It's that time of year...

So, please share your best peony photo of 2018 before the ball drops:)

Here is my pick...

Peony 'Illini Warrior'



2018 was a great year!

Hi Frank, I may have to order Illinois Warrior because of your beautiful photos!!

Mrs FDR, but I could post at least a dozen beauties

Not only your peony is beautiful but its backdrop with the blue sky and the trees makes the photo even more stunning! Really nice photography, Frank!

I have posted all of my best but there are still a few runners up.

Joseph Rocks TP was a very consistent performer.


Pastelegance had perfect form and gorgeous color!


Raspberry Sundae put on a good show this year!


Hillary was another consistent performer.


Seedlings mix (from small roots that I bought on Ebay 5 years ago) put on a nice display this year.

Frank, I agree with LG, Illini Warrior is also on my wants list!

Great pictures Karen!

It's tough to pick a best of 2018, there were so many plants that I loved!
Here are 2 blooms I'm looking forward to seeing in 2019.

Lemon Chiffon




This noid tree peony that had this huge coral bloom, what a surprise this was!

Wow, such amazing photos! Frank started the thread with a stunning picture! I already posted all my good photos from the last season, these are my favorite:
Krinkled White and America

Henry Bockstoce

Old Faithful never disappoints

A gigantic flower of Baroness Schroeder (the first bloom, pink for some reason )

Karen , each of your photos is lovely!
And wasn't that Pastelegance your dirt year bloom? Amazing!!

Annette, I remembered that gorgeous Tree Peony🧡🧡. I wish someone could ID it.

Anya, amazing photos as well! I do think your Henry Bockstoce is perfect ❤️❤️.

Amazing photos everyone!
I would have to say my favorites this year were my New Zealand trees!

Royal Albatross

Firey Coals

Radiant Moonbeam

Country Sunset

Anya, that your HB is just perfect! Aren't these blooms huge! THough I don't get many blooms on mine, each one is as big as 9" in diameter.

Annette, I love Lemon Chiffon! Yours is beautiful! Can't wait to see what you combine it with in your new home garden! Do you think your NOID TP maybe Coral Terrace? Some years ago, I remember you mentioned your DH gifted you a CT TP from Cricket Hill Peony.

Wow, what a treat to see pics of your TPs, Craig! I think you and maybe a very few others in the US grow tree peonies imported from New Zealand.

Craig is a pioneer growing New Zealand tree peonies in this country! They are breath-taking!

Thanks, LG and Karen! It was the first time when HB bloomed and these 2 beautiful perfect flowers - right away! I was surprised how strong and pleasant fragrance they had! However, the best fragrance had Red Satin, I could not step away from that peony when it bloomed!

Hi Anya,
Did you get your Red Satin from Adelman's? I did a search and that was all I could find. I will try to grow it as it is a late midseason. Thanks for letting us know it is fragrant.

Gorgeous pictures Anya and Craig!

Karen, the bloom of the coral tp wasn't as full as a Coral Terrace bloom. Hopefully, as it matures, the blooms will be fuller. Unfortunately, my original CT was damaged when a branch fell on it, and it never grew back.

I got Coral Terrace from Cricket Hill last fall. If it survives hopefully I'll have a bloom that we can compare with yours, Annette. Got 3 from them to test survivability here in CO....Blue Jade in 3 Colors, Coral Terrace and Shimane Wisteria.

Mieko2 said:Hi Anya,
Did you get your Red Satin from Adelman's? I did a search and that was all I could find. I will try to grow it as it is a late midseason. Thanks for letting us know it is fragrant.

Yes, from Adelman's. I had no idea that it was so fragrant! It was a big and very nice surprise! I saw Red Satin offerings at Hollingsworth's and Warmerdarm's, Gold City has it unavailable. As Ruud wrote in his description to this variety probably the original peony was lost (because it was lactiflora and the variety which is in nurseries now looks like a hybrid) who knows if Red Satin is the same everywhere Although pictures look very similar. What I got from Adelman's is VERY fragrant! And with attractive color.

Thank you, Anya for the info. I will definitely buy it from Adelman's, as fragrance is not very common in the red herbaceous peonies.

I really need to make note of my Peonies with strong fragrance. I really tend to choose garden plants that are fragrant.

Annette, I am sorry that you had lost your CT. Your NOID coral TP is beautiful though! It may bloom fuller as it becomes more mature. You never know!

Annette, I too am curious about the fragrance on your Red Satin. If you smell the same fragrance this coming spring, can you let us know?

Liz, those are 3 gorgeous TPs! I would love to see blooms on all 3 of them! I really like to see if my NOID is truly Shimane Wisteria.

I never paid attention to the smells of my peonies before Karen asked about fragrant blooms here several years ago. I think this spring is an excellent time to revisit that aspect! Maybe we can post whether a bloom has a scent, good or bad, when we post pics of what's blooming. Or maybe a thread specifically for scent?

Karen, I'm pretty sure it'll be several years before I get a bloom on any of those 3 since they were all 1st year grafts. Cricket Hill does sell older grafts but none on any that I wanted last year. If I am lucky enough to get blooms on any of them or any of my tree peonies at all I'll be posting them here!

Liz, I would love to see your pictures of the Cricket Hill peonies when they bloom.

It's a great idea to post about the scent of the blooms, I love a good smelling peony. My all time favorite scent of all of my plants comes from Walter Faxon.

Karen, Anya has Red Satin, not me, but based on what she described, it's definitely on my wants list.

Liz, I got Black Dragon Holds a Splendid Flower as a 4 yo plant from Cricket
Hill in 2013, but I've never seen it bloom. It finally had a bud last year, but it blasted. I'll have to give it more attention once it has been replanted, to see if I can get it to bloom.

I agree, it's worth it to mention a scent. I can see that many peonies have a fragrant according to a description but in reality I can smell only hint of it. Among all peonies I got a bloom only very few have very distinctive odor. I bought White Sands because it was "very fragrant" in a description. It has a nice but very mild odor in my garden. I understand that soil and other factors can play a role in this so if I have a peony with a strong scent I am happy! So far I can say that 3 peonies in my garden have a nice and strong fragrant - Red Satin, Henry Bockstoce and Bowl of Beauty, others can have a nice scent but not strong. I added more presumably strong scented peonies, hopefully they will bloom next summer.

Tom Cat bloomed for the first time this past Spring and it was wonderfully fragrant. Strong stems, too!!