I bought three peony bulbs in 2008 and this is the first one to bloom. Yes, ever!! Yeah for long cold winters!! I think I bought them at Bulbsdirect, or maybe it's Directbulbs, from Holland? I'm pretty sure they arrived all labeled the same, "Red Single". This is definitely not a red single.



Does anyone know the name?

Oh, that's pretty. I hope you don't mind how it turned out!

I figure the company sent you one of their other ones. Your peony looks sorbet-ish.
Any trouble with that link?
Do you have other buds? Perhaps the other blooms will be more distinctive.

Hi Pwinget,

I'm very happy with how it turned out!! The best I can remember is I had ordered several peonies (no record of which) and when they arrived, they were all marked "single red". I thought they sent the order wrong. But, just went with it and planted them. Now, six years later...

There's another bud getting ready to open, I'll be watching. This first bloom wasn't opening all the way so I kinda tried to push a couple of the petals back when a spider fell to the ground. It had made a web that was sticking to the petals, keeping the bloom from opening!! That's probably why it's mis-shapen!!

It does look much like the one in the link. And its' fragrant.

Thank you. I'll be putting up more pics soon.

Christine, I like it, too. As a complement to the peony bloom question, have you tried Festiva Maxima? I put it in seven or eight years ago. Has always had at least one bloom, even in this warm zone, but this year I guess the cold really brought it out because there were/are more than a dozen buds.

Those sure are pretty, Debra! It's doing great in your zone.

I never considered expanding my peonies since they didn't seem to want to bloom.

BUT, that was before! Now that Pwinget showed me a way to trick them into growing in warmer climates... I just might re-consider.

http://garden.org/thread/view_...

I didn't see that one, thanks!!!

The article does mention your Festiva Maxima, Debra. (The link was from another thread)

I'm glad you shared your info.

There was a man on another forum years ago who used to live in Texas and grew many peonies. He lamented his inability to grow the peony doubles as most were late flowering. He bought early blooming cultivars which were predominantly singles, maybe semi-doubles, too - oh, I don't recall now! The heat down there would blast the buds before the flower could unfold. You might want to look into the early blooming peonies - there are a lot of vendors in the US with beautiful options, and a few drop their prices in the fall to sell off their inventory. You could get them cheaply to experiment with them!

Here are a few with bulb pics:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/fo...

Good idea, thanks.

wildflowers said:This first bloom wasn't opening all the way so I kinda tried to push a couple of the petals back when a spider fell to the ground. It had made a web that was sticking to the petals, keeping the bloom from opening!! That's probably why it's mis-shapen!!

I know that spiders are beneficial insects and all that, but *shudders*

That sure is a good idea.

That spider was an unexpected and shuddering experience. But after I thought he may have saved that peony from a plant-eating menace!! One of the other three peonies also had buds on it but it looked liked something was munching on them. Not sure if they will open or not.

Same flower looks a little fluffier today.

lovemyhouse, I forgot to mention how great your FMs look! It's supposed to have a knock-your-socks-off scent. Does it?
I also hear they should be staked, but yours doesn't look like you propped them up at all. I have an FM, but it is young still and I expect few or one bloom (depending on which plant it is - which I don't know as I seem to have an extra peony planted that wasn't on my list!)

wildflowers, I'm not good at discerning which pests do what - I have little experience. Will you post the damage, though? I'm curious.
Yay for the spider saving your flower… and *shudder* lol

It does have a good fragrance. Forgot to put the peony ring on it this year and this is the first year it has reached up so tall with so many flowers, so maybe I didn't need it in the first place? Of course, before we were getting Spring rains and the foliage was bent down from the rainfall. Not that situation this year, although I would surely trade bent stems for precipitation!

Now that I look closer, I have a feeling that a pesky wabbit may have nibbled on the buds?

OOOOR... that little black thing on the side of the bud in first picture, looks like a beetle!!!!

Hi! I think your NOID peony looks alot like Edulis Superba. Here is the description of it from Adelman's Peony: Pink, double, fragrant, midseason, 36" tall, lactiflora cultivar. A deep pink double with a collar of smaller ivory petals at the base. A very old, tried and true variety with a bonus of fragrance!

Hi kousa, and

Thank you for your help.. it looks promising but of course I'll have to do a little internet search for pictures of Edulis Superba too.

Kousa! You made it over here! Hi! I'm glad you're here.

That's a good match. How tall is your plant, wildflowers? Sorbet is 30". The pink for Edulis seems more of a match for yours if you check out other pics on the net. (And Kousa is better at it than me