Brushed off the excess soil with which I had covered them for winter. Everything looks good now but we are scheduled to have nightime temps as low as the middle teens for a few nights. I will learn just how tough these babies really are. Normally, the cold will not damage them unless the blossom buds are beginning to open.









The last pic is of the P.tenuifolia 'lithophile' planted last fall. It appears to be more developed that the other nine.

Jerry, those are looking good.

I have had good luck with my fernies. I have 3 blooming heirloom doubles, 3 blooming singles of unknown pedigree (Spring Hill), 1 each of the species singles and doubles and the lithophile ssp. An Early Scout hybrid and a Winchimes hybrid. 1 fernie transplanted as a tiny root which hasn't bloomed yet. I only lost one transplant apparently because I can't find an eye or root where it should be. Any of them can be divided and replanted if the digging is done very carefully. I prefer the hydraulic method of digging a trench outside the root boundary and using pressurized water to move the soil away from the roots. Gentleness is the name of the game. At $30 to $50 per division, it is well worth the extra effort. Looking forward to a great peony year as along with the fernies I have 22 regular peony plants, some are extra divisions of the same original.

Jerry, looking good! Mine is still under snow, but since it was fine last year, I have no reason to doubt it won't be here. And thanks again.

I was going to ask you about that later when the weather cleared. It may not bloom this year but, as long as it has good foliage, it will survive. I am pretty sure it is one of my heirloom doubles which does not multiply as quickly as the singles. I probably told this story before but the original was given to my wife 30 years ago by her grandmother who was a German immigrant as a child. She was 101 years old when she died so there is not telling how old the originals really were.

I truly cherish it.

Very cool story, Jerry. Since I don't have any children when I get old enough that I can't care for my peonies anymore I'll start giving them away to arboretums and such...

In the iris world, there is a move to locate and preserve as many of the old,obscure irises as possible. The peony world probably has a lot of very old, possibly unregistered plants which need preservation. Public and private gardens always need donations of scarce plants. I hope my fernies are passed on to someone who would enjoy them. My 'kids' have no idea of what they are. Some of them thought they were weeds or wildflowers.

ARGH!!!!! Jerry, tell your kids to send my your peonies when you're pushing up daisys and I'll make sure they get appreciated. But let's hope that doesn't happen for a long long long time!!!

I am 72 and still have a bounce in my step so I expect to be around for awhile. Someone like you would be the perfect custodian for my fernies. Too many times old treasured plants are just discarded by heirs who have no idea or don't care about what they are destroying.

Oh heck, you're just a kid!! You've got a long time to go before we have to worry about your fernies. Just keep posting pictures of them, ok?

Not enough to be exciting yet but a couple of pics to show progress. 1st is the first spring for the lithophile. 2nd is a first spring for a transplanted heirloom double. Everything is late this year which may be a blessing in disguise where they will not be caught blooming in a sudden freeze.

The way things are going we won't see blooms here till mid May..

We are still having a lot of sub-freezing nights. We will be late also. In the past, I have had fernies blooming by now.

12 degrees when I woke up this morning.

My primary fern leaf bed. Last year at this time they all would have been in bloom.

Single red fern leaf planted 2009.

Species P.tenuifolia.ssp lithophile planted 2012. The leaves appear to be finer than the P.tenuifolia.

Looking great there. Finally some melting of snow in this direction.

First two are doubles not far from opening.



Larger primary FL bed.

Smaller secondary bed.

Fernies are so awesome, aren't they? Just look at all of those! Wow, you have quite a collection Jerry.