Deborah Wickiser from Northern Illinois shares some of her beautiful peonies with us today! What a great way to start the week!
"Every year I add a few new peonies, plus a tree peony or two. Some are from cuttings, some from farmers markets, and some from garden centers."
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Comments
Sounds like you have a great tradition going on, Deborah, with your annual adding of peonies to your garden. Looks like you have a pleasing mix of old time favorites along with some of the newer varieties. Let's make up a new expression to add to "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"..."a new peony a year makes a garden very dear." I'm esp. admiring of the deep coral colored one (second from the bottom). Is that a tree peony?
My favorite flower! and so fleeting! Every year I say I'm going to get a tree peony but I still haven't done it! First I need to find room! Thanks for sharing your beautiful peonies with us.
Breathtaking - jaw dropping - drool worthy! Beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing these magnificent flowers. Vikki In VA
Thanks for sharing your gorgeous peonies! I love everything about them: the scent, the blossoms, the foliage. Have you been bitten by the intersectional peony bug? Attached is a photo of my 'Garden Treasure' this spring to whet your appetite! Intersectionals have been becoming more readily available and the prices have steadily been coming down. For those who think they don't have enough sun, a lot of species peonies prefer quite a bit of shade. They are hard to come by, but worth seeking out. The ones I am familiar with bloom early and take shade and are very beautiful. P. emodi, P. mlokosewitschii, P. japonica and P. obovata really need some or a lot of shade. P. obovata alba really lights up the shade garden with gorgeous white chalices in early spring.
'Garden Treasure' indeed...I would certainly treat it as royalty! I only have a few intersectionals but plan to get more...maybe I can do one a year and really get a great collection going.
Collect 'em all! Garden Treasure has been a stellar performer. I think the only drawback is that the stems are only *almost* strong enough to hold the flowers upright. The stems are substantial, not thin like some double-flowered herbaceous peonies, but the enormity of the flowers can make them spread out to the side. The solution? Cut them and bring them indoors!
Beautiful peonies, Deborah! How many do you have now? Are these your favourites? From the very oldest varieties to the newest, there is something for every gardener. As Tim said, the scent can be wonderful, and they make great cut flowers too. My current favourite is a single white named 'Angel Wings'.
I'm also posting a photo of an incredible double red tree peony that we saw at a public garden. No-one could ID it, but we would love to know its name.
May, those are gorgeous: both photos and peonies. Do you have a source for Angel Wings? Definitely worth making room in the garden for that beauty. I had been considering "Krinkled white", but that looks like a stunner. Nice plant habit?
Gosh Tim, it was so many years ago, I no longer remember where I got Angel Wings. It is at the base of my north-facing rock-garden and has serious root competition from the large maple. It also gets crowded by various junipers, but manages to put on a show each year. It has no room to get bigger or to show what it could do in a better location.
No worries. I love a plant hunt. To the search engines!!
Tim, my earliest photos of this peony are from 2003. Incredibly I can only find one reference to it via Google, but no photos. The website is http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.49161&tab=1 where it states
"Bred by Mrs. Ruth H. Brandt (United States, 1939)".
Seems sweetly appropriate that it has the name it has... since those white blossoms flutter above inspite of the challenges.
'Krinkled White' is one of my favorite peonies! I grow it in part sun and it has never had mold?
That looks very similar to my Angel Wings. Lovely!
That's wonderful. Krinkled White is readily available near me. Since May says it is similar, it might just fit the bill. Now, what can I dig up to make room for another peony!?
Beautiful, love peonies, and you have such a variety!!thank you for sharing, peonies are a recent addition to my yard and are doing very well, am suprised though, as our ground is
so rocky, we have the room and the sun being in the Okanagan, B.C. !! I enjoy all your coments Tim Vojt, and learn from reading them, Favorite time of year now.
Hi Kay-I pretend to know a lot! I'm guessing your winters are fairly cold since you are inland? I'm wondering if peonies grown well in milder areas near the BC coast, but if May grows them, it must get enough of a chill! Have we seen your garden?
peonies grow very well near the BC coast, I have sent pics in but Michelle
is having trouble with viewing them as they are too small...will figure it out sometime...The Okanagan is an eye opener for me and a new experience
in gardening, but lovin it.!!!! Enjoy!!
Hi Deborah. I love your peonies! They are so beautiful. I visited Hornbakers Nursery near Princeton IL a couple of weeks ago and they have several varieties on display. Do you have the Karen Gray variety? I have ordered that one. It looks like your peonies love where they are planted in some shade areas too. Just beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Deborah your peonies are gorgeous. I have several that I have moved from home to home. Mine seem to prefer a light dappled shade but I have to keep an eye on them as they didn't bloom as much this year so maybe they need more sun. I did enjoy them as cut flowers as long as I picked them just as they were opening.Love the pinky red one with the white center. Do you know its name?
Beautiful peonies. I have two tree peonies, one very similar to yours called Silk Brocade. I love them too. My two I bought as bare roots in a box...not having any idea what I would get. I was stunned, to say the least. :-)
I have a growing appreciation for peonies. Although the bloom time can be short, it's worth it for the sumptuous display. Then, the reliable foliage just goes and goes, never succumbing to much of anything, neither pests nor drought. My latest acquisition is Shirley Temple, who I found on a half price table because people are shallow and won't buy perennials that are done blooming, I guess. Yay for half price tables! She's almost white but with a touch of pink. Pink is another thing I'm starting to embrace ... She joins my Kopper Kettle Itoh, an obovata with killer foliage against my red brick, and an unknown pink cultivar. I'd really like to add a yellow one somewhere.
Beautiful. I've just become a peony fan. Thank you.
Deborah, I enjoyed viewing your lovely peonies. Do you cut your stems with large buds to store in the fridge for later enjoyment? I have a lot of success with this practice! Thanks again for sharing??
Whoa !!!! I adore your peonies !!!!! So gorgeous !!!! I need to start adding more every year !!!!
Oh my goodness!!!!! I love the red ones !!!! All are fabulous!!!! So grateful for you sharing !!!! I only have the Sarah Bernhardt
That is beautiful. It's so interested that it has an anemone-type flower and then a more double one. Looks great!
Tim !!!! What is this eating my rose mallow ?
Oh my! They are decimating your mallow. I didn't recognize them, but I think I found out what they are: Hibiscus sawfly larvae. http://bugguide.net/node/view/4413
I would kill them, frankly. Sorry about your mallow!!
Tim !!! Help ! At first I thought it was butterfly caterpillars nibbling-
I have peony envy!
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