I grow Adonis and Myra Macrae. Adonis bloomed for me the second year. As far as I can remember, it is tall and to me, the stems are strong.


Myra Macrae sent one stem and bloom. I thought it was a goner but surprised me this spring. Strong stem. Didn't get the chance to sniff and photograph when it fully opened.

Those are some beautiful pix Lily!

Lily. Myra Macrae is definitely a beauty. Adonis is pretty too. I love its bright pink color. I am glad to know that they have good stem strength.

We grow Myra Macrae in the botanical garden but thus far it has failed to thrive. But then we have lost many peonies over the last few years. Some to bad weather and some to poorly placed or planted roots. It will be interesting to see next spring how well some do that have survived two years. Theoretically they should 'jump' in their third year. We also planted 16 new ones this fall in the research beds, pots and all. I am hoping they make it. We are experimenting with three tree peonies. They do okay in zone 4 but I fear our botanical garden is more like a zone 3.

And I bet nobody really wants to know Klehms Songsparrow has buy two get one free right now😊

Finally got to open the boxes from Bannister's. Won't be planting most today, it's cold and windy and tomorrow's supposed to be much nicer....
Angelo C Freeborn

Crazy Daisy

Early Star

Fantastic

First Arrival

Gerry

Golden Bracelet

Helen Hayes

Most of them were very large, a few were MASSIVE!
Hi Mabel

Hit Parade

Horizon

Peach Cobbler

Prairie Afire

Prairie Princess

Sonoma Welcome

Nice roots!

Liz, may I ask how many varieties you ordered from Bannister? Those roots are from the first box, right?

I ended up with 23, Lily. There were several that I ordered that they were out of which is probably a good thing. Neva told me that mine wasn't anywhere near their biggest order, either.
Lotus Queen

Madame Calot

May Lilac

Pink Formal

Plainsman

R.A. Napier

Showgirl

White Cap

It's true that Hollingsworth Peony was sold, but Don is still pretty much hands on with them. He does a lot of hybridizing ect. As I understand it, the new guys brought peony cultivars to the table that Hollingsworth didn't have. (Yeah, hard to believe that Don doesn't have everything.) They have locations out east where they grow, but they are landlocked there, so they still grow at Don's farm, too. Now, if that will change in the future, I don't know. But Juerg likes the Mid-West. The farm is open to visitors during peony season. If you have never been there you really should go. Acres and acres of peonies in bloom is a lovely sight to behold.

Liz, 23 from Bannister and you ordered from several other vendors. You probably added like a hundred varieties to your collection this fall. I am in awe with the size of your collection, 500 varieties and counting. You rock!

Ordered 5 peonies from Bannister's. May Lilac was a little small, so they sent Carina as well (or they just sent me a bonus plant). Six hybrid peonies (4 Itohs) for $131 shipped. At these prices, I will be able to put the dog back on "premium cuts". Color me happy! It's a win win!

All roots looked good. All have been planted. Dog has been fed:)

Paeonia 'Ballarena de Saval', Paeonia 'Carina',

Paeonia 'May Lilac', Paeonia 'Morning Lilac',

Paeonia 'Peach Cobbler', Paeonia 'Sonoma Welcome'


Aussiedoodle Trix is back on "premium Cuts"

That is so funny Frank. I am sure your dog will appreciate it. He looks like he is ready for some "premium cuts". Those roots look very nice too so I agree it is a win win for everyone.

Love the doggie. And those tubers are great. Wish I had ordered more though I don't know where I would put them

That's interesting info, Diann. Do you know where the new owners are from? Did they add varieties not common in the US? I assumed they were Swedish, German or something from that area of Europe from what little I heard of their accents. And several of the plants they donated for the APS raffle the year I attended were daffodils rather than peonies.
Lily, yes, I'm over 500 now. Not sure of the exact number yet and I know I lost a few last spring as well. I'll get all of this year's additions on my spreadsheet when the weather turns bad and I don't want to go outside! Then the following spring I'll have to mark the ones I lost, sad...
Frank, you got some really nice ones. I thought all of the roots Bannister's sent looked really good, I wasn't expecting them to be in such good shape since I knew they'd been digging for around a month before mine were mailed, know I got several varieties that had been out of the ground for a while. Funny, even the smallest were about the same size as most of the sellers send, they only looked dinky compared to the huge roots of most of the varieties from Bannister's. I hope you put Trix to work in the garden to earn continued premium cuts!
So they're already predicting a really wet, long winter for us here in CO with expected late spring snows again. So glad I decided to do my "weather abatement" plan! The only garden order I'm still waiting for is for a bunch of peony rings, hopefully that will be in by next week, I have everything else ready to go.

My Bannister order came in today. Out of 49 varieties ordered, I only got 35 plus a couple of replacements and two freebies that Neva promised me. So I called Neva if I am getting another box and if the packing list is in it as I didn't get any and I don't know how much she charged me. She said this is all she can get me and that she will send my receipt by mail. Disappointing.

Some of the roots are on the small side and some are ginormous. Pictures will follow later.

Liz, I knew at one time, but the sale happened a couple three years ago and I'm not sure their nationality anymore. I'm thinking Swiss, but that and 25 cents won't get you a cup of coffee, so don't quote me. I think that they just added some varieties that Don didn't have. If they come back to Des Moines next March I'll ask. All I really know is that they seem to be nice people and Don seemed happy with the arrangement.

Cytherea's eyes were rotten but the roots are firm. I will plant them and see what happens in the next couple of years. Coral Charm, Henry Bockstoce, Ann Berry Cousins, Myra McRae, Madame Calot and Myrtle Gentry are the replacements and freebies.

Some of the roots are small like Many Happy Returns, with only two eyes.