2015 Southern Peony Big Dig - Part Shade to Full Sun

This fall my Southern Peonies are moving - well, not all of them, but quite a few of them. Many of these beauties are or were planted near the perimeter of my yard, which is lined with forest on three sides. There is also a giant oak tree in my back yard, that has grown from a cute, shorter than me, don't cut that hardwood tree down INTO a taller than my 2 story house, eating all of my sun, three trunked monster in just 13 years.
Happy Peonies (Foreground, Left)
Unhappy Peonies (Background, Right)

I have already moved lots of peonies this past weekend, and I plan to move many more in the coming weeks. I moved Peonies 'Command Performance', 'Dinner Plate', 'Lorelei', 'Pink Parfait', and 'Vivid Rose' from the perimeter of the woods to the center of my original peony garden - first planted in 2003 - a much sunnier locale. I have also moved two Peony 'Muskoka's? to right beside of my deck. These red and yellow anemone style peonies are obviously misnamed, but they are gorgeous and very floriferous. I think they might be Peony 'Nippon Beauty'. They were growing under hot pink crepe myrtle bushes that have now matured into trees. They went from 25+ blooms each to now only a couple blooms each. I'm sure they will be much happier near my deck. So basically the moral of this story is - plant your peonies in the middle of your yard, the sunniest spot, with the best moisture, not the edge (unless the edge has no trees!) :-) Happy Peony Planting!
Peony 'Vivid Rose' Getting Moved

2015 Peony Experiment - Planting 2 Year Old Root

Label of Peony Root Box with Postmark 10/22/2013
So this wasn't really an intentional experiment, more like an accidental experiment... I apparently purchased this peony root, Peony 'Silver Dawn Mix', with the best of intentions in the APS Convention Auction. However little did I know that by the time the root arrived I would be experiencing morning sickness that not only caused me to cancel my Fall Harvest party that year, but also kept these peonies in their box in my garage waiting to be planted for two years! This box has been sitting there and sitting there and sitting there, and after a while I kept debating in my head whether to trash the box or open it. It has been sitting there so long I kind of forgot how long it had been there. I was thinking it had only been one year, but then I looked at the date on the box 10/22/2013 - almost two years to the day! Well, I decided to open it and see what was in there.

Peony Root Box from 2 Years Ago	Opening Peony Root Box from 2 Years Ago

Wow, I must tell you that Oregon Perennial did a spectacular job of packing this peony. I expected it to be either covered in mold or completely disintegrated, or both! However it was neither! The box contained a beautiful peony root inside a plastic bag filled with peat moss. It almost seemed as if it was shipped this year! It has started to grow a few small, white feeder roots and the buds were perfectly visible, not even sprouted one bit. It seems to have survived in a happy semi-dormant state in this box in my garage for two years so far.
2 Year Old Peony 'Silver Dawn Mix' Root
in a Bag of Peat Moss Inside of the Box


2 Year Old Peony 'Silver Dawn Mix' Root
So I planted it, and hence this experiment. I am a little afraid it might wake up in our warm, sunny fall and start to grow, only to be killed by the first frost. However I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best that it survives (and hopefully stays dormant until spring)! I'll let you know how this "experiment" turns out... ;-)
Planting 2 Year Old Peony 'Silver Dawn Mix' Root

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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