Nice, very nice.

Welcome Jasmin! Lovely pictures too.

Jasmin!

Thank you all!!!

High Noon after one of the coldest Ontario winters on record. One particularly dangerous ice storm hit just before Christmas. A neighbour’s three broke under ice and several huge branches felt through the peony smashing its center and the oldest side branches. Glad High Noon made it through the winter.

your High Noon is beautiful. I guess after this past crazy winter, it shows how resilient peonies are.

Thank you Cem9165

The neighbour's tree that felt on my peonies caused more damage than the cold winter. Last year High Noon had more than 45 flowers. This year only 18 buds; that is, because four or five old branches were broken.

Poor Kinkaku that is planted several feet from High Noon was totally smashed when the tree felt down. Fortunately, the plant started growing again, and miraculously got a bud, only one. It usually has 5 to 7 flowers. However, I am happy that Kinkaku survived.

I agree, tree peonies are really tough.

A very knowledgeable peony grower told me a couple years ago, that even when slashed to the ground, tree peonies actually come up more resilient than ever. They recover well. Your story shows just that.

I do feel like our cold winter did have some effect on some of the tree peonies planted on the north side of the house, less blossoms than normal. Still enjoy them :)

Your 'High Noon' looks great!

45 flowers! My goodness! I'm happy to hear there is a happy ending to the damage you faced, Jasmin.

High Noon is just lovely.

I agree!

Thank you very much.

Mag, not only do peonies have less flowers after this harsh winter, but the flowers seem smaller. I also believe that healthy peonies can recover pretty fast after being slashed to the ground. My poor Kinkaku has all new branches now, although the plant hasn’t completely recover yet; it will take at least one more year.

Hoki opened two days ago. Unfortunately, there are only four flowers this year. By the way, I believe this is Hoki, because the plant wasn’t labelled when I bought it and planted 10 years ago. If you think that this isn’t Hoki, please let me know.

Am I the last one? Do we have anyone further North?

I appreciate the larger pictures because they are lovely flowers and it's nice to see them up close. How wonderful that your trees are mature enough to produce that many blooms. I look forward to more pictures.

Oberon is from Alaska. I don't think her trees have bloomed. I don't know if she is watching this thread.

Yup, sure am. I lost my tree peonies a few years ago to mice. I do have one or two planted from a year or so ago but they are no where near blooming. I drool over all the ones shown here. My bloom date for my trees was pretty much June 20-23 like clockwork. All my herbaceous and Itoh's are doing wonderfully well this year, huge healthy plants and lots of buds. Except for Cora Louise and Julia Rose who are still recovering from last year's wet cold spring and my stupid over watering. Lots so many tubers and bulbs to rot. Won't be doing that again. But learned that peonies are very hardy and if you just leave them alone the tubers will recover and send up new growth the following year. So no more digging up in a year I suspect failure. I wait a year. Saved my Lemon Chiffon that way and it is now healthier than ever and has more blooms than ever. Several have side buds now that I never saw before. Not sure if I should nip them to put more energy to the main blooms. Thoughts?

Hi Mary Stella, glad to hear your herbaceous are looking so good this year! As for cutting off the side buds or not, I don't because it extends the bloom season for a week or more. I'd rather have more blooms for longer rather than fewer, bigger flowers. Just my opinion! Make sure you post pics when they bloom!

I never pinch my side buds either.

I normally do not have to worry about my peonies over the summer, but this year has been quite warm. Had two days of 106 degrees F and I think I may have lost one of my herbaceous peonies. I noticed that the leaves were all brown - the ones nearby with more water was fine, but that one was just out of range of the sprinkler system. First time I have ever lost a peony to lack of water

I have never pinched off side buds either, but I will clip off spent blooms to halt energy that might go into seed development instead of root development.

I don't pinch my side buds, I prefer to see all of my blooms.

Well, that settles that. No pinching side blooms. I also would like to extend the bloom season. I was afraid they would weaken the plant or make the flowers wimpy. Guess not. I do cut spent blooms on everything to build the plant itself.

'Spring Carnival' has been here for many years. One of the first tree peonies I ever fell in love with!

Oh my goodness, that's gorgeous!

Thank you. No matter what the year, no matter how hot or cold the temperatures, it always looks the same. It is a mid to late season bloomer for me, but well worth the wait.