I know the weather is going to be bad for most of us this weekend. Let's share some more photos to perk us up!!

Which peonies are you looking forward to seeing bloom this coming Spring?

Belle Toulousaine bloomed for the first time for me last year. I loved it and can't wait to see it again. I checked on it last weekend, and it still has live buds on its lower stems!





Pastelegance was a first time bloomer for me last year. Wow! It is unmistakable!



Impossible Dream Itoh was really nice




Annemieke didn't do well last year. I hope it will be happy this year



My Etched Salmon is not a vigorous grower, but so pretty.

Yes, what a nasty weather day here too! Everybody is homebound.

Wow, your etched salmon is very coral, LG! It is beautiful! I would love to have such colored blooms of ES in my garden! Love your Belle Toulousaine! Can't wait to see more of its blooms this spring!

Peonies that I hope will bloom this spring are all my new purchases for this fall. I hope the Ofuji Nishiki TP will bloom at least a flower. Others that i am excited to see blooms are Picotee, Lemon Cloud, Joanna Marlene, Mikasa, and Folk Art. Peonies that I have seen blooms already but love to see them again are Pastelegance, Kamata Fuji, Brassy Lady, Lorelei, and Lemon Chiffon. Foliage that I love to see are the fernleafs and Golden Angel.

I divided Alexander Woolcott in the fall and hope I get some flowers this spring, but afraid that divisions are too small.

Garden Treasure is the one that I will probably enjoy seeing the most - and Lorelei is next. Both are plants that I placed for my own enjoyment. I've waited on Garden Treasure the longest and I am excited to see Lorelei's unique coloration.

Queen of Hamburg and Henry Sass are the two cut flower cultivars that I am looking forward to the most. I've seriously considered collecting Sass peonies and these two would be the start of the collection.

Check-out the Queen of Hamburg photos here...

https://www.nicewiczpeonies.co...

I sure do hope that the budding flowers look like that!

Top

Alex, AW does not mind being divided! You will still get some blooms! After I divided mine, I still got 2-3 blooms per division.

Top, I hope you will be able to see Lorelei blooms next spring. It has such a pretty orange color when it fades. I look forward to see your Sass peonies. The only Sass peony that I have is Elsa Sass. Here is a pic of my fading Lorelei.



I hope my Pastelegance will double in size next spring. It will certainly be a great treat to get more blooms from this peony! LG, I too hope that you will get more blooms from Pastelegance!



I hope my Lemon Chiffon will continue to throw these double blooms this spring.



Another peony that love to see every year is Bess Bocktoce. It was so gorgeous last year!



I will not mind seeing these lovely blooms again from Madame De Verneille. Just love these layers of petals piling high on each bloom!


Lastly, I hope to be able to see a gorgeous bloom on my Lois Choice and Blonde Vision - both of which have not bloomed a single one flower since planted 3 years ago.

I am anxious to see blooms from peonies that have not bloom yet and new to our garden. Although I love all my peonies and want to see increase in all, my favorites are Pastelegance and Alexander Woollcott.

Karen, I got Ofuji Nishiki in 2017....hoping to get a bloom this Spring too!
Surprisingly it quit raining and I was able to get out. My species fernleaf has tiny pips right at the soil line 👍🏻

Alex, I can't wait for my Alex Wolcott to bloom. It's another I planted in Fall 2017 and haven't had blooms yet. I'm hoping yours will bloom like Karen says!

Top, I don't have Queen of Hamburg, and those buds are amazing! I hope yours blooms so you can give us a report.
Hopefully my Lorelei will bloom. It's been two years since I moved mine.

Karen, my Madame de Verneville doesn't look like yours. Mine came from Gilbert Wild in 2014. Do you remember where you got yours? It is beautiful!

Anya, I always enjoy seeing your blooms because mine are quite finished by the time yours start.

It's so fun to think about the blooms that will be showing up in just a few months. In 2019 I had Smouthii blooms opening on April 12!!

I want to see confirmation of life for most of those I moved last fall, don't even care about blooms this spring. We'll be out there next weekend but wont be able to spend much time. And I still have over 100 woody and Itohs in my garage! Starting to see pips coming up on a few already.

LizinElizabeth said:Starting to see pips coming up on a few already.

Careful there, Liz. I've got 3 garage bagged plants that I am trying to reign in without doing much damage to the stems. They went from just peeking out to an inch or more without me noticing it. So now I've got to really baby them along compared to the other 7 plants that I am growing.

