One of my peonies is BLOOMING! I thought I'd share this with my fellow Californians =). I planted them late Feb 2005 - early March 2005 in 2 gallon nursery pots. You bet I'll be planting them on the ground come fall.
Please meet PRIMAVERA. Thanks for stopping by.
Annapet
...another shot.
Moonglow - absolutely gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing!
~Rachael
Holy Smokes!
I sure do hope ours can pass the test. That flower is fabulous. Thanks for sharing Moonglow.
best,
Don
I do love that cultivar. It's lovely. I have two flowers that are about to open and I'm so happy. I think that I'm too easily pleased though.
hiya doss,
fancy finding you here where peonies are blooming. Great to see you, and once again, Moonglow, that flower is exquisite!
thank you for looking and for the cheers! my "sebastian maas" opened today. first season also. i didn't expect this at all. my peonies don't even have much foliage, and they were all 2-eyed rhizomes when i got them. this is encouraging me to grow more varieties, perhaps the earlier blooming ones (if some cultivars bloom in april). just so they don't get burned.
i'm easily pleased, too! i jump for joy when one of my plants start leafing out =))).
this is MORE FRAGRANT than primavera. bloom is 6" across (the range is 5"-7"). i'm putting a mark on this one since my son thought it was so much fun to remove all the markers.
Moonglow, those are beautiful. I had just made up my mind to stop looking at peonies when I saw your thread -- glad I looked. :-)
oh, thanks, kaperc. do you grow them also? i heard they can be grown in socal as well. 2 more bloomed today. same cultivars though.
This message was edited May 31, 2005 8:57 AM
ack, can i edit the photo once posted? i meant to attach a different shot.
This message was edited May 31, 2005 8:56 AM
here's a backlit shot just for fun.
"sorbet" (?)
Just marvellous!!
=) thanks, don. i am such a show off, aren't i? lol. i don't grow much...such a newbie.
My white Peony was just about to bloom and then the flowers balled up and are sort of rotting. Bummer.
sorry to hear that, doss. some of my peony buds were eaten off by bugs. i'm glad i didn't pluck what was left of "bowl of beauty." it still bloomed: the center and a couple of outer petals.
i'll look for threads about seeds.
All I know is that such blossoms deserve the kind of sharing you've given them so that other non-chlorophylls can comment on how lovely they are.
I certainly hope you'll continue to share your successes with us as they continue to show off.
Just bloody fabulous!
Don
After admiring peonies in the catelogs for years, I just got my first one a few months ago at that pinacle of horticultural refinement, Orchard Supply Hardware. It was a one-gallon job, and I put it in the middle of a BIG pot surrounded by some perenial blue trailing lobelia I am also trying out. So far the peony's foliage is good, but I don't see any buds. I was starting to wonder if they'll grow here in CA, so I very much appreciate the encouragement of your gorgeous photos. The backlit one is my favorite -- it sure looks like a glowing moon to me. That should be your theme photo, Moonglow!
thanks =))).
here's the latest and probably the last one for the season - - - DOREEN. my costco find that started it all peony-wise for me. quite a short plant, not even a foot. but can grow up to 32". been raining all morning and she's soggy. the wind is picking up and i thought i'd take some photos now before she gets beaten.
Truly lovely flowers! An addiction is a terrible thing to waste...lol. Looks like your's is being fed nicely.
I speak from the perspective of a confirmed species orchid addict.
thanks for sharing Moonglow!
best to you,
Don
Has anyone tried CA native peonies? I can't find much about them. They certainly won't compete with the beauty of these varieties, but I was just wondering if anyone has seen them.
you're hurting me Moonglow!! lol
how can you be in zone 10 and get peonies to bloom? i am in zone 9 and was convinced it's b/c we don't get enough frost that mine don't bloom...and i can't help myself, each year i buy more though they NEVER ever bud!!!!! we just moved to a place that does get ground frost in winter, and i thought for sure this year they'd do it, but ...alas. I just cut most of them to the ground to make room for other flowers, OK i'll admit it was part punishment too.
any hope for me? anyone????
p.s. we do get good sun, last place was partial sun here is full. soil is excellent. ...
Where is a good nursery in the Bay Area for peonies?
thank you all again for the cheers. my peonies haven't decided to "sleep" just yet. still storing energy for their 2nd season. i'm not sure either if i'll get to take them out of their 2g pots. maybe they got a better winter because they were potted. of course, i'm just speculating.
i see more EYES already.
marisyl, i don't know if we have local nurseries that specialize in peonies. i'm just waiting for costco to carry them again.
i hope you are all enjoying the season.
Could use any idea, how to grow peony in Point Richmond - should I throw some ice bags on them come winter ?
Hi Marmalade,
I wondered about peonies blooming in 10A, and I don't see where Moonglow answered about that... what I do see is that they were planted in Feb 05 and the blooms photographed in May-June 05, and not since... so I wonder if those plants were actually wintered somewhere cold (or the walk-in freezer) and brought to SoCal...
I don't think you can fool plants that have a frost/chilling requirement with icebags, though.
kaperc: I have *seen* the native peony -- but not for sale, only on the SanJuan Creek nature loop, along Ortega Hwy.
