Here are the pictures as promised for the peony tubers from Fina Gardens on the right compared to the OHG tubers on the left. The brick wall behind the tubers are standard sized bricks, you can get a general idea of how big the roots are.



OHG tuber on the front of the box, with the Fina Garden tuber in the back.

Those are great looking tubers!
How many varieties do you have now?

I am out of planting room again, and have no where else to go after I took over the front lawn.....unless I want to jack-hammer out the basketball court or fill in the pool The kids are all grown, but what was put in for them when they were young'uns remain.

I have over 50 varieties. Some of them are duplications, I would order 3 of each variety from GH Wild's when I 1st started planting them. For example I have 3 Brand's Magnificient, 3 Curonne d Or, 3 Feather Top, and 3 Shirley Temple from them. These plants did not thrive since I had not a clue about how to care for them until I joined the gardening forums. I'll see some of them bloom for the 1st time this spring.

I also bought peonies in boxes from SAMs in 2005, Bowl of Beauty were 4 in a box and Sarah Bernhardt were 3 in a box. Let me say that those were planted too deeply, I didn't know what I was doing back then, and when I removed the extra soil from around them, to get the tubers closer to the surface, they finally started blooming in 2010.

I've now gotten adventurous, and 2 years ago, I bought Vivid tubers in boxes from Walmart and Festiva Maxima from Pikes, which were ridiculously small. In 2012, I planted Vivid in the ground, it has not thrived. I dug up FM, and kept it potted for a year and a half. It was planted in the garden last fall, and has buds this spring. I bought Vivid last spring and started it in pots, these look much better, so they were planted in the ground in the fall, and are much bigger than the ones that have been in the garden since spring of 2012, which I plan on digging up and potting, so that I can baby them.

I hear ya about the planting room, I'm slowly but surely taking out the grass gradually. My DS is heading to college in the fall, he may not have any place to kick around his soccer ball when he comes home on break

Annette - I have about 50 varieties now too, along with 8 tree peonies and 3 of the ITOHs. I should just stop looking at websites for new ones to get.

It is a charmed day today

In bloom is Red Charm



And Coral Charm



And a group shot


I have 2 of the red charms, and 3 of the coral charms. Almost enough to be able to use as cut flowers for a bouquet.

Beautiful blooms, Dianne!!!!

Annette, I was also amazed by the size of Fina's roots last fall, have already put in an order for this fall! I've never ordered from OHG before, only discovered them last summer after seeing a reference to them on this forum. Their prices seem to be pretty good, plan to look at what they're offering in June. Looks like the root sizes are similar to Gilbert Wilde? I know a lot of people don't like Gilbert Wilde but I still order from them every year! I'm trying to identify a bunch that I got from them that were mislabeled (possibly by them, possibly by me!) but their roots grow well and I've never gotten one that was rotten or questionable health. I did label all of my new ones from them last fall though after reading about their reputation for mislabeling roots. Some complain about their size too but mine have always been comparable to Adelman's and others.

Speaking of bouquets, does anyone have favorite flowers to go with cut peonies? I personally like mock orange and rocky mountain penstemon. Someone posted a pic with peonies blooming beside false indigo last year and it was gorgeous, too. What do you all think?

Thanks, Liz. I also order from Gilbert Wilde too and like what I get from them. Have not had any mislabeled ones yet. I will certainly order from Fina after seeing the size of the roots, and the prices seem reasonable.

Great question in regards to what flowers go with peonies in a bouquet. Or better yet, I hope everyone will POST photos of their peony bouquets.

Beautiful blooms Dianne. For some reason, my Coral Charm does not have buds this year, but thankfully Red Charm does. I'm going to have to move Coral Charm, the trees around it have matured and I think it's in too much shade.

Liz, I have placed peonies, irises, and roses in the same vase.

Annette - remember to post photos when you do vases this year.

Annette and Liz and anyone else interested - please join me in the following thread in the Cottage Garden forum once you start getting blooms in your garden. I love to see what others do with cut flowers - how they incorporate it in the garden, and how they use in arrangements. Or, post pictures of arrangements that you have done in the past.

The thread "Yard to Vase" in Cottage Gardening forum

Dianne,

Thanks for the link to the "Yard to Vase 2014". It's now on my "Watch" list, and I look forward to posting there

Me too!!!

I will be watching for your posts

Well, that raspberry charm is certainly a beauty. What a colour! It jumps out in the photos.

Yard to Vase: I'm there. I'd like to see what people create.

My Costco peony bloomed today - I put two in about 18 inches apart, but they have sort of blended in together. Each clump had over 20 eyes each.
They put on a great show, but it only lasts for a few days.

Nymph (single pink)

Nymph is gorgeous Dianne! I love the clump effect, so colorful and vibrant.

I agree! What is the orange flower behind Nymphe?

Thanks, Annette and Liz.

LIz - the orange flower is an Exbury azalea - it flowers first, and then leafs out.

Nymph on Tax Day - after this point, it starts to fade rather quickly

You know I always plant my peonies sort of all over the place. Guess because I only have one of each. But it looks so fabulous when two or three are planted together to form a huge flowering bush. Nymph is so pretty; a shame that it lasts so briefly. And I love that azalea. To die for. I had one called (drat, it went away) it was part of a series that is hardy up here and comes in white, pink, yellow, and I had an orange one similar to yours. The mice invaded one year and ate it to the ground. It was a baby only about 6" tall.

My first bud of the season, on the tiniest peony I've ever seen attempt a bloom! P. Japonica, probably only 8-10" high. It looks like it's already past the dry up and fall off stage but I can't believe it's actually going to open....

Liz, I hope your bloom makes it. Hopefully the plant will grow more, so that it will be strong enough to support the blooms.

Here are some tree peonies that I found today at one of the local nurseries. I've never seen these in GA before. Several weeks ago, I spoke to the person who orders for the nursery, and asked if they were going to get anymore Itoh peonies. She said she would check with the vendor list to see what else they had. I really want Kopper Kettle, so I stopped by today to see if they had any new plants in, I found these instead. They're are mature tree peonies, full of buds, labelled simply 'Pink tree peony' and 'Yellow tree peony'. I couldn't walk away.