Tuesday, February 9, 2016
2016 Truck Load of New Mulch for Peonies
I was happily surprised to get a call last week while I was at work asking if I still needed a truck load of mulch. I had been worrying about getting some ever since the last guy I knew who would bring me free mulch had his phone number disconnected. I had called around to several tree service companies inquiring about free wood chips a couple weeks ago, but I hadn't heard anything yet. So I was very grateful when I got this call. The tree service man kept asking me was I sure I needed a whole truck load? Each time I replied Yes! I told him I was away, but he was more than welcome to leave it at the end of my driveway. So on Friday when I got home from work, I found this beautiful, very large pile of mulch in my driveway. Now I can keep the weeds at bay around my peonies while gradually adding valuable organic matter to the soil over time. :-)
Sunday, February 7, 2016
2016 Intersectional Peonies Suffered Frozen Bud Blast
Nope. Not even all of the intersectional peonies were able to withstand that late cold winter blast last spring. You would think with their tough guy image and strong tree peony like woody stems, they would just shrug off a cold blast. Unfortunately some varieties had blasted buds and some had both blasted buds and a reduction in blooms from the previous year. Not all of my intersectional peonies are rated here. Some of them were too small and/or immature to evaluate or there was not enough data to make a proper evaluation. Check out the table below to see who suffered in the cold...
2015 Intersectional Peony Garden
There were however several varieties which did shrug off that winter cold, seemingly unaffected by the late frost, that did not suffer any reduction in bloom or bud blast. These intersectional peonies all increased (or maintained) their bloom counts. Only one of these varieties suffered some bud blast. I am amazed to see three of Don Smith's Japanese named Intersectional Peonies sold by Monrovia as the top three in this list! I'm guessing the other Japanese named peony in that collection is not on this list only because it was too immature in my garden to evaluate. I am also not surprised to see Peony 'Cora Louise' on this list which was nominated for the APS Gold Medal last year, and it almost won, Peony 'Bartzella' which already won the APS Gold Medal in 2006, and Peony 'Keiko' a 2015 Southern Peony Best Performer.
Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored)
| Peony 'Little Darlin' | ||||
| Peony 'Scarlet Heaven' | ||||
| Peony 'Morning Lilac' | ||||
| Peony 'Pastel Splendor' | ||||
| Peony 'Sonoma Amethyst' | ||||
| Peony 'Julia Rose' | ||||
| Peony 'Garden Treasure' | ||||
2015 Intersectional Peony Garden
There were however several varieties which did shrug off that winter cold, seemingly unaffected by the late frost, that did not suffer any reduction in bloom or bud blast. These intersectional peonies all increased (or maintained) their bloom counts. Only one of these varieties suffered some bud blast. I am amazed to see three of Don Smith's Japanese named Intersectional Peonies sold by Monrovia as the top three in this list! I'm guessing the other Japanese named peony in that collection is not on this list only because it was too immature in my garden to evaluate. I am also not surprised to see Peony 'Cora Louise' on this list which was nominated for the APS Gold Medal last year, and it almost won, Peony 'Bartzella' which already won the APS Gold Medal in 2006, and Peony 'Keiko' a 2015 Southern Peony Best Performer.
| Peony 'Yumi' 由美 (Possess Beauty) | ||||
| Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored) | ||||
| Peony 'Takara' 慈悲 (Treasure) | ||||
| Peony 'Cora Louise' | ||||
| Peony 'Copper Kettle' | ||||
| Peony 'Yellow Crown' | ||||
| Peony 'Bartzella' | ||||
| Peony 'White Emperor' | ||||
Intersectional Peony 'Keiko' 愛幕 (Adored)
Friday, February 5, 2016
2016 Mid Season Peonies Suffered Frozen Bud Blast
After finishing my 2016 Peony Data Entry in Winter Time, I remembered not just how many 2015 Early Peonies Suffered Frozen Bud Blast, but also how many mid season peonies suffered bud blast last year as well. It was painfully obvious during my data entry when Peony 'Red Charm' did not even have a bloom date since all of its buds were blasted (and Peony 'Red Charm's bloom date is usually used as the basis for the bloom date offset). I have already compiled the data on my early blooming Saunders peonies that suffered bud blast, 2015 Saunders Peony Varieties Frozen Bud Blast. So here are the midseason peonies in my garden that suffered bud blast from the late winter cold we received last year. Since midseason peonies develop a little later than early season peonies, most of their buds were very small when they were blasted by the cold. So there was not a large bud that had turned brown as evidence of the bud blast. Instead these varieties usually bloom reliably, and they either didn't bloom at all or their blooms were severely reduced. Also I'm listing a few more early varieties that are not Saunders varieties (so they weren't on my previous list).
| Peony 'Early Scout' (Early) | ||||
| Peony 'Roy Pehrson's Best Yellow' (Early) | ||||
| Peony 'Coral Fay' (Early) | ||||
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| Peony 'Red Charm' | ||||
| Peony 'First Lady' | ||||
| Peony 'Nymphe' | ||||
| Peony 'Pink Princess' | ||||
| Peony 'Pillow Talk' | ||||
| Peony 'Kansas' | ||||
| Peony 'Myra MacRae' | ||||
| Peony 'Doris Cooper' | ||||
| Peony 'Solange' | ||||
| Peony 'Cherry Charm' | ||||
| Peony 'My Love' | ||||
| Peony 'Guidon' | ||||
| Peony 'Lemon Chiffon' | ||||
| Peony 'Many Happy Returns' | ||||
| Peony 'Do Tell' | ||||
| Peony 'Kelway's Glorious' | ||||
| Peony 'America' | ||||
| Peony 'Bowl of Cream' | ||||
| Peony 'White Frost' | ||||
| Peony 'Rose Heart' | ||||
Thursday, February 4, 2016
2016 Peony Data Entry in Winter Time
I finally finished inputting the data I collected during the 2015 peony season last night. That ruler is to help me stay on the correct line. I think next year I need to go to two pages. The print is just getting way too small to keep everything on one page. Also my baby bear, Isabella, was keeping me company during this tedious work. Her smile made it a bit more manageable. I am looking forward to analyzing the data to see what it will reveal. I now have 10 years of bloom data. Now that I have 10 years' worth of data, it's time to put that 2015 Peony Bloom Data in Peony Database to good use! Look for some bloom data coming out sometime this year on my Bloom Dates page. :-)
Monday, February 1, 2016
2016 Peony Photos on Main Page
Southern Peony now has 50 peony pictures in our Photos section! This month, for February, we are featuring the soft pink Peony 'Roselette' on our main page and have also added it to our peony Photos page. Each month we add a new peony photo to our main page and to our Photo archive. That way it steadily grows and gives you all something new to look at (and lust after). ;-) This archive can also be used as a reference for identifying your own peonies or finding new ones you'd like to grow. I started this project in 2012, adding watermarks and larger photos in 2013, wrote about it in 2014 Southern Peony Photos, and it has been growing steadily since. If there is particular peony in my Inventory list that you'd like me to add a photo of, please leave a comment and let me know or send me an email, and I will try to add it if I already have a good photo of it. If I don't already have a good photo of it, I will try to get one this spring! Happy (Peony) Gardening!
Peony 'Roselette'
Peony 'Roselette'