~'spin!~
Hi Moonglow,
The pictures you have shared with this thread are lovely. I live in Santa Barbara, CA and have wanted to try growing herbaceous Peonies for years. Since we will be relandscaping our front yard this fall I thought this is as good a time as any to try growing them. I would be planting the rhizomes directely in the ground and would appreciate any advice that you can share from your growing experience. Where we live we rarely have a freeze and don't know if this is a factor in successfully growing them. Since our nurseries do not offer Peonies have you or the rest of the California growers purchased from mail order companies? I notice just about every mail order catalog offers them so want to make sure to buy from a reliable nursery.
Hi Barb and all,
I had a revelatory experience visiting a local peony nursury after 3 years of no success getting my peonies to bloom. (And I kept buying more each year being the junkie most of us DGers seem to be LOL)
I was convinced my issue was lack of frost, but after moving to an area that does frost some (zone 9 to 8) and still no blooms I almost gave up. But after seeing this AMAZINGLY beautiful garden/nursery and speaking with the owner I realized what my problems had been:
1. bought from Van Bourgondien, notorious for selling tiny, immature stock; it actually does take 2-3 years for most of their peonies to start blooming!
2. in California, it's important to plant the root eye at or slightly above ground level.
I now have beautiful blooming peonies, growing more buds each year!
Here is a link to her planting tips page http://4irises.com/PeonyInformation.html
I would LOVE to participate in a co-op with their stock, tree and/or standard!!
Best,
Tatyanna
Hi Tatyanna,
I don't know if my first response to your reply will post or not. . . .my ever faithful internet provider was off again. Getting to be a pain with them.
Anyway, I wanted to say thank you for your reply and let you know how helpful it was. I visited the Hyperlink you provided and enjoyed the walk through their Peony gardens. This appears to be a great source for purchasing the roots when they become available.
Years ago when we were visiting my mother-in-law, she cut a huge bouquet of peonies from her garden and it took a second for me to fall in love with them. So when they become available I'll order and plant and look forward to their lovely blooms in the years to come.
You must be so happy with your plants! Thanks again.
Barb
I am getting excited about this discussion of peonies that will bloom in Calif. I have only one now, Duchesse de Nemours-- a white one. It took about 5 years(!) before I got my first bloom and then the blooms increased each year until last year I had about a dozen--enough for a gorgeous, fragrant bouquet. Maybe it was the food and all the water I lavished on it that finally did it. Every spring I wait and wait for the first red shoots to poke through , thinking all the while that some gopher has eaten them or that the tuber has died. Then when I see the first red shoot I breathe a sigh of relief. I'll post a photo when they are open--usually the 2nd or 3rd week of May.
Thanks for posting that link and I hope others will post more photos and names of varieties that succeed.
Chris
my pleasure : )
ps. I was also told that they don't like to be transplanted and that any time you move them even just to raise them in soil level you may lose a year of blooming. That appears to be true...sad for me since I have landscape design deficiency and perpetually move stuff around! If you put a bunch of peonies together it makes for a pretty barren scape most of the year.
I wonder if anyone can recommend a good perennial garden design book that takes bloom times into account?
sevensisters:
Here are a few books that give garden plans by plant bloom time:
My favorites:
1. Succession Planting by Christopher Lloyd. The late Christopher Lloyd was truly the Master of layered planting at his home, Great Dixter. Lavishly illustrated with lots of plans and photos of the same bed at different times of the year. Note: this is based on the gardening seasons in England so you have to adjust the timetables a bit .
2. The Bold and Brilliant Garden by Sarah Raven. Plans with photos for different garden conditions--e.g. the sunny bed in High Summer, the shady bed in Late Summer, etc. Note: again this is based on gardening seasons in England. Also Sarah's color schemes are not shy and pastel as the title makes clear. Prepare for knockout oranges, magentas, purples, and acid greens. Sarah got her gardening start as a flower arranger and her choice of plants reflects that.
A couple of others I found on my shelves , but admittedly have not really tried: :>) maybe others can comment or add to this list.
3. Beds and Borders for Year Round Colour by Jill Cowley another English gardener
4. Continuous Bloom --A Month-ny-Month Guide to Nonstop Color in the Perennial Garden by Pam Duthie--A US based book that lists plants in month to month order by the month that they bloom. Her month of bloom is based on the midwest (IL) so you would still need to do a bit of calendar adjusting for Calif.
Hope this helps.
Chris
thanks! I will look them up : )
Chris,
Thanks for sharing your book list. I'll also check them out.
Barb
Duchesse de Nemours is finally in bloom! This is my only peony.
Edited to say that I am having some second thoughts about the id of this peony. Although I bought it as Duchesse de Nemours the occasional red flecks and the red on the buds is making me suspicious that this might be the more common Festiva Maxima. Also, I read that Duchesse should be crown shaped and Festiva Maxima is more rose shaped. Maybe I should watch as the blooms age and see what shape they tend towards. Anyone else with opinions on this?
Chris
This message was edited May 18, 2008 10:49 PM
I'm sooo impressed. I just tried a tree peony this year and I think it just died :? had it in a half oak barred and it was very slowly growing. I left for a week and when I came back last week the leaves were shriveled. Are peonies very sensative to watering? You all have such beautiful plants I love to join the peony party! but what the heck?
Shots are all lovely!
Visiting my mom's garden in Menlo Park first week in May.
She traces this Peony back 115 years in the Bay Area.
Pretty... that's all I know.
This message was edited May 21, 2008 6:51 PM
