It's time to celebrate the Gorgeous Doubles! Beautiful in bouquets and vases, the double peonies have been adored for a long long time. They also have come a long way in term of color, stem strength, and form. Though they often require support, some newer varieties have sufficient stem strength to hold up the heavy double flowers quite well.

Here is APS description of doubles:

"Full Double

In the ultimate expression of this form, all stamens and carpels are transformed into petals. Nevertheless stamens are allowed, provided they are obscure, can scarcely be seen or not at all, without manually separating petals. Peony cultivars of this class are almost always of two-stage (flower-in-flower) anatomy, presumably accounting for genesis of the term "Double" in traditional peony dialogue. The two-stage anatomy accounts for the greater amount of petals seen in Full Doubles. When pollen-bearing stamens occur in these flowers they will be found in a thin ring at the margin of the lower flower and in a small tuft embedded at center."


Some outstanding doubles from my garden this year:

My only double itoh is Duchess De Lorraine



My earliest blooming double is Blonde Vision


My next early blooming double is Carnation Bouquet (with excellent stem strength) and Lemon Chiffon if it blooms double. This past spring, LC bloomed mostly semidouble.


Maestro put in a great performance.


Diana Parks finally looked good in its 6th year.


Gardenia was really pretty this spring.


A great late pink double is Walter Faxon

Lovely blooms, Karen. That Maestro is such a clear red. Love the Duchess especially.

Here is a double Lutea Hybrid. Southern Beauty.



Eternal Love



Serebrenyi Velvet



Pastelegance



Dinner Plate.

Felix Supreme is a double, but I thought it's a bomb by looking at this picture.



Bess Bockstoce and Henry Bockstoce on the left


Bess Bockstoce

Arabian Knight


Masked Ball


Whiteout


How am I going to get through the next four months without peony blooms

Karen, I particularly like your Blonde Vision, I hope I can get one soon.
LG, I love your Pastelegance, I hope mine will be that pretty.
Val, wow, I need to get a hold of Arabian Knight, I've never seen it before.

SoCal - in process of registering Arabian Knight (seedling of Kelways Arabian Prince ) so cultivar details on APS Registry soon.

I can play this time! I have a very limited number of pics left on my phone with names attached and one of them just HAPPENS to be a gorgeous pink double! This peony is one that has confounded me for at least a decade. The plant that this pic came from wasn't the 1st plant of this variety that I purchased, lost that one to God only knows what sometime prior to 2010. It wasn't the 2nd plant, she never recovered from and insane spring where we had not one but 2 bad snow storms well after plants were up over a foot and budding out. It wasn't even the 3rd, that one didn't survive the 2018 hail storm from hell. This one was from the 4th one, ordered when I was pretty sure the 3rd was not going to recover and planted that same fall. She bloomed that following spring then was dug and moved to AL that fall. I have no idea if she survived the move and the last 3 years in the weed garden but if she didn't I'll be getting this plant for the 5th time because she's so darned special that I'm gonna have her in my garden, no matter how many times I have to replace her!

I present, at least 10 years after I planted the first root of this variety, Mrs FDR.

Liz, Mrs, FDR is really very special. Although I love many-many peonies, I think Mrs. FDR is the best! I made it an exception for my garden and bought the second plant of it though all my peonies are in a single copy. I gave it as a present to my friend though so no more second copy of it
Mrs. FDR

Beautiful Liz and Anya, I'm so glad to see your beautiful Mrs. FDR, I have 4 of this variety for some reason, I hope one will come up this year.

Bartzella (yellow peony)

Sonoma Halo

Etched Salmon


Myra MacRae

Peter Brand (looks different from what Dutch nurseries offer)

Rozella

Mother's Choice

Brother Chuck

SoCal, yours are all gorgeous! I think Bess Bockstoce is just an awesome variety. It always blooms for me !

Liz, you truly are dedicated, but Mrs FDR is totally worth it. And glad to see that Anya is a devotee, too. I just posted a 2021 pic of mine on Instagram yesterday. Karen has me scrolling through photos, and I found it, and had forgotten about it.
I'll share it here.



Valerie, I perked up when I saw that Arabian Knight as I had never heard of it! It looks great. I am glad you shared all those pics with us.

Anya, your Sonoma Halo is beautiful! And I just love that Peter Brand!

Sarah Bernhardt

I forgot this is Sarah Bernhardt, I have so many pink peonies, I got a bit confused.

Thanks Karen for the invitation to contribute to this thread, it's been awhile.

Colonel Owen Cousins

Antique Ivory

Sweet Lemonade

Kayleigh Ann

Craig - adore that Antique Ivory but can only find it on Facebook or the APS registry
Stellar pic of Kayleigh Ann. My ff was 2020 and just a single as expected but last year - wow

Valerie, AI should be available again soon as it seems to take time to increase. The blooms are exceptional and become more double form as it settles in and matures. Be patient and it will return.

Kayleigh Ann is certainly another great peony and similar characteristics to AI, blooms will become more fuller in time.

They are also both excellent for hybridization.

I love Antique Ivory.

Gorgeous blooms, Craig! I love your Antique Ivory. Mine is on the 'move' list. Too much shade.

So glad to see you post here again Craig! I know those of us on FB get to see them but your presence here has been missed! Gorgeous blooms as always!

What a fantastic show of doubles, everybody! I am so glad to see such beautiful blooms on this dreary day - just perk my day up.

LG, that's the nicest Southern Beauty bloom photo that I have seen. Not sure if I should head over to Cricket Hills garden and place an order for this TP now. I am considering getting this and plant it in a pot temporarily. How does this TP perform in your garden?

Socal, love your Besse Bockstoce! This peony is a must have in every garden, IMHO. Thanks Socal! I think Blonde Vision will perform very well in your temperate garden. I hope that you can get it soon. I would love to see its blooms and color in your garden.

Anya, the Etched Salmon color is just stunning in your garden. I hope mine will give me such salmon shade when it blooms next spring. Love Sonoma Halo too! I heard LG said that it's a big flower. Is your bloom measured as big?

Valerie, your Arabian Knight is truly special. Is that a seedling of yours? The raspberry streaking on the outer petals with the slightly incurved petaloids in the center make a for a lovely and interesting effect. I really like it. Kayleigh Ann's colors are so gorgeous in the fading phase.

Caroline, love the lavender shade of your Sarah Barndhardt! Can't go wrong with this variety for cut flowers. I don't have pics of SB because my sister cut all of the stems for bouquets for her church. It's really nice to see SB blooms here.

Liz, Mrs. FDR is definitely another must have in the garden, and your pic wonderfully captures its beauty. I love how the color deepens toward the center. I am glad that you were able to see this bloom in your garden, Liz . Mrs. FDR has a form of petals that I have not seen on many double peonies. The only one that I can think of that have petals and form like Mrs. FDR is Elsa Sass. I totally agree with you, Anya! I don't have many doubles in my garden but for Mrs. FDR, I do.

Craig, beautiful blooms! with everyone on Antique Ivory! Can't wait to see a fuller version of it!