2016 Best Performer Again Peony 'Keiko' with 77 Buds!

Peony 'Keiko'™ 愛幕 (Adored) aka Peony 'Pink Double Dandy'
Last year Peony 'Keiko'™ 愛幕 (Adored) was a Southern Peony Best Performer for 2015 Peony 'Keiko' (Adored) Best Performer - Week 4. I would be remiss to mention that it was a Best Performer again this year in my garden, and not just a Best Performer, but THE best performing plant in my garden for 2016. This one intersectional peony plant had 77 buds on it, and Every. Single. Bud. Opened. Not one of the buds was blasted. The blooms were not affected by the late frost we had. The blooms were not affected by disease or bugs or anything. There were 77 blooms on this plant. Last year there were 35. Every year, this plant just keeps getting bigger and better and the number of blooms just keeps increasing! I can't wait to see what it does next spring. The flowers open a rich, gorgeous medium pink and slowly fade to a lighter medium pink. If you haven't bought one of these peony plants for yourself yet, you need to find one, and buy it, and plant it - this fall! Peony 'Keiko'™ 愛幕 (Adored) aka Peony 'Pink Double Dandy' is one peony plant your garden should not be without!
Peony 'Keiko'™ 愛幕 (Adored) aka Peony 'Pink Double Dandy'

2016 Thank You Card for Southern Tree Peony Seeds

I wanted to share with all of you the Thank You card I sent to my reader in Georgia for the Southern tree peony seeds he sent me. I feel so grateful for this outlet, and the feeling of community and support you all have given me. I am also grateful that I have the opportunity and privilege to spread the love of peonies far and wide into areas that people may not think of as good places to grow peonies - much hotter climates like the Southern United States. I am also grateful for all of my peony friends and the camaraderie we've shared. The blooms on this Southern Peony Thank You Card are all from my Southern Peony garden. You too can grow this beauty right in your own back yard! This thank you card is for all of you, all of my readers that share this peony journey with me. Thank you so much!  - Adriana

Southern Peony Thank You Card

2016 Planting Red Tree Peony Seeds from Georgia

Well, we finally got a break in the dry weather. We've had two rain storms in the past week, and we were sorely in need. We actually did a get the outer edge of Hurricane Hermine that brought us some of this rain, and I am very thankful. So now things in my garden seem like they are happy again instead of pouting and wilted. Now that summer is starting to fade and we are starting to get some cooler temperatures, I took some time this Labor Day to plant out the Red Tree Peony Seeds from SP Reader in GA I received a couple weeks ago. If your garden has started to cool down and moisten up a bit, then now would be a good time to plant peony seeds in your area too. If you don't have any peony seeds, and you'd like to plant some, you should definitely check out the APS Seed Sale. It is only for APS Members, but if you are this interested in peonies and you're not an APS Member yet, you should definitely sign up!

Red Tree Peony Seeds and Sign
I planted these red tree peony seeds in my fledgling tree peony garden. There is still some space here to plant in some nice soil. So I decided to go ahead and plant out these seeds there. To plant the seeds I just got some garden gloves on to prevent dirt from getting under my finger nails. Since I didn't want to cultivate the entire area, I just made some seed holes for the peonies using my thumb. The soil wasn't too hard to work with, and I was able to make a nice divot in the ground for each seed. Then I placed one seed in each hole, covered them with soil, and tamped it down. I can't wait to see what these seedlings may bring. It will take years to know if any of these seedlings will be garden worthy plants, but hopefully it will be worth the wait!
Planting Holes for Red Tree Peony Seeds

2016 Red Tree Peony Seeds from SP Reader in GA

Southern Peony Reader Photo - Red Tree Peony
Remember the Red Tree Peony photo from a Southern Peony reader from Georgia, USA that I posted earlier this year on Facebook? Well somehow I got lucky enough for him to offer to send me some seeds from the plant. These "Red Tree Peony" seeds just arrived last week, and there are 56 seeds in the bag. I am really excited to see what these seeds have to offer. The bloom on the mother plant is just gorgeous. So I am thrilled to see what the babies may look like. I might wait another week or two before I plant these out in my peony seedling test bed since it has been so hot and dry here the past couple weeks. We just got another rain storm that just wet the pavement yesterday, but it didn't rain enough to measure. We are still waiting for a big rain storm! At this point a weakened hurricane that just sits on top of us for a little while wouldn't hurt. Even though that much rain would start to wash everything away (like mulch), it would be better to have plants that are well watered and missing some mulch than well-mulched plants that are dying of thirst!

Red Tree Peony Seeds from a SP Reader in Georgia, USA

2016 Extended Dry Period Makes Some Peonies Crispy

We've been lucky with the rain so far this year - until now! This has been the first completely dry 10 day period we've had all summer! Some years my grass is crispy in June! (and more often by July). However, this year my grass hasn't gotten crispy until now, well into August, (and only some of it is crispy) which is great. However, I think all of the plants in my yard have gotten used to the adequate supply of water in the form of rainfall. I rarely water my peonies unless they are already drooping in early summer - in which case I'll sometimes give them a drink so they can make it to the next rainfall.

Peony 'Flame' and Peony 'Prairie Moon'
I think I noticed foliage on this Peony 'Prairie Moon' had become crispy a bit too late. As you can see the foliage on it already looks wilted and crispy. So I did try watering it a couple days in a row, hoping it would perk up a little, but so far it hasn't. As you can see the foliage on the peony next to it, Peony 'Flame' looks just fine. So right now only a very few peonies have been affected. We just got our first rain after this extended dry period last night. However, we only got enough to wet the back deck, but not enough to measure in the rain gauge. So I am hoping for some more rain tonight. It looks like there's about a 50% chance of rain in the forecast today, and then another extended stretch of dry weather. It seems like I'll be watering again this coming week!

Crispy Peony 'Prairie Moon'