With our miserable weather this spring the ones that stood out the best in my mind were the ones that came through that mess the best.
Blaze was barely impacted by the insane late snows (10" on Mother's Day!!!), just a few bent stems.
and Heidi. Heidi's stems were toast--looked like one of those insane switchback roads on the sport's car commercials, but it was covered by blooms. The stems looked so bad that I didn't take pics of the entire plant this spring but it was COVERED with blooms.
I have no idea what the name of this peony is but it stood out because of the crazy big blooms--even labeled the pic "crazy big blooms with tiny stems" in my computer! This one has been in my garden for several years and, while pretty, never stood out that much. I think this one is the most visually impressive example of what adding fertilizer (thanks, Karen!) does for peonies. The main blooms were easily 9" across and I didn't remove any side blooms.
Blonde Vision This one isn't supposed to be frost tolerant, a very, very bad thing in my area. I covered the plant with a huge, heavy pot every time the temps dropped and it rewarded me with very pretty flowers. Tiny plant, 2nd spring in my garden and only had 2 blooms, but one of my favorites. Doesn't bloom at the same time as Pastelegenece so I couldn't compare them side by side but reminds me of the color variation at 1/10th of the price.
2nd view of Blonde vision
Erma just because it reminds me so much of a magnolia bloom. I grew up in east Texas with massive magnolia trees, always loved the pretty flowers. That type of magnolia tree won't grow here in Co but I'm happy with the substitution of a peony!
