I think first year's is not ugly.
Second years's is a bit ugly.

frankrichards16 said:here is Paeonia 'Julia Rose'... first and second year photos

Meiko ......you are right.....it's NEXT to ABC!, it's Langley (hence the gorgeous color). It's about 8 yrs old.

Anyagoro......I got it from Pure Peonies and was beautiful at first, but now......maybe I should spray it with an anti fungal a few times to see if it helps. No other of my peonies do that.

Frank, I noticed that fist year flower on a peony is often good because it was set during previous summer on a developed plant in a good climate. Second flower which was set in my garden is often distorted and sometimes single instead of double. At least in my garden many peonies need a few years to develop and show flowers true to name. I am sure your Julia Rose will be great (I thought you had Julia Rose for years).

Eileen, did they send Langley instead of Ann Berry Cousins? I hope they will replace it. I guess there are some peonies that have this trait - black stamens. Due to rain or humidity? I am not sure. I learned that Salmon Dream has it too. Fortunately we have little rain here when it blooms so its stamens get a little gray but I saw pictures when the whole middle of a flower is gray/black and it looks ugly to me. I would suggest to cover your Langley when it rains and see if it helps. Maybe other more knowledgeable people can help with a better advise.

Anya,
No I ordered Langley because of the gorgeous color of the photo on the website.....that was when I hadn't learned yet that you need to see lots of photos or better yet the actual flower to judge. I took it to the 2017 APS convention and got a blue ribbon for it. It is fairly early.
I have ABC also....got it as a freebie.. the unique thing about her is you can get 3 forms of the flower all at once....Japanese, single , and almost double and the color is good. But the plant is often over 40" tall and flops even with my tallest support cage that my husband made for it.

And Frank, I've had Julia Rose for 7 years now. What I've learned about it is that some years, like last year(lots of rain), the show was sub-par, while other years are wonderful, with many beautiful, but never large flowers. I can't understand how the nurseries want more for her than for Hillary, which consistently has an abundance of huge and lovely flowers that last longer, too.

littlebin said:I think first year's is not ugly.
Second years's is a bit ugly.

My mistake, the first photo is the second year photo...

I planted Julia Rose in 2015. The first year it was ugly. After that it has been great.

Here's my Vanilla Raspberry Swirl from 2018😖😂!

Cem9165 said:Here's my Vanilla Raspberry Swirl from 2018😖😂!

It's like it is reluctant to hold it's own center petals. I hope that it's improved it's form.