Here is my peony update, these pictures were taken on Tuesday. We've had 2 days of rain since then. I'm really thrilled with how well the newer peonies are doing. I'm hoping I don't get bud blast on Lois's Choice. Cheddar Surprise, Hillary and Green Lotus keep growing, despite the cold, wet weather. Lemon Chiffon was sent by a fellow DG gardener to me for which I am so thankful, and it seems to have settled in nicely. Hanakisoi, Shimadajin and 3 other tree peonies were planted in these pots last spring and have remained outside the entire winter. I planted Kaoukaman on December 15th in the ground, the other 4 were left in pots. Kinshi is the only one that doesn't seem to have made it. This is the 3rd spring for Lady Orchid in the ground, I'm so pleased with the number of pips she's put out, I'm looking forward to seeing her blooms.This is Shima Nishiki's 2nd spring, I had 1 bloom last year, this year it appers that I will have 4 blooms, this plant is barely a foot tall.


noid and Lois' Choice


Cheddar Surprise and Lady Orchid


Itoh Hillary and Green Lotus


Tree Peony Shima Nishiki and Itoh Lemon Chiffon


Tree peonies Hanakisoi and Shimadajin

You should have an early bloom in your climate. We will appreciate some early pics as they grow. My regular peonies are just the same as last fall with no new growth yet. They are under about 2 inches of sleet and snow with night time temps in the mid to low 20s.

I'll be happy to post the pictures of the blooms as they come. It's fun to chronicle how these plants are doing. Here is Bowl of Cream and Gardenia. They are planted along with Immaculee in front of some Knock Out roses we planted to screen off the back deck, and with variegated Vinca underneath. The Vinca was in pot, but grew long enough to get into the garden bed, and has just taken off. I have to keep pulling it away for the peonies so they can get the sunlight.

We have had so much rain this week, that the top layer of dirt on many of the peonies washed away leaving the roots/tubers exposed. I had to go around the garden today to cover some of them back up.

Excellent photos showing the growth. Our weather here is up and down with lake effect snow coming and going. I haven't checked mine again but I can't imagine they are not burnt from all the cold weather.We've had the sleet here too.

Thanks Julia, and I hope that your peonies don't suffer any ill effects from the cold weather. We hit 62 degrees today, but the rain starts again tomorrow for another 2 days, then the rest of the week we'll have daytime temps in the 40-50's, and night temps in the 20-30's.

Look what I found as I was working in the garden today. Years ago I moved my peony Primavera to another bed, but I must have left a piece of the tuber behind. I'm probably going to have to move this plant as well, otherwise it's going to get crowded out when the hostas start growing around it.

I took a walkabout the garden and sure enough, all the pips which appeared to be growing foliage are blackened on the foliage. Doesn't surprise me given our weather.

I'm sorry to hear that. Some of the leaves on my Cheddar Surprise got damaged from the cold weather, I plucked them off, the rest of the plant was fine. I'm keeping an eye on the weather, and for the colder nights, I'll cover the actively growing plants with pine straw mulch. I hope your plants do well this year. Annette

Well, the cold weather is back, with temps in the 20's for the next few nights and a 30% chance of snow on Saturday. I ran around this evening covering the peonies that had leaf out with pine straw. The weather will be back into the mid to high 60's at the end of next week. These plants are going to be so confused, to grow or not to grow.

Progress this week. My noid is full of buds, and some of the other peonies are continuing to put out leaves. It appears we have our last 2 nights below freezing tonight and tomorrow night, the rest of the week the daytime temps will be in the 60's and the nights in the 40's, it looks like our warm up is on the way.

Looks like you are off to a good start. We are still having scattered snows with nighttime temps into the low 20s. Things are supposed to improve by the weekend.

Hi folks. So jealous to see those peonies sprouting. We are 50 miles SW of Chicago and we just received about 10.5-11 inches of snow in that snowstorm. Peonies are not up at all yet. Sure is different than last year when we had 70 & 80 degrees in March. I can wait.

When our blooms are done here, I'll get to enjoy the pictures of your peony blooms from the north. Today I have the pleasure of removing the pine straw mulch that I used to protect the peonies from the freezing weather. We're heading into the 60's for daytime temps this weekend. Annette

Looking good Annette. They look anxious to get the season going

Thanks Julia, I'm looking forward to some spring blooms.

The peonies in GA have enjoyed the warm weather and rain that we have been having, and it seems like they are visibly growing daily. Unfortunatley, we're getting below freezing again tomorrow night with a predicted temp of 28 degrees. I hope all the buds that are showing are going to be okay. Tree peony Shimanishiki has some nice fat buds, I'm looking forward to the blooms this year, this is it's second spring in the garden.



Last week I received my Valentine's gift that my DH ordered for me. I received tree peonies Coral Terrace (Shan Hu Tai) and Black Dragon Holds a Splendid Flower ( Wu Long Peng Sheng). They were both planted in the garden last Friday. Coral Terrace has 8 buds, and BDHaSF has at least 3 buds. We had a lot of rain yesterday, so they got a good dowsing of water.

Oooh, I can't wait to see pictures!! Someday our ground will thaw out and my peonies will start to emerge. I hope it's before June.

Annette: Wow, you are really getting a great start to the peony season. Hope they weathered the cooler temps.

A pic of another clump of the no name single pink of the same type as posted on the emile debatene thread.

'Roselette' obtained thru a co-op buy probably 2011.

A couple of teasers for those still looking at snow. Roselette tagged as 2010.

Early Scout tagged as 2009.

I'm enjoying the pics of the progress. Tease away as we've been having warmer temps but today, another dusting of snow but now all gone again. I did see some more pips breaking through so hopefully they don't get zapped too.

Question: On the ones that got blackened earlier by the freeze. Should I trim the tops off? Thanks.