That's a lovely pink, Karen! Thanks for letting us know where you got it.

Love your red one one. I'm not good at ID.

Karen, Tai Hai is very pretty indeed Just by following my feelings, no rationale involved, the red peony could be Taiyo. The red flowers radiate warmth and light like the sun Apparently, Taiyo's buds start showing deep pink colour first before opening red, which might help to identify it.

Karen what a great pink. It looks like it has deeper and lighter tones which accentuate the beauty in the petal forms.

Thanks, LG, Jasmin, and Tracey! I have been looking for a cool pink tree peony and Tai Hai really fits the bill nicely. I like it very much and can't wait to see it grow into a mature bush. I have another pink TP, Joana Gilbert that will bloom soon. I got it because it is also a cool pink color, but I think it is lighter than Tai Hai. Someday, I hope to get Yashio Tsubaki, and I think I am done with pink.

Thank you very much Jasmin for that tip about Taiyo. I will check the buds next year. All the buds have already opened on this bush.

Shimadaijin had the misfortune of coming into bloom just before a day of heavy rain. The huge sodden blooms sagged and had to be staked a bit. I like its reliable blooming, even if it is a common cultivar. Adelman's own-root stock increased quickly. Several tree peonies had little or no bloom this year, probably because of the March freeze. Iphigenia is a big bush, but no bloom, probably because of the freeze. Others, such as Leda, have been slow to reach blooming maturity. Many woodies have been so slow growing that I am reluctant to add more with advancing age.






After the rain:


A blowsy Shimane Otone Ma after a day of heavy rain. This peony I pictured a few years ago as a Noid, and Mieko identified it as SOM. It was part of an order about 10 years ago from Van Bourgondien. The only peony in the order that was true to name was High Noon. Shimane was supposed to be Rimpoh, which obviously it is not. SOM has grown well, with a number of flowers each season--one year's production matching that of this year. Apart from some cultivars that suffered from the March 16-degree freeze, most herbaceous peonies are very well budded this year. I hope that the weather accommodates the bloom.

mantisOH said: Shimadaijin had the misfortune of coming into bloom just before a day of heavy rain. The huge sodden blooms sagged and had to be staked a bit. I like its reliable blooming, even if it is a common cultivar...



After the rain:

Wow That's one happy Shimadaijin

Is that a Rhododendron just behind Shimadaijin?

No, an azalea, many of whose blooms were freeze damaged recently (28 degrees). Fortunately, the peonies were not damaged.

Happy to share my first bloom photos of the season, we also had several days of pouring rain and wind so a lot of the already open blooms didn't fare well but I got a few photos last week before the rain as well. I have a ton of blooms cracking color so hopefully later this week I'll have some more to share.

Maiden bloom on Theresa Anne resting on the ground after all the rain but 2 more blooms, planted late fall 2021 from Solaris


Maiden bloom on Shimane Chojuraka, held in storage from Spring 2021 last order from Klehm's


Anna Marie a little beat up after the rain


Joseph Rock before the rain


Lavender Grace before the rain, all these are a mess after the weekend


My NOID that the forum thinks is Hana Kisoi was covered in blooms this year but they all got beat up by the weather, I'm sorry I didn't get to cut any this year-smells amazing.

Mantis - sorry the rain came down on your peony parade! Shimadaijin is such a lovely rich shade of purple.

Sulli- Lavender grace sure fits the name, it's beautiful!! I love the gradient side view so much.

Please accept my humble, one and only tree peony, Kamata Fuji.

Amazing and beautiful TP blooms, Mantis, Sulli, and Helen!

Your Shima Dajin is fantastic, Mantis! The color is so striking! Still looks really nice after the rain.

Sulli, love your Therese Anne, Joseph Rocks, and Lavender Grace! Wow, those pink violet flares on your JR bloom are so beautiful!

Helen, your Kamata Fuji is gorgeous! It's hard to be humble with these looks!

Some nice photos of TP blooms from today.
Lavender Hill


The rain also did a number on my Lavender Hill shrub. The stems could not support the heavy flowers and the water from the rain.


Joseph Rocks holds up fine after the heavy rain.

Absolutely gorgeous woody peonies Mantis. It's too bad tgat the rain got to them, but hopefully you got out several times a day to look at them. That Shimidajin is outstanding!

Sulli,
So glad you shared your beautiful blooms with us. I enjoy your YouTube channel so much, but love seeing these photos. Theresa Ann is such a gorgeous blend.
Lavender Grace is another one that is so special.

Helen that Kamata Fuji is awesome. Glad yours bloomed!

Theresa Ann, Lavender Hill, and Kamata Fuji especially caught my eye. I would like to know what Hana Kisoi looks like--it is variably described as light pink, medium pink, and deep pink. Online pictures show very full and not-so-full flowers. Has anyone here grown it, knowing that it is indeed Hana Kisoi?

This is a pink noid.


Poor Angel Emily opened in the worst of weather, and this is probably the best I will see. After this nasty weather (18 of our days in February were warmer than today), it is supposed to get quite warm for an extended time--not ideal peony weather.

