Nick, where did you read this? I like to read about peony growers, it is such a hard and exciting work to introduce new cultivars. I have a couple of Cousins peonies, they are lovely.

Lovely photos, Nick. Your peonies do so well in your garden!

Thank you, thank you, LG! I have picked up some new camera equipment and am very excited to start putting it to work this season.

Anya, this little morsel of information was in an old Canadian Peony Society newsletter - the very first one published in 1998, in fact! These newsletters have been scanned in and are available to all members once logged in on the CPS website. I'm considering taking on a history/preservation chair role for the CPS so I'm dedicating myself to reading these newsletters and making a note of all cultivars and peony people mentioned. I think a lot of our history has slipped through the cracks and is all too little known today!

I'm really hoping my Ivory White Saucer by Cousins has a good year this summer so I can share it with you all!

Congrats on your new role, Nick. I joined the CPS so I could attend the Zoom meetings. I loved yesterday's with the Cooks. Their property is amazing.

Are you going to do more YouTube videos this year? I really enjoy them because I can play them on my smart TV.

Thank you LG and Nick for sharing your pics of the Colonel and wonderful description of it. They double flowers look to be a great cut flower.

Nick, hopefully you have decided to take on the history/preservation chair role for the CPS. With your infecting enthusiasm, passion for peonies, growing peony experience, and great communication skills, you will be an asset to CPS in this position.

Nick, I also hope that you will take that chair position. History and preservation are so important. It is fascinating to learn how (now) old varieties are made. I prefer old types and their old fashion, romantic charm Good luck

Mieko2 said: Here's a new site with a very good price on Col Owen Cousins! I have never purchased from them so I don't know how the roots are.

https://brandamore-specialties...

I ordered Officinalis Anemoniflora and Scrum.

Awesome Anya! I will be interested in seeing the roots when they arrive.

Me too! Please post root pics, Anya!

I will of course! I asked to send roots in mid-September so I wold be able to plant them in the ground. The contact with the owners is not very reliable, I hope they se me message. After the first 3 emails I stopped receiving replies. I guess they are busy, and anyway they got my order

Hi All! Still settling in down in Virginia. All the peonies I sent down are in the ground and all sprouting. Pink Hawaiian Coral is huge with tons of sprouts, some over an inch high. Will surely be the first to bloom. Three tree peonies, two Japanese and one Chinese are also sprouting all over. Two new ones I bought and planted shortly after I arrived were Kathy's Touch and Early Canary (both Hollingsworth) are sprouting also. A little later I couldn't resist Siren's Song from Solaris. And I ordered replacements for Red Charm, Festiva Maxima, and Garden Treasure all from Hollingsworth. They were having a good sale and these are older and very inexpensive.

So when do the first blooms appear "down here"? lol. I am assuming species hybrids would go first. What about tree peonies?

Still amending my little 32x32' garden. Will stop rototilling when I have the last of the compost and manure blended in. By this fall I will have a large pile of my own compost cooked up the put on top of rows for winter amending.

Mary, you are having fun! It is exciting and very different from Alaska! Looking forward to you seeing your updates!

Yours also, Anya. I can't get over all the new peonies that people are buying. I will never buy to the level I did in Alaska, but have to have some. Including some new ones. It will be assuaged by being able to grow as perennials so many new flowers. Assuming am successful in keeping the deer out. My hope is pinned on Planskyd and very fragrant flowers which deer apparently don't like. Peonies and such on the outer perimeter with vegies in the center. And a small fence to not make it too easy for them to munch. I know that if deer want to they can jump up to a 9' fence. At least I didn't face that with the moose.

Your photos look great Mary Stella. I would say you should have some blooms in early April.

Warmerdam peonies will be opening on February 17. It's already early morning oh the 17th there, so it's very hard to know what time they will open.

They have a new website, so I had to register for an account again since I haven't ordered in 2 years. If you think you might want to order, I would get that part done while the website is closed to get ready for orders. I can remember when the website has crashed before.

I just got an email from Warmerdam. They couldn't launch today, so they've reset it to Monday morning, Feb. 20.

LOL Peony fever 2023 has already started I would be happy to join if I had more space in the garden

Mary, your plants will be confused for a couple of years before they settle in to their new zone, especially planting in a warmer zone than they came from. You'll see a lot more fall sprouting than you did in Alaska even when planting late in the fall, or at least I did. The trade off in how well the lutea and suffruticosa woodies do is worth it though. Mine always died back to the ground in CO, I don't see that in AL or haven't yet, anyway!

Yup Liz. Mine also died to the ground, but usually sent up new shoots and sometimes managed to keep the buds from the prior year if I really covered them well. Always a good cover from Mother Nature also. lol Pink Hawaiin Coral is going nuts. Must grow and inch a day (or so it seems). It is a full 6" tall, with a dozen shoots.

Tree peony's are very stubborn when it comes to when they will bloom after initial planting. It took mine 3 years and a lot of verbal threatening to finally enjoy those huge glorious bloom. It was worth the wait. Blooms every year since right on schedule. Knock on wood…