Let's start with the Bomb peony flower form. This form is the simplest to identify and so pretty to look at. I just love its 3D look! Sometimes I marvel at how perfectly formed and round the "ball" is sitting on top of the guard petals.

APS describes the Bomb form as follows:
"The width and length to which the inner segments have progressed in size is such they have become inner petals, almost always the same color as the guards. Overall effect is a ball sitting on a plate, the plate being formed of the larger guard petals at the base of the flower, and the inner petals forming the ball. This center ball will vary in size in different Bomb form cultivars, Red Charm and Mons. Jules Elie are examples."


My best example is Charlie's White


Noid, maybe Edulis Superba but not sure.


Raspberry Sundae



Do you think this peony has a bomb form?

Pink Derby is a great bomb


Salmon Glory - needs support


Raspberry Ice



Goldilocks



Princess Bride


Nadia

Heya folks! Long time, no talk! My own fault, but I've missed you guys and being around these parts.

Thanks Karen for organizing the form series. It's nice to see that you're mixing it up this year. Beautiful photos as always, and thanks for posting the APS definition of a bomb.

Red Charm put on a great show this year. You could say it was the bomb! Ahem. Sorry.



Salmon Glory is one of my favourite bomb type flowers. It's hard to capture it's energetic, radiant, glowing colour.





Unfortunately Command Performance got nuked by extreme heat before it could show it's bomb qualities.





Mr. Ed captured at a stage that is a precursor to bomb-ness. This plant has only expressed the darker pink coloured flowers for me in the two years it has bloomed.




NOID which was sold to me as Salmon Beauty. It is clearly not with the lack of transparent stripes on the guards and the bloom time doesn't line up - Salmon Beauty should bloom earlier. It isn't Salmon Glory either but it does share a similar fade and when combined with the foliage it definitely has P. officinalis in its genetics. It's too bad, I really wish I knew what this variety was because it's so darn pretty.






Finally, Eastern Star finished in a nice white colour. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a profile shot to show maximum bomb.

Beautiful, LG! Raspberry Ice looks like a whole lotta flower!

Gorgeous parade of blooms…

These guys are very hardy .

Such nice peonies!!! Gorgeous photos!!!
I don't have many bomb peonies. This one is misID, probably Edulis Superba

Pink Derby, after very cool last summer the flowers are not very bomb

Angel Cheeks (is it bomb?)

Cora Stubbs is japanese officially but it looks bomb to me, the middle is not high enough probably

@Anya
Who wudda thought pink could be so classy and gorgeous.

I forgot to thank you, Karen for starting this thread. Your Charlie's White is gorgeous. Mine struggles as it is in too much shade.

As usual, Nick your blooms are perfect! I love your NOID. It fades so lovely. Did you try looking at the bloom sequence database on APS to see if there is a possibility for a match? Since you have Red Charm, it should be easy for you to count the days from its bloom.

My Mr. Ed was a bonus plant from Klehm's way back in the 90's. It will reliably put out both colors. I laugh at some of those reselllers when they show a bloom as Mr Ed with both color on one bloom. That does not happen.

Bea, I love your combination of peonies.

Anya, I think Angel Cheeks is a bomb, too, but I didn't check the registration. Yours is perfect
I wondered about Cora Stubbs too when I looked at mine, but I think you are correct that it is a Japanese.

I'm not sure I save mine anymore, so here it is from the database, Raspberry Sundae

Command Performance, bomb double

Monsieur Jules Ellie

Eliza Lundy

Wow, I am just blown away by the beauty of these bomb blooms! What spectacular eye candy that I get to see on this wintry day!

LG, love your collection of bombs! All of them are stunning! Such wonderful photography too!

Nick, your RC and Salmon Glory have been a treat to see! The fading on SG is so awesome. I also like your mislabeled Salmon Beauty very much. I think some of us have been lucky in getting great looking mislabels.

Anya, so glad your Pink Derby is showing its true colors and form this year! I am sorry I jumped to conclusion last year when I thought that its first year blooms were off. I really like your Angel Cheeks. I hope to see such nice blooms on my plant next year.

Socal and Bea, thank you so much for posting and sharing your bombs. What a great red color your EL shows in your photo! I am falling in love with Command Performance. I heard that this peony fades to a very nice orangey color. Would love to see that if anyone has a fading CP bloom.

Thanks LG! I too am glad that I start this Peony Form Series. I so enjoy seeing the gorgeous blooms and photos. I knew that you all still have a stash of great photos hidden in your hard drive. I have to find a good opportunity to draw them out somehow. Looking forward to see more wonderful pics in days to come.

SOCal, the blooms are lovely. I had Raspberry Sundae many years ago, and it would not grow. I bought another a couple of years ago and hope it blooms this year.

Karen, I m so glad you organized this series. I can tell it's going to be fun. Thank you for the compliments; I definitely can say that they all are true of you as well.

Sweet 16

anyagoro said:
Cora Stubbs is japanese officially but it looks bomb to me, the middle is not high enough probably

I agree! These look more like bomb than Japanese. Sometimes, some of my bomb blooms produce Japanese or Anemone type blooms esp. the sidebuds.

Mantis, those Sweet 16 blooms look huge! I bet you probably need a sturdy support for those blooms.

Sweet 16 is a rather short plant, so usually doesn't need much support.

I found another picture, NOID peony I got from Costco, my first herbaceous peony, I think it's a bomb.

Paeonia 'Barbara' 6/2021 Lactiflora- (Krekler, 1978) (3-DB-R) Lactiflora Cultivar Peony, Mature size: 40", Tall, double, bomb type, dull red petals, large guard petals, tightly curled inter petals, strong stems, USDA Hardiness Zone 3-8, Michigan Bloom Month 6b, In Garden Bed N1,00 for 33 MONTHS (Wild). Planted in 2018.

Purchased from Wild in the spring of 2018. G.H. Wild description: Cerise red (cerise is a redish pink) flowers have well-built guards surrounding a luscious mass of tightly curled inner petals in the center. In other words, a "bomb type" flower. Stout, heavy stems.

There are three 'Barbara' peonies listed in Burkhardt's database. APS registered: BARBARA (K 569)-William H. Krekler, June 1978. Stout heavy 42-inch. Late dull red lactiflora. Based on the APS photo, this is the peony provided by Wild.

Second listing in Carsten Burkhardt's Peony Database is a dark pink "bomb" cultivar from Poland, circa 1986.

And third listing is BARBARA* (Hamilton?) An upright strong stemmed plant, with flowers of a lavender shaded pink. The guard petals and full centre are of the same colour. Pink I.Late, No staking 80cm

Also found it at Dave's Garden listed as Peony Barbara by Karpow-Lipski that was introduced in 1977. Color pink.



Photo by F.D.Richards, SE Michigan. Additional photos of this plant from 2018, 19, 20, 21:

https://www.flickr.com/search/...

Anya - re. your NOID (pos. Edulis Superba) one way to tell is smell it as ES has a knock-your-socks-off fragrance;
this is my Edulis Superba though over the years quite a variable shaped flower.