Another one blooming today, the beautiful Jan van Leeuwen. This is a gorgeous peony, and I am thinking may have been the pod parent to my bee pod seedling that bloomed for the first time this year.

Valerie, is the dark red color of MMC similar to that of Buckeye Belle in person?

I don't have Buckeye Belle, so it is hard to say. I will get a picture tomorrow without the sun.

Not at home right now and probably missing the best week off peony blooms. We were offered a. Free cruise to Bermuda so it was worth it! Here are a few pics from immediately before we left.
Command Performance has been amazing this year. Went from a single stem and small bloom last year to 4 stems with 3 large blooms this year, here's the first one to open. Very large,probably 7 " across.

Horizon, first year blooms. 4 buds

Pink Cotton Candy first year bloom

Blaze. Divided last fall but looking very good this spring. Day lilies, lilies, foxtail lilies and obedient plant not blooming yet

Nice Liz. My Pink Cotton Candy had no blooms its first year here.

Your peonies are beautiful!

Thanks Tracey. I've had more first year blooms than ever befor since I started using the bulb fertilizer Karen recommended, seems to make a big difference. We'll be home Sunday eve, hoping some of the mid/late and late blooms are still to come....

Lovely blooms Liz! I wanted Pink Cotton Candy last year, but the vendor ran out of it. I love the variations in the blooms!

As much as I love peonies, I will still take a free cruise to Bermuda over peony bloom season anytime.

kousa said:Valerie, is the dark red color of MMC similar to that of Buckeye Belle in person?

I took some more photos in the morning, but they are still redder than the actual bloom colour. Looking at photos of Buckeye Belle, I can see that many people have that problem photographing that peony, as well. I would say that the actual bloom colour of Mons. Martin Cahuzac is very similar to Buckeye Belle.

It is only very lightly fragrant. Not unpleasant.

First two photos taken with my 12 year old Fuji camera, the third and fourth taken with my somewhat newer Canon.

Pink Cotton Candy was a pretty bloom but not very big, hopefully just because it's not mature yet. Hopefully it'll reach full potential in the next couple of years!
We're back in port now, flying home today. Hoping I can still see part of my gardens through all of the weeds....

Paeonia lactiflora 'High Fashion' started blooming in the last couple of days. This bloom is huge and really cannot hold itself up. We have it in a peony cage. It is a wonderful cut flower, though. It isn't in the database, so I have proposed it for inclusion. I included my hand in the last photo, just for scale to show how large the blooms are.

Nice, Valerie! I got that one from Bannister's last year but it bloomed while I was gone, no pics...only 1 bud anyway.

Liz,
You will like it for its gorgeous blooms, but it needs to be staked or caged. The blooms are just so heavy. It blooms late in my garden, so it extends the season, too.

Another late bloomer in my garden is 'Sarah Bernhardt'. One of the blooms showed a lot of red this year.
Also blooming now is 'Fancy Nancy'.

'Sarah Bernhardt'




'Fancy Nancy'

Valerie, between Do Tell and Fancy Nancy, do you prefer one over the other? If you have space for only, which will you choose and why?

I personally would choose DoTell strickly because of the unique colour. Both are very good garden plants, though. Equally good, it is just colour preference for me.

I managed to miss the biggest bloom week on our trip, think Garden Treasure and a couple of very late herbaceous are the only peonies still with buds right now. Weather warmed up way too much in the last 2 weeks, rushed the mid-bloomers. Hate to miss them this year but at least they're perennial, right? On a good note, I have 3 colors of foxtail lilies this year--instead of just yellow I have peach and pink as well. Some roses I planted 3 years ago finally decided to bloom and made up for missing the last 2 years, tons of flowers! Mostly just fallen petals now after the rains and wind over the last 2 days.

Valerie. Do Tell looks very unique.

I know what you mean about the weather Liz! Mine started out great then the heat came and most of the doubles just did not bloom well. Some did not even open. Hope for a better one next year.

Hi Liz, post some pictures of foxtail lilies in bloom once you have them !

Sarah Bernhardt was one of my first to bloom. Still going. Cora Louise, Sword Dance, a noid that was supposed to be Carrarra, Miss America all blooming. Will be doing a massive dig up this fall to rearrange my garden to favor peonies and get rid of the hodge podge of other flowers that come and go. Last count I have 13 peonies coming this fall, all herbaceous from domestic suppliers and about 13 coming from the Peony Garden in Holland. There may be a tree or two in there some where.