Neal, Brooks peonies has a 15% off sale today. They have HB for $25-15%off=21.25.

kousa said:Neal, Brooks peonies has a 15% off sale today. They have HB for $25-15%off=21.25.

YES! They do! https://www.brooksgardens.com/...

Tried to order at Brooks but when I went to check out the box were you're supposed to select state or province wont work. All the other fields worked fine, but it won't let me go any further.

Ended up ordering a few through Easy to Grow Bulbs, Henry Bocstoce, Gay Paree, Paula Fay, Mrs. FDR, and Coral Sunset.

I'm without a phone today because mine is being repaired (hopefully), otherwise I'd just call the order in. I emailed them about the issue, so I may still get a few from them.

gemini_sage said:

Tried to order at Brooks but when I went to check out the box were you're supposed to select state or province wont work. All the other fields worked fine, but it won't let me go any further.

Ended up ordering a few through Easy to Grow Bulbs, Henry Bocstoce, Gay Paree, Paula Fay, Mrs. FDR, and Coral Sunset.

This sounds absolutely gorgeous! Wish you lots of success with them.

Thanks Joanna!

I heard back from Brooks and will go ahead and order a few from them too. They said they will honor the discount if I need to call the order in. I'm ordering a 2nd Henry Bocstoce from them. I've had a couple of cases of mislabeled bulbs from Easy to Grow Bulbs in the past, and just in case I don't want to lose 2 years waiting to see that red beauty! And if they're both correct, that's great too! Also ordering Red Charm, Raspberry Charm, and White Sands.

gemini_sage said:Thanks Joanna!

I heard back from Brooks and will go ahead and order a few from them too. They said they will honor the discount if I need to call the order in. I'm ordering a 2nd Henry Bocstoce from them. I've had a couple of cases of mislabeled bulbs from Easy to Grow Bulbs in the past, and just in case I don't want to lose 2 years waiting to see that red beauty! And if they're both correct, that's great too! Also ordering Red Charm, Raspberry Charm, and White Sands.

Neal, you must have some grand amount of land! So glad you like the HB. I have a feeling it will make me wish I had more space. I only have a small strip, but glad I have enough to plant the two peonies. Can't wait to see pictures of everyone's beautiful peonies when the time comes!

Space is a double edged sword, I'm terrible about trying to expand beyond my ability to keep it up! These days I try to eliminate something already present in the garden for new plants, but I'm not real good at that either.

Brooks site is working now, got my order in I added Command Performance too, after reading the description as being "orange-red".

Do any of you grow it?

@Cem9165 Annette, I see a photo you contributed- how do you like Command Performance?

Database photos differ quite a bit:

pardalinum's image was taken at Adelman's Peony Gardens. Perhaps the blossom varies as it develops/ages.

I think you're right Tracey. A lot of reds do fade to pink a bit as they age. It does look like a bit of that orange-red is showing at the various stages. Looks like it will be a fun one to see in person!

Neal @gemini_sage, I love Command Performance, it has a lovely bloom, it does fade to pink as it ages. I would definitely order this plant again.

Good to hear Annette!

Neal, here is CP from 2015, and 2016 as the blooms are fading.

It's a good performer as well, even here in CO! Bloomed the first year in my garden, spring 2015. I was gone when it bloomed last year but had 3 buds, a very good increase for me. Here's a pic of my very first bloom from CP. Really bad hail storms that spring as you can see from the foliage but the bud opened with no damage, not something I could say for the majority of my garden that year....

Oh, hoping my HB will be okay! I planted it early today, and now it's snowing and 32 degrees. I'm a bit worried....

As long as you got the soil packed around it really well so there aren't air pockets it'll be fine. Dormant peonies are incredibly tough!

LizinElizabeth said:As long as you got the soil packed around it really well so there aren't air pockets it'll be fine. Dormant peonies are incredibly tough!

Thanks Liz, I did kind of pack the soil in, and then I surrounded it with cut marigolds (spent flowers, leaves and stems) by way of mulch. Strangely enough, it's warmer now and raining instead of snowing so I'm less worried. Knowing it would rain, I didn't water it in--I let nature do it for me. I'll double check it tomorrow to make sure it didn't sink.

Thanks for the photos Annette and Liz! The color of CP looks unique and bright, I think I'll really like it!

Joanna, I think its helpful to plant in cool soil. A couple of years ago autumn was mild here and the soil didn't cool much until December, and I had some newly planted peonies start growing. That growth got frozen to mush in January and one of the plants was set back and the other died.

The roots from Brooks looked great and have been planted. Those from Easy to Grow bulbs, well...lets just say I gave them the "stank eye" when I opened the box . Kinda small, buds looked a bit damaged, and a couple felt a little spongy. The exception among the 5 from Easy to Grow Bulbs was Coral Sunset, that root looked pretty good. All but one of those are planted.

Today I remembered I hadn't checked Hollingsworth and ordered a few more. Burma Midnight, Hot Chocolate, Old Faithful, and Sword Dance to further quench my thirst for dark reds, and Coral and Gold and Color Magnet jumped in my cart as well. I'm so glad I hadn't waited too late to get some reds this year! Missing out on Swenson's really bummed me out, they've impressed me most of the vendors I've tried. However I'm really happy to place my first order with Hollingsworth too, always heard good things about them.