My garage has been around 52 degrees which evidently is fine growing weather for some of these varieties. Now that it has gotten colder, it is around 44 degrees and I am hoping that all growth slows to a crawl. I am also putting them outdoors - it takes about an hour to lose 2 degrees of soil temps.

On the good news end of things, the super withered and dehydrated Lemon Chiffon that had gotten lost in the mail and I worried would not grow has put a pair of greenish eyes up. Tough plants, these peonies.

Awesome Top! That's a lot of work unless you have them on a dolly!

Well look what I found out in the garden today. It was planted in 2016, so it shouldn't be coming up this early 🙄. It has done this every year since I've planted it.

Strawberry Ripple!!

LOVE Strawberry Ripple! Hope your weather stays above freezing from now through spring so you'll get some good blooms on this early bird Mieko!

It will probably do well for you down in AL. I may have to move this one this Fall. I don'r think those stems will make it to April!!

LG, it may surprise you to hear that I got my Madame de Verneille from Gilbert Wild as well! Can I ask how long has yours been planted? Well, it took my plant 5 years plus heavy fertilizing to produce the above blooms. Years prior to last year, the blooms were very flat and uninspiring. It only came into nicer blooms this past spring along with heavy fertilization, 1/8cup of Bulbtone.

Liz and Top, I can only admire your patience and hard work caring for the peonies in bags. I hope that you all will have an early spring so that you can get the plants planted in the ground.

Top, I am happy to hear that your Lemon Chiffon is alive! That is such a beautiful peony! I too look forward to see blooms on my Garden Treasure! I have always wondered how it will compare to my Bartzella. For one, I believe Garden Treasure produces a fuller flower than Bartzella.

Karen, it was planted in 2014! I will put Bulbtone on it this Spring. Mine doesn't show the yellow yours has.
Thanks for the advice.

I love Garden Treasure! I hope we all get blooms this year!

A few collected factoids... Garden Treasure is one of the itohs with a relatively long vase life. Hollingsworth has it on his cut flower list since it also stores well, which is a rare quality for an itoh. I've not tried it of course, but they should last in a vase about 4 or 5 days if cut just before the bud opens. (As a point of reference, top herbaceous peonies can go 10 or 11 days in a vase and most itohs are lucky to make it to day 3.)

I was unaware of this when I bought them - but it does make me look forward to them a bit more. I have also read that Callie's Memory has similar cut flower performance.

I just want to see peony blooms of any kind, but hoping to see Smith Opus2
Which marketers call Takara.

Topdecker said:A few collected factoids... Garden Treasure is one of the itohs with a relatively long vase life. Hollingsworth has it on his cut flower list since it also stores well, which is a rare quality for an itoh. I've not tried it of course, but they should last in a vase about 4 or 5 days if cut just before the bud opens. (As a point of reference, top herbaceous peonies can go 10 or 11 days in a vase and most itohs are lucky to make it to day 3.)

I was unaware of this when I bought them - but it does make me look forward to them a bit more. I have also read that Callie's Memory has similar cut flower performance.

Thanks for this info, Top! I have no idea that the above is so. I have Callie's Memory which will test out its blooms in a vase this spring!

My peonies do not last 10 to 11 days in the vase, maximum 5-6 days. Unless you pamper them.

The 10-11 day number was taken from a comment about Bowl of Cream. I have also seen comments about Elsa Sass going over 2 weeks in a vase. I would imagine that their water was ice chilled and changed daily, so yeah, a bit of pampering.

Anyhow, most cut flower varieties are expected to go 6-8 days in a vase, less if they've spent some weeks in a cooler. I anticipate spending a lot of time experimenting with cutting times (leaving the bud as hard as possible while still having it open freely) for each variety so the end consumer gets the most vase life possible.

There is also a lot of advice about time of day to harvest, what to do with the stems once cut, how much foliage to remove, what to the add to the water, and so on. I've not yet done any of it and I intend to try any reasonable suggestions without a bias - and to hopefully form my preferred methods for getting the best results in a practical manner.

Top

Evaluation of dry and wet storage on vase quality of cut peony based on the regulation of starch and sucrose metabolism
https://alaskapeony.wordpress....

Vase Life of Peonies
https://alaskapeony.wordpress....

Extending vase life
https://alaskapeony.wordpress....