That's so cool Jasmin - I did not know magnolias ever bloomed more than once. I only grow magnolia stellatas and they were all 3/4 through bloom - now they're a bit browned off

It was me who lost blooms on Yellow Bird. And it has never rebloomed in Fall for me, but is quite young.

My Betty blooms sporadically through the summer and Fall .

Happy happy happy day! After 2 nights of at freezing temps and a warm up today, my peonies don't look like they sustain severe damage. The buds still look firm. It remains to be seen if they will develop and bloom normally. But this is much more hopeful than the droopy foliage and stems with bruised buds that i saw yesterday morning.

In my experience if the buds look fine after the temps warm back up they normally open well, Karen. They'll look a bit off color and wrinkly almost if they're too damaged. I feel for all of you going through the crazy cold weather after it warms, I wouldn't wish that on ANY gardener!
I actually saw the first eyes above ground here in CO today! This is SUPER late, even for my zone 4b. The local news says we've had the snowiest spring this year since 1944–I believe it. Bet the ski resorts are hating it since all closed a few weeks ago and they still have great snow!

I uncovered all of peonies today and they all look reasonably good. See if there will be difference between covered or uncovered ones. Was surprised to count 10 buds on one of my HB divided just last fall. It certainly can not sustain them all.

Good news from Karen and Alex!! Hopefully you will have lots to share.

If my HB had 10 buds on one division I'd be stunned 😳! Congrats!

Thanks, Liz and LG! Glad to hear that your peonies are looking good also, Alex! Yes, I will be stunned as well if my HB has 10 buds! You must have an awesome plant to start with.

My HB has 2 buds but Beth Bockstoce has 3, amazing, this is why I like to buy from Gold City. Let's hope they keep sending out good roots.

LizinElizabeth said:In my experience if the buds look fine after the temps warm back up they normally open well, Karen. They'll look a bit off color and wrinkly almost if they're too damaged. I feel for all of you going through the crazy cold weather after it warms, I wouldn't wish that on ANY gardener!

Let's monitor what is happening with the buds they survived this wave of cold weather. For the record, this is what I've got:
1. Snow and cold wave that lasted approximately 3 days in April
2. The night temperatures dropped down to -3C (~26.6F)
3. The buds on Rockiis and Hoki were bowing
4. The buds are not wrinkled, no obvious change of color or any other visible damage after the cold weather
4. There are still a couple of Rockii's buds that are bowing (Snow Lotus and Cup of Shining Night); I'll be monitoring them

Vals_Garden said:That's so cool Jasmin - I did not know magnolias ever bloomed more than once. I only grow magnolia stellatas and they were all 3/4 through bloom - now they're a bit browned off

Valerie, some magnolias produce sporadic flowers during the summer months. Yellow Bird always blooms for the second time in June or August. I don't remember exactly which month. However, the issue is that Yellow Bird's leaves easily get a bit of powdery mildew, so the leaves lose that golden-green color, characteristic of Yellow Bird. If this happens, Yellow Bird's summer blooms are not so visible and they don't look so beautiful as they could be. LG pointed out that Betty also sporadically blooms in the summer months. I will try to take pictures of summer magnolia blooms. There are at least four magnolia trees in my neighborhood that always produce summer flowers. Feel free to remind me to take pictures if I forget

Somehow I lost the thread Is HB Henry Bockstoce? This cv has the dubious record in my garden of being the only peony I ever threw away; I put up with it for five years but every year the flowers never fully opened and the stems were always thick and twisted. I bet this was a tissue cultured one

Mine is twisted too, I thought it was the Santa Ana wind problem.

My biggest Henry Bockstoce (HB) division with 10 buds. All divided last fall.




Others...









The one I did not cover looks fine at the moment...

Alex,
They are all looking good The buds are big. Is HB supposed to be early? I am asking because my herbaceous buds are not even close to those HB buds.

HB is not early blooming, but for whatever reason they start growing quite early, it takes time to open those huge blooms and the plant is like 90 cm - 1 m high. It is the biggest one at the moment, even compare to Red Charm. That's why I was worrying about it during cold weather. 1m - not right now though.

AlexUnder said:HB is not early blooming, but for whatever reason they start growing quite early, it takes time to open those huge blooms and the plant is like 90 cm - 1 m high. It is the biggest one at the moment, even compare to Red Charm. That's why I was worrying about it during cold weather. 1m - not right now though.

Interesting.They all have their own strategies to deal with cold and environment.

Your HB is amazing Alex!! I would be so happy. Mine also comes up early and it seems like it will never open!

This HB seems a large division Alex so the original clump you divided must have been huge - ergo it had been there for some time perhaps? Might the vigour of this division be related to it being now growing in new ground ?

Valery, I am sure the one with 10 buds was the biggest division, but I planted another 3 in ground, 3 in pots and probably gave away 1 or 2. I guess I was bitten by division bug after I planted the 1st and biggest one and was making the most of the clump and they were getting smaller. Now I am having hard time convincing myself to get rid of the buds The original division was a good clump as well, it would probably have 10 flowers last year if not for the late frost in May. I lost 1/3 buds on HB because of it.

So help me understand Alex why you think it necessary to remove buds? Are they viable still?