Liz, 'Angel Cheeks' is one of my favorites and the fragrance is one of the reasons Sweet, spicy....

Oh my, you guys are making me swooning for an Angel Cheeks peony! I love peonies with pleasant fragrance. Angel Cheeks is going to be on my want list this year.

The bomb type form also holds up to weather quite well, from my experience too. 'Angel Cheeks' stems haven't required any support in my garden. Terrential downpours change that but regular rain, this peony has done fine. Karen, it is a must have.

Here is my 'Angel Cheeks' from May 11, 2014.

Well, I was checking my peony beds this morning , and found this newly Fall planted 'Cheddar Surprise ' peeking up. I covered it with more dirt. We are to get down to 19°F overnight. I will wash the dirt off in the Spring. Does anyone here grow this variety?

Hmmmm. Rose cones. So they will protect the newly sprouted peonies?? I have a tree peony that I planted fall of 2014. It did well summer 2014 - which means that it survived and had leaves. lol. I am hoping this spring it will take off.

I just looked out my back window at the pond and hillock with the crabapple tree. It was loaded with nuthatches yesterday. Loading up on fruit (and getting drunk) and lining up around the open water in the pond to drink. The ground around the bottom of the tree is covered in fruit. I need to get that up before they turn to sprouts. Never had so many. Makes a mess out of my flowers. As bad as chickweed. I was going to cover the ground with vizqueen a month or so ago. Too late now. Drat

OMG, Angel Cheeks is so pretty! I thought it was a deeper pink but this pink is gorgeous.

Mine was new fall 2014 and didn't bloom last spring, hoping for next.
LG, have you guys had much of a winter there? I know it was pretty warm (but rainy) when we were in Chattanooga over Christmas. I have to protect several frost sensitive peonies every spring, I know large clay pots work well for really cold nights. Bonus that the wind won't move them but they get pretty heavy....I don't think I've seen Cheddar Surprise, will have to look it up!
Mary Stella, if you have a clay pot large enough I'm sure it'd protect your tree peony as well as it does the herbaceous ones. I think those pots are the only reason Blonde Vision and Coral Scout are still alive in my yard. Covering several more this spring, determined to do everything I can to make it a good peony year....

LG, Angel Cheeks is gorgeous! Stop enabling ! I do have Cheddar Surprise, but mine is dormant. It's been in the garden for several years. I can't remember if it bloomed last year, I'll have to check my spring pictures. I'll also have to cover mine with soil, the heavy rain has exposed the roots.

Mary, I almost bought crabapple trees last spring, but I replaced my cherry trees that had to be removed, with weeping Kwanzan cherry trees instead. I did research the crabapples, but the thought of having to clean up the fallen fruit dissuaded me from getting them.

Cheddar Surprise before I added more dirt this evening.


Tree peony Houki got covered in plastic, then with several layers of a beach towel. The pips keep expanding and I'm starting to see the fronds if the little leaves
We're going into the low 20's tonight.

Ever since the mice made a home in the burlap cages I put around my tree peonies and azaleas, and dined on them all winter, I have hesitated to try to 'protect' anything except my rhody. All I seem to provide is housing and meals for rodents when I do that. Haven't had that problem since. Of course, with a clay pot they couldn't get to the plant. They will tunnel in the snow but I don't think they favor trying to tunnel in frozen earth. I would only be concerned about being able to get the pot off the plant if it froze to the ground.

Anette, IMHO I would be more careful with plastic as it does not let the air through. Higher humidity and temperature fluctuations are recipe for fungus and rot. But you can assess the tree if you check on it regularly.

Yes Annette, I am a Peony Pusher!
I just love them so much. Do you have many Itohs? They do well for me in our heat and humidity.
'Pink Pom Pom' is another herbaceous peony that I highly recommend.

Liz, so far it has been a mild winter. This morning though it was 11° F.
It is supposed to be in the 50's by the weekend. We have had a lot of rain, too.
Did you order anything from Hollingsworth's? I ordered several, including 'Summer Glow'.

Nice pic of Pink Pom Pom LG! I do have several Itohs, ~11 of them. I also have 10 tree peonies.

Alex, thanks for the input. I switched the plastic bags and beach towel for several layers of frost cover, wrapped around Houki in several layers. I will be checking on the plant regularly.

We warm up briefly Thursday and Friday, then back to nighttime temps below freezing for the next week

Signs of a desperate gardener: it's 29 degrees, and I go outside in my jammies, bathrobe and flip flops to change the covering over Houki, in the dark


Houki now looks like a ghost

I sure did, LG! Got Gay Cavalier, Hansina Brand, Laura Magnuson, Pom Pom, Quitzin and Top Brass. I've had Summer Glow for a few years but haven't had a bloom yet. You saw the post about it on Facebook, right? They claim it's very slow growing so I'm hoping mine is still doing okay, just taking its time.....
I think my neighbors think jammies, robe and snow boots are my normal attire, Annette! I've done that same dance several times! Save the peonies, that's all that matters, who cares about dignity????

Luckily I did not make any last minute adjustments to my peonies, but I did some sprinter covering for my tomatoes a few times when the frost was expected

LG, the Pink Pom Pom peony definitely has a really unique ball form. The petaloids form a perfect round puff on almost every flower. I don't own this but saw its blooms at a peony garden that I visited and I was really taken with its 3 dimensional blooms.

Drooling here, that is one gorgeous bloom ! I'll have to see if it show up in one of my local nurseries.

I did speak to the lady that orders plants for my Pikes nursery on Sunday. She told me they would get plants in at the end of February, when they were starting to break dormancy.

Alex, I'm glad you've not had to do anything special with your peonies. I'm trying to prevent the loss of pips !

I have 'Pink Pom Pom' and first observed its beauty at an APS show. Grown and displayed by Carol Adelman, it was stunning! Of course, any of you who know or have seen peonies that grow on the Northwest, will know what I mean when I say growing it here doesn't hold a candle to the display I saw that year. It had the pink and coral tones, add the beautiful form, and it was one of the most lovely blooms at the show. It is the volcanic soil, the climate? Whatever happens over there seems to be perfect. Peonies in the Northwest come out with blushes and color not seen in the rest of the country.

Visiting Adelman's peony garden when the peonies are in bloom would be a lovely vacation indeed. I have seen pics of their garden and the peony displays are spectacular. I would love to see them in person though. Now that you mention that the colors and forms on peonies grown on northwest soil are even better than what can be seen in other places, I can't wait to make this destination as my next vacation.