Comments on: RAISING GREAT PEONIES – THREE GENERATIONS OF MEMORIES LIVE ON

By: Marlena

Marlena — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 05:21:21 +0000

Peonies Envy very good. Gave presentation at our Garden Club and I purchased woodland variety. Healthy, spreading wildly and beautiful!!!

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 03:59:58 +0000

The yellow bartzella is just so lovely. I really want to see it grow and bloom in my garden but I heard that it's only suited in cool climates. Do you think it can grow well in a warmer area?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:14:14 +0000

dear matt,
"plant boy" has a very sweet and grave expression!
are any of the peonies at your place 'Edulis superba' or 'Mons. Jules Elie'? photos?
have an unknown heritage from long-lived garden we work in. lactiflora, not colossal, fragrant, pink crown petals with center petaloids pink aging paler. increases rapidly.
all best,
~ 02568

By: Nic

Nic — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 19:29:49 +0000

I love that shot of the tree peony with the bamboo support! Tree peonies are by far my favorites, although I like all peonies. The ones I have had growing up in Michigan and at my parents' place there now never needed any winter protection, though it does take a few years for them to settle in and flower well. In a lot of little-tended suburban yards in my parents' are they often seem to be the only really nice thing still growing and blooming years after the people who originally planted the garden have moved out or gotten to frail to tend to the garden.

By: john in cranston

john in cranston — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 02:08:53 +0000

This season HAS been a good one for the peonies, and I have been assuming that they have benefited from the lack of storm. Or at least I have benefited: Mine have been in for 5-6 years so I assume that the roots are established and not hurt by the dry spring. But that dryness has meant for a long season of being in bud, followed by a long season in bloom- no downpours to knock them down. They are just now losing their petals after the past couple mid-80's days.
The one problem that I have encountered is "bud blast". The plant leafs out, the bud form, gets as larges as a marble or so, them dries and is absorbed back into the growing foliage.
Pretty disappointing.
I never compost the leaves from peonies, afraid that the pathogen won't reliably die off. This year it only impacted one of my 5, and that one was situated solidly in the number 2 slot of three in a row.
Very weird.

Ok, now let's have some rain already…

By: Laurie Brown

Laurie Brown — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 23:42:58 +0000

It's the year of the peony here in the Inland Northwest, too. We had an odd, early spring and the peonies are already finishing their bloom; they are usually blooming on the 4th of July here. They have all had huge numbers of blooms. (mine are all herbaceous- too cold here for tree peonies, sadly.)

I keep hoping for the insanely fragrant peonies I've sniffed in some old gardens; sadly, it seems that the current owners never know what they are (they were already in place when they bought the property) and so far I've not been lucky enough to be offered a division of any of them….