Monday, May 10, 2010
2010 Happy Mother's Day Peony Bouquets
Happy Mother's Day! I spent the morning cutting flowers for Mother's Day. Aren't the cut flowers in the basket beautiful? I made several arrangements with them, and gave the largest pink arrangement to my mother.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
2010 Peony Blooms - Week 4
There were so many peonies that bloomed this week, 44 varieties in all. Just to compare there were 23 varieties that bloomed in weeks 1-3. So there were almost double the number of peonies blooming this week than the first 3 weeks combined. It seems like the long hot dry spell caused many of the peonies to start blooming this week. These are some of my favorite shots of those peonies...
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
2010 Peony Bloom Color Coding
Today I was busy checking my peony blooms against my RHS mini color chart. I am in the process of trying to catalog all of the bloom colors by the RHS chart. That way the color descriptions of each peony are more accurate and can be more easily compared to one another. I think I may invest in the complete RHS color chart later on (which would be quite an investment £174.00 vs. £26.00) because the range of reds and pinks would be larger. For now, I think the information I'm gathering with the mini chart will be helpful.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
2010 Intersectional Peonies
I am in love! I just saw the blooms on the intersectional peony 'Morning Lilac' for the first time, and it was love at first sight. I have never seen a peony in bloom as purple as this one (purple is my favorite color), and it is awesome! I can't wait to hybridize this one. It would be awesome to use the pollen from this one. I wonder if it will set seed. I haven't yet gotten any seed from an intersectional peony, but of course I've only had one intersectional peony bloom at all which was last year. So I haven't had much of an opportunity. I guess we'll see what happens with their pods this fall.
Peony 'Morning Lilac'Sunday, April 25, 2010
2010 Peony Blooms - Weeks 1-3
Here are some of the best blooms from weeks 1-3 of my peony bloom season. I am so happy to have so many peonies blooming now. 'Roselette', 'Roy Pehrson's Best Yellow', 'Honor', and 'Lustrous' are all blooming for the first time this year for me. Peony 'Roselette' is stunning in form and color. The yellow color of 'Roy Pehrson's Best Yellow' is excellent and the crinkled petals are interesting too. The bright pink color of 'Honor' is awesome. 'Lustrous' is so red, and it looks great with the 'Immortality' iris planted nearby. 'Chalice', 'Roselette', 'Honor', and 'Lustrous' are peonies in my Saunders peony garden and were hybridized by Professor A. P. Saunders. I love that most of his plants are early blooming and would like to expand the selection of early blooming varieties, especially in the South. I am so looking forward to the rest of the peony bloom season...
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