You can click on any of these photos to see a larger than life sized version, so you can be blown away as well!) Peony 'Cora Louise' has the largest blooms of all of the intersectional peonies in this group. Peony 'Cora Louise' has pastel white blossoms with dark purple flares that radiate out from the center. The deep red flares on Peony 'Misaka' really impressed me this year. The red flares on this light orange peony extend further out into the bloom, and the symmetry of the petals make this a gorgeous bloom viewed from all angles - from above and from the side. Peony 'Julia Rose' and Peony 'Hillary' both have bright, pleasing pink red shades that aren't often found in herbaceous peonies. The vivid, intense colors of Peony 'Yellow Emperor' and Peony 'Scarlet Heaven' really catch your eye and make them standouts in the garden that are visible from afar.

Intersectional Peony 'Cora Louise'	Intersectional Peony 'Julia Rose'
Intersectional Peony 'Hillary'	Intersectional Peony 'Scarlet Heaven'
Intersectional Peony 'Yellow Emperor'	Intersectional Peony 'Misaka' 美 (Beautiful Blossom)