Thanks for the acorn, Tracey.

Coral Sunset, which normally starts the Coral Parade has unusually small, stunted blooms. I am disappointed, but hope they still fade.

I love the corals, I moved my abalone pearl last fall. A piece must have broken off and now I have 2 small stems coming up in the original location. So interesting. The root piece is small and very close to the surface. I guess I'll just leave it alone and see what happens

Ruthanna, that is great. Will the one you moved bloom this year?

It has many buds, I'm thinking it will.

I had several corals in anchorage but only brought Pink Hawaiin Coral to Virginia. DH's choice. I may have too many pinks and TP type lavenders. Or will have if the TP's ever bloom..

Miss these peony posts.

bumplbea said: Miss these peony posts.

• Chinese Peony (Paeonia lactiflora 'Felix Supreme')
• Uploaded by SoCalGardenNut

• Peony (Paeonia lactiflora 'Monsieur Jules Elie')
• Uploaded by SoCalGardenNut

• Intersectional Peony (Paeonia 'Canary Brilliants')
• Uploaded by SoCalGardenNut

Socal took many wonderful photos of her flowers and gardens. Not only she grew beautiful flowers but also took great photos of them too.

I hope all is well with her and her beautiful garden…
Sending lots of good vibes her way and she is missed.

Same here. I hope she is enjoying her peonies. We surely would love to see her photos again.

Today's blooms

Raspberry Charm




I think the cold got to Triphena Parkin. She bloomed as a single this year. So disappointing. I covered her every time it got below freezing.



Colonel Owen Cousins
Very dependable. I never covered it.



Coral Charm just opened. Another one seemingly impervious to cold




Prairie Butterflies

I love Prairie Butterflies. So delicate.

Thanks for the acorn, Bea. Glad you like Prairie Butterflies Mary Stella.

Wow, so beautiful, LG! I too love Prairie Butterflies! And Colonel Owen Cousins is gorgeous! That's as perfect bloom as it gets. So glad I am adding it this year. Triphena Parkin has lovely colors too.

Triphena Parkins is so ethereal as a single. I actually love it!

Does the "big freeze" refer to the March cold when we had mid-teens after protracted unusually warm weather? Sunset Coral here has fewer buds, but it can be inconsistent from year to year. Prairie Moon has few buds, but I moved the entire clump last fall. I wish I had divided it. I divided a big chunk of White Frost, which didn't bloom at all last year. This year, the mother plant has many buds. Lemon Chiffon has not that many buds--second year in a row, after a very floriferous year in 2021.

Luscious Colonel Owens. Yes, Minnie Shaylor here is a later one.

Coral Charm here not as many buds, but neighbor Red Red Rose is good. (Both fairly early here.)

Yes Mantis, I had a night where it got down to 16.5° F after the majority of my early peonies were up and had buds. I covered some, but I am not able to cover everything.
My Prairie Moon had buds and every one of them turned black. Same thing happened with Greenland, Vanilla Schnapps, and on and on. I'm really down hearted about it as the plants looked so promising!

We all have weather challenges, but they seem to be more extreme lately.

I do see that pattern of a good bloom season followed by sparse blooms the next year too. Who knows why that happens!

I look forward to seeing your photos.

So sorry for you LG just hope you have no more freezing nights and no more storms good luck from here on.

Mantis, I have the same problem as you with some peonies doing really well and some don't do as well. It is a hit and miss thing with some peonies. I think LG is right in that some peonies seem to take a year off and then become floriferous again the next year. I find this happening more with established peonies. Though I have to say that my corals are rather vigorous and consistent, particularly Coral Charm. It seems to produce a bud per stem every year.

LG, I am so sorry to hear that you had such a bad winter for peonies. The mild temps in Jan and Feb and then very cold temps in March is definitely a bad combination for peonies. I think you wrote that you were 2-3 weeks ahead of normal this year. I found that Vanilla Schnapps buds are very susceptible to cold temps after they reach a certain stage. Last year, I had only one bloom from VS because all of the other buds were damaged by late freezes. The reason I had this bloom was because it came up later than the other ones so was not damaged. Due to the loss of last year's buds, the bush seems to make up for last year by putting up many buds this year. The clump is also bigger too! So take heart in that all the green growth from the unbloomed bush will go into growing more stems for more flowers next year.

Mieko2 said: Yes Mantis, I had a night where it got down to 16.5° F after the majority of my early peonies were up and had buds. I covered some, but I am not able to cover everything.
My Prairie Moon had buds and every one of them turned black. Same thing happened with Greenland, Vanilla Schnapps, and on and on. I'm really down hearted about it as the plants looked so promising!

We all have weather challenges, but they seem to be more extreme lately.

I do see that pattern of a good bloom season followed by sparse blooms the next year too. Who knows why that happens!

I look forward to seeing your photos.

Sorry about the buds that succumbed to the freeze. Your peony's named are very pretty in bloom. The peony season isn't over here hasn't yet begun really. I agree weather has been far more extreme the past 3-4 years. Most of my plants have adjusted well. Some of the others not so much. Sometimes I accept that a long time garden plant has been slowly declining from the extremes. But by taking cuttings or seed helps knowing in the future they will grow back.