Sorry to hear that your Nellie Saylor is a mislabel, LG. I hate when that happens esp. after 2-3 years of growing them. I am glad that you find out within a year. I love Nellie Saylor. I would like to get that as soon as I find more space to put more peonies.

All of these are from Chotkowski Gardens, none of mine are opening yet although I see color on a few. I didn't take most of them, I was too busy talking to Henry and discussing the different peonies he had, where they came from, how they did in his garden. I do have several that he has and it was interesting to talk about the differences in growing between Colorado and Arkansas.

Last two, Yedo


Love Affair


Sorry, I planned to take lots of pics of flowers and tags so I could label them but ended up talking for over an hour instead. By the time Henry was tired I was so darned hot that I couldn't stay around to take pics anymore. I swear it was at least 90 degrees and the humidity was awful....but the flowers were gorgeous!

Beautiful photos, Liz! What is the name of the peony with green and pink coloring in the 16th pic? Is that Green Lotus? Or Pink Jitterbug?

Yedo

Thank you, Liz. Maybe I can make the road trip there in the next couple of years.

I was glad to see some weeds in his flowerbeds. One of the reasons I no longer have a garden day is some woman complained to the friend of mine that brought her that I had a lot of weeds. So sorry, but I do all the gardening myself- no hired help.

Weeding is a full time job with overtime. That's terrible that someone said that. I weed continually and there are still weeds. You do the best you can.

It is more important that we spend our time growing plants, than spending time on weeds. I am always surprised when I show something lovely and growing----and someone makes an issue out of weeds. I ignore such people and do not invite them back.

Karen, good call, it is Green Lotus. I remember asking about that one. Both Lisa and I commented on the weeds, agreed that if we lived close we'd volunteer and love every second of it! One of his neighbors was weeding while we were there but he has so many beds that it'd be a non-ending project--by the time the last one was done the first would need it again. Visitors keep Henry occupied during their open garden times but I'm sure he'd been out there doing it himself earlier in the day. And LG, that person who complained is certainly not concentrating on the right things! It's just so unfair that weeds grow so much faster than the plants you want to grow....

Karen, Yedo was very pretty but I was less impressed with it in his garden than I was the first time I saw it at the APS convention in 2014. The blooms were pretty but not anywhere near as large as those that were displayed in the competition, swear those were at least as big as a half volleyball! He didn't have Yumi or it wasn't blooming while we were there but his Bartzella looked just as nice as Yedo. The one that surprised me with how much I liked it was Love Affair. That's another one that pictures don't do justice to. I have that one but it hasn't bloomed for me yet, 2 spring this year and no buds. His plant was mature and the blooms were absolutely gorgeous, prettiest semi-double white that I've ever seen. He said it doesn't get brown spots either, at least for him there in Arkansas, don't know if it'll be as good elsewhere. Also saw Quitzen but the blooms were past their prime so I didn't take a picture. He said his plant was used for the pics for Hollingsworth's offering this year and that it has been much less prone to double in other areas. I don't know if it's worth the price if it just blooms semi-double as some of his sidebuds were.
His garden is so unique because he has so many varieties that aren't available here in the states, lots from Europe and older varieties that aren't commonly available.

Thanks, Liz! If my Green Lotus that I got last year from Swenson blooms like his, I would be so ecstatic. I like that it has a good balance of green and pink on his blooms. Are Yedo and Love Affair both itoh peonies?? Can't tell from the foliage.

Thanks for the support re the weeds. I also wondered if that woman was seeing perennials that had not bloomed yet and didn't know what they were. Anyway, after someone at the Hosta Society told a tale about a woman who sued her after a garden tour, I decided that with all the snakes, holes in the lawns, and other things, it wasn't worth letting strangers come tour.
It seems this woman brought her daughter on the tour, and she was told repeatedly to leave the hostess' cat alone, that it wasn't kid friendly. The cat scratched the girl, they let the scratch get infected, and sued the hostess for the $800 emergency room bill when they took the girl to the Dr. This was related during discussion to purchase extra insurance for the Society to cover our special events.
Liz ' Love Affair' is now on my list.

Thanks so much for all the lovely pictures. I would so love to be able to wander through gardens like that. Alas, not to be up here. I guess I could go out to the valley where the peonies grow commercially. Not the same as nurseries and gardens where they are grown for their beauty as plants.

I planted Green Lotus two falls ago, so this is its second spring/summer. Not looking good. It was in a bad spot and got stepped on several times last year. I will put a heavy duty fence around it this year. Everyone has come up including the yellow border peony which is always the last in line but will be the last in bloom also.

Edited: don't you just love it when people who don't garden critique others whose plants and flowers they are enjoying seeing but have to complain about weeds. My neighbors are very forgiving about weeds and are very generous in their compliments on my front beds. And had so many dahlia blooms last year that when a lady walking with her two small daughters asked if she could come into my yard to look closer I said sure and then cut about 10 large blooms for her to take home. Loved it. Everyone eins. No one sees the beds in the back yard as it is all fenced in. My own 'secret garden' along with my pond and fish. And WEEDS WEEDS GALORE.

I like your last sentence, Mary! I think I can safely admit now that my backyard is very weedy too. Until you guys brought up the weeds, I did not notice much about the peonies growing amidst the weeds. I thought that it was planned for a sort of natural look.

I would love to keep my beds neat and weed free but it is next to impossible to do. Like LG, I am the "lone" caretaker of them and has no hired help. Once in awhile I get somebody in to remove tree limbs and overgrown shrubs but preparing and amending the beds, mulching, weeding, caring for the plants, and cleaning up for winter or spring are all on me. DH and DS have no interest in outdoors stuffs. They would much prefer to play on the computer or ipads.

What has happen to good manners and common sense? In this world, those are two things that never go out of style.

My old peonies were all given to me over 30 years ago. This blush bomb type is fragrant.





This one is fragrant too.


This one is delightful, and is variable. Had me thinking I was losing it, till I compared photos and saw sometimes its solid pink, other times creamy yellow in the center. Last year there were both at the same time.


Leto, first year bloom!





Bartzilla is such a happy flower! They smell weird and kinda funky to me.


It grows next to these, but I can never get a decent shot of all together.

Wow, LOVE your combo of Barzella, yellow baptisia, and blue iris, Neal! Hope you don't mind that I copy this idea combo in my garden. Is that Carolina Moonlight Baptisia? They look big in your pic. How tall and wide do they get for you?

Thanks Karen! And please do copy it, I'll even send ya a bunch of those irises if you'd like- they're getting thinned this year. You're right, that is Carolina Moonlight- I love it! This is its 4th year I think, and its about 5' tall and 3-4' wide. This is the tallest it has been.

'Kansas' Brought it inside because the color flares in sunlight. Adelman 2014

Correction for the vendor of 'Hermione' and 'Chestine Gowdy'. Both came from Hidden Springs Flower Farm in 2010. That is why I keep a copy of my order or packing list.