I agree with you Mantis, it's hard to figure out what Hana Kisoi looks like, the database pictures all look like different plants too!

My pink NOID looks similar to yours depending on the weather, this year it was a bit more pale, it used to live in more shade and was closer to bubblegum pink.

Thanks everyone for the acorns! I'm happy to be back to sharing when I can, I have a busy few weeks with a wedding on Mother's Day weekend the clients are even saying, why did we pick this date!

In exciting news though, my Black Panther planted in 2020, was damaged by the housepainters in Fall 2021, no blooms in 2022 is covered in buds and the first started to open so that should open today/tomorrow with some sun. Also my Ice Age which has only ever given me 1 flower has about 5-7 big buds!

Karen - your lavender hill is so lovely, even after all the rain.

Sulli- wow, that's great news on all the buds! I can't wait to see all your blooms!!!

We had severe drought last summer, less than 3 inches of rain between June to late October. Between the weeks of constantly high 90s heat with a very young toddler, I couldn't go out to water nearly as much I should. The majority of my smaller plants and a couple newly planted peonies died back mid summer. I was curious to see the comparison vs prior year. If anyone is interested, I can post the comparison for my herbaceous and itohs in their respective threads.

2023 - a day after initial bloom. The blooms are definitely much smaller and less double. In prior years, Kamata Fuji was vigorous and grew upwards, but it only grew a few extra branches with very little side way growth last year. I do have a lot more buds with the new branches. The leaves also looks slightly different with a purple tint to them.


2022

mantisOH said: I would like to know what Hana Kisoi looks like--it is variably described as light pink, medium pink, and deep pink. Online pictures show very full and not-so-full flowers. Has anyone here grown it, knowing that it is indeed Hana Kisoi?

This is a pink noid.

Mantis, I bought Hana Kisoi in the fall of 2016. I got it at Canadian Tire. This is what showed up in 2017.


I was so disappointed and I totally convinced that this could not be Hana Kisoi. I even called it "So-not-Hana-Kisoi" NOID. Anyway, it was touching that the plant wanted to bloom.
It had skipped 2018 and didn't bloom, but you could imagine my surprise when this flower opened in 2019.


The plant really wanted to bloom, despite the fact that it didn't have enough strength. You could see that the flowers did not have good substance in 2019.


It was growing slowly and trying to bloom. Here is a pic from 2020, still weak flowers without real substance.


Last year, the blooms were damaged by frost, but Hana Kisoi didn't give up and produced the seeds. This year, for the first time, the plant started growing strongly with new shoots and leaf buds from the bottom of the plant. I am looking forward to seeing the blooms this year. Hana Kisoi is obviously one of those tree peonies that needs some time to mature.

Another reason Hana Kisoi blooms look different on various pics is that Hana Kisoi actually has prominent blotches from Rockii lineage, while the outer parts of the petals fade to light pink. Only Hana Kisoi's blotches are not dark maroon or purple (or almost black), but hot pink, almost carmine red. I cannot see the blotches in your picture, but if you look at your NOID blooms and you can see the blotches, that might be Hana Kisoi.

Hope this will help

Mantis, glad your Angel Emily bloomed for you. In my case, once she started blooming she never missed a year.

Your pink NOID is pretty

Helen, that is a nice comparison between the years. At least you got a bloom this year despite all the drought.

Sulli, I'm excited for your Black Panther. Mine bloomed the first year after planting, but not since.

Jasmin, very interesting about your Hana Kisoi. I'm looking forward to seeing your blooms this year.

Thank you, Jasmin, for your Hana Kisoi narrative, even if it is not so encouraging. Here is one description of Hana Kisoi: "The large flowers are held upright by sturdy stems and never fail to put on a great show."
Ha-ha. However, could it be that your plant is blooming on understock?

Minyatur said:

Please accept my humble, one and only tree peony, Kamata Fuji.

Kamata Fuji is always welcome Nothing can beat classic beauty

kousa said:

Lavender Hill


The rain also did a number on my Lavender Hill shrub. The stems could not support the heavy flowers and the water from the rain.

Karen your Lavander Hill is very pretty Cannot wait to see mine blooming. Hopefully next year Second winter in my garden; strong growth, but no blooms

mantisOH said: Thank you, Jasmin, for your Hana Kisoi narrative, even if it is not so encouraging. Here is one description of Hana Kisoi: "The large flowers are held upright by sturdy stems and never fail to put on a great show."
Ha-ha. However, could it be that your plant is blooming on understock?

Absolutely not. The understock is a herbaceous peony. It is more likely that the understock is weak, or the graft union is weak so the woody peony cannot get enough goodness from the rootstock. Tree peonies with big, complex blooms need some time to build up strength in their own roots. It is important that the plant wants to bloom and grow. Hana Kisoi obviously wants to bloom

It was a similar situation with the Cup of Shining Night. It has bloomed from its first year in my garden, but just in the last two years, the blooms got their real substance, like in the books. Finally, I understood why the Cup is one of the favourite peonies of Cricket Hills