Three things I like to try this year are:

1. Disbudding. This is the first year that I am able to bring myself to disbud sidebuds. Most of the plants are going into the 3rd or 4th growing season so they are somewhat established. They are sending up a lot more stems with buds this year so I have more to work with.

2. Storing peonies for later bloom. I am planning to snip some peonies at almost opening stage to store in the fridge for later enjoyment. I will be following Adelman's peonies storage information on their website doing this storage experiment.

3. Fall fertilizing program for tree peonies as shown by Cricket Hill Peony Garden .

Now I must look those up!
I am trying the Azomite for the first time.
Does anyone know what other minerals it has?
The pail just tells the analysis of calcium and magnesium?

Have any of you that use Azomite seen improvement in stem strength? Is it supposed to do anything else?
I absolutely will fertilize with BulbTone in summer, fall and again early next spring, have never done summer at all before. The bloom size difference was noticable and made it well worth the effort.
If I got a 1st year plant with more than 1 or 2 blooms I could maybe talk myself into reducing the number....for the good of the plant.....maybe!
Last year was the first time I've ever seen anything resembling fungal problems, normally one of the few benefits of our dry climate. I'm determined to be vigilant and treat quickly this year.
I'm pretty sure there was a list of minerals on the manufacturer's website, looked it up when I first saw it mentioned, but don't remember what the mix was. Sorry!

I have used Azomite for years but can't testify to what difference it made. I am somewhat boggled by the size of some of the stems this year. Athena is astounding, at least in my part of the world. I have never seen stems so big. As big as an anomola.

I mentioned to Mike at ABG about catching anomola seeds this fall in organza bags and he said he would be interested in the germination rate. So I will add to my program counting the seeds before planting. Might take better than a year to get results, or two or three, but if we are going to plant seeds we might as well get some useful information at the same time.

That is encouraging to hear of the strong stems on Athena.
Mine was planted last fall and has three good flower buds already and the stems are reasonably strong.

I was told by the gentleman that ran Bannister Gardens down in Raytown MO that he just broadcast Azomite on his peony beds in the fall and they were bigger and lusher the next spring than they ever were. Beats me. Can't hurt tho...

I am curious,--- because if Azomite is used for only the Calcium and Magnesium--
there are a lot of cheaper ways to give those. I will need to research further.

I don't know what is in Azomite but I think it did help. I used it on my double fernleaf and Joseph Rock Tree Peony and these have performed awesome.

Chemical analysis of Azomite. Preferred treatment for organic gardening and crops.

http://www.azomite.com/resourc...

Going from parts per 100 (%) to parts per million is a large stretch for actual content. The primary value of azomite is its trace amounts of different minerals. Obviously, it would perform better in some areas than others.

Thanks for that analysis.
There are several on the web.

After reading them--I am not sure that I will get it anymore.
Most of those rare earth metals are not really needed by plants.

It is used in animal feeds too? and there are claims it zooms tomatoes?

But I don't think I would use it on edibles.

I don't think I would use it in my vegetables either, Caroline.

The one thing I am doing with my peonies that is different...
Making a log of them so I don't fall in love twice (and purchase the same one twice) Seriously.

I keep the order/packing list sheet to reference to date, name, and vendor. Helps to look back and check plus avoids duplicate orders.

I have a list of all of the ones I've purchased over the last 7 years in alphabetical order that I keep with me on my phone or IPad when I'm shopping....don't know how many times I've purchased a duplicate, anyway!

I use this app "What's in my garden" for iPhone . Love it

I also have a google sheet with all of them listed, trying to get more info in but haven't had the time. I wanted to note which peonies bloomed, when and how many buds this year but have already fallen behind on the bud count. I think the most impressive count will be with my very least impressive peony this year--one of my Phoenix White (or White Phoenix, never can get it straight) has 27 buds. It's been in place since the first spring we were in this house though, 8 years now. I've only had one herbaceous make it to that many blooms because they increase slowly here and I divide more often that I probably should. Have to get other people obsessed with peonies though; and what better way than giving them one?

So I pinched out my first peony buds yesterday, some of my new ones from last year actually had 4 buds on them! This is very exciting to me because I typically have less 1st year blooms here in CO than I've seen in other areas here on the forum. The difference is that I've used the BulbTone for the last 2 springs and last fall. There were several others with more than 2 buds but they seemed to be too far advanced for the pinching to be of any benefit so those I'll just remove after the blooms open.

Had a few losses over winter, Raspberry Clown was completely rotted. I'll try that one at least 1 more time the next time it's offered because I really like it. Queen Bee and Flying Pink Saucers haven't come up. Both of those were new fall 2014 and grew last year, don't know what happened. I had a double layer of mulch, they might just be too deep at this point. I'll wait until the end of the season when the others start dying back and will dig them out to see if there's anything worth keeping or if I'll have to decide to forgo that variety or re-purchase/trade.

I went from "can't pinch off buds" mentality to being totally ruthless this year. I have taken most off the sidebuds of all my peonies with sidebuds. I left like 1-3 stems with sidebuds but only with 1 or 2 not the typical 3 or 4 buds on some of the peonies. I really want to see how well they handle storage and how well they open after storage. So excited about this project. I hope I can get a 1-2 months extension of peony blooms.

Looking forward to hearing about your results, Karen!

I just can't make myself pinch off the buds.