Before I get to today's topic, a little aside if you don't mind. For the past week my wife and I have been taking our walks outside in spring like weather, and the majority of our snow had dissipated with the exception of the very high drifts. These have been a concern because they had melted into 4' high icebergs with young magnolias encased inside... but that's another story. Then came the news... 12-18" of snow on Sunday. Well we are getting quite a storm, but the totals will probably be considerably less as the track seemed to have headed farther north. For this I am thankful as this is really heavy wet snow which can be hard on the conifers. At any rate... here's a photo taken a few minutes ago... I really had thought about going outside... then.... ah, maybe not! A bit blurry as there is a lot of blowing and most of the windows have snow on them as well... 40 mph winds overnight... spring break was nice while it lasted!
Now... on to peonies. Why, you may ask, am I thinking peonies in February? It's because the State Peony Society will be visiting our gardens in early June. Now I'm not really a peony grower of any great extent and there is a reason for that which I will relay shortly. Why have I been asked to be visited... well, six miles from here is a peony garden restoration project taken on by the community's historical society. I have gardening friends and family involved deeply in this and have posted on this subject in the past. The society will be visiting there, as well as a friend's marvelous garden which prominently features peonies.... and so I was invited to be part of the tour as well.
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| Tree peony |
Now, for the reason why I don't do a lot of peonies... I hate staking!... and I despise peony blooms laying in the mud. There was a time when I had perhaps a hundred or more herbaceous peonies... and I got rid of them for that reason!
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| Herbaceous peony |
Now I do enjoy tree peonies and have a number of them. Here in Wisconsin, tree peonies beg the question... is it worth the effort to grow a lovely bloom that may not last more than three days out of 365. Many years we get a lot of heat suddenly about the time the tree peonies come into bloom... that's why I grow them in partial shade. Perhaps less blooms, but they do hold up better. At any rate... the answer to my question, to my way of thinking is a definitive yes! Tree peonies have beautiful foliage, sometimes slightly endowed with a bit of pink hue.... I would grow them for the same reason that I would have a Japanese maple in the gardens... beautiful textures and oftentimes subtle colorations.
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| Taiyo tree peony |
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| Several tree peonies just coming into bloom |
I started a probe looking for shorter peony varieties some time ago with only reasonable success... they are just too happy here and even the short ones get tall... so what to do about that?
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| Herbaceous singles |
My next discovery was the intersectionals, crosses between herbaceous and tree peonies... wow! These stand up on their own and the blossoms are marvelous. The bloom season can be long as the more mature plants bloom and rebloom. I got so excited about Bartzella that I planted three good sized plants and a friend offered a fourth which I was not about to turn down! So I thought I was in peony heaven, but something was missing... it really would be nice to have to have a long season of bloom from a variety of herbaceous peonies... but what about the things that plagued me in years gone past?
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| Bartzella intersectional |
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| My first year Bartzella in bloom next to the garden column |
I've recently become aware of the American Peony Society Award of Landscape Merit (ALM). This is given to cultivars that have outstanding landscape and growth characteristics, including the ability to stand up to poor weather and maintain disease free foliage through the gardening season. Many companies now designate plants which meet these standards under most circumstances. This will open up a whole new world for me in terms of peonies...
There is plenty of information on the net regarding this topic... it's interesting how one can put an entire range of plants out of mind after a bad experience... but that is about to change for me! I will close today with photos of some of the peonies I do grow... then again, I could sit and watch it snow!
I'll close with a couple more shots from my gardens... I've used this pink tree peony in posts a number of times, but I do love this plant and this particular photo! Happy trails in the snow to you... Larry
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| A few of my herbaceous peonies |
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