Peonies (牡丹 the National flower of China) are my ultimate favorite flowers! They are extremely long lived perennial up to 100 years! I am always in awe with their unchallengeable beauties and I can’t get enough of them in every spring! Over the years I have accumulated over 60 plants, some I purchased, some from friends/family, some from dividing and some just grew from bits and pieces which were left there after I relocated the main plants. Most of them have been small, and not doing much! But for some reason they are doing really well this year, maybe all the showers and sunshine we have been getting this spring or they just finally mature… I have never seen this many buds on some of my older plants which is super exciting!
I will be updating my peony photos here as they bloom, so check back when you can and prepare to be amazed by these “Queen of flowers”!
Common peony meanings include romance, prosperity, good fortune, a happy marriage, riches, honor, and compassion.
Tree Peony, Shimadaijin April 29, 2020May 4. 2017
I bought this tree peony from a local Arboretum Annual Spring plant sale, didn’t know what kind or what color. I think it was a couple of years later in 2017 it finally had one bloom (above pic). This year it had total of 12 gorgeous blooms! It has been quite a few years, but I will say my patience paid off.
One of the first bloomers. I got Paula Fay last year, semi double peony, pretty short compared with my other ones. I just love the bright pink color!I bought this Itoh peony ( Itoh peony is a cross between tree and the herbaceous peony, also called the intersectional peony) bare root last year along with couple of other ones from Home depot. They barely survived last year, but the plants look quite nice this year. I am little disappointed with this bloom though, pretty small. But then again only her first year, have to be patient.I have had this one for a while now, always the very first herbaceous peony to bloom out of all my peonies! Very large 7 in. across blooms on strong stems, no support needed. Slightly fragrant, double and really dark burgundy color, quite striking!
Current photos of some of my peonies.
Normally when you see “Bowl of beauty” you’d think they look like the one on the left, but they both are on the same plant! Maybe as the plant mature the blooms mature as well…?So impressively beautiful! Large flowers up to 8 in, and they have a pleasant sweet scent! Love them!Theyare really big and heavy. The rain we had yesterday didn’t help, knocked those big flowers over, so they definitely need support! The sides shoots on the plant bloom nicely too, as you can see here the ones on the bothsides.Attar of Roses is by far the most fragrant peony in my opinion, perfume sweet rose scent, rose color blooms on the pretty strong stems, rarely need support! A true must have. We purchased an Attar of Rose (not knowing it) about 30 years ago, now I have about a handful of them {plants) and this is the first year they look really happy. They might not be the easiest going peony, but if you are patient with them, you’ll for sure enjoy this peony immensely!Buds just starting to open now (6/2), so they are pretty late in my garden. When I googled for this kind of peony, they all say AR are early or very early… I know the color the fragrance and the shape match the descriptions, just blooming time is not the same, so can’t be for sure…Perfect rose shape and top it with this sweet old fashion rose scent, you can’t go wrong with this one. A bouquet of Attar of Roses and Festiva Maxima, gorgeous!*6/28/21. Attar of Roses still holding on after 2 days of once in millennium extreme heat here in our area while others had long finished! Just another example how special this peony is, Amazing! This is my first Itoh Peony (purchased from local Fred Meyer on May 10th 2014) , and it is a generous gift from my mother-in-law JoAnn!After 6 years, she has reached her maturity with 50 some blooms on her both last year and this year (going to be). I will need to do some dividing this fall it looks like.Cora Louise, Itoh peony, this is the first time I see double flowers on it, pretty exciting! Also this is the first year there are flowers from last year’s stems! Another Surprise double on Cora Louise! So pretty! This plant started to bloom in 5/23/20, it’s been more than two weeks now, there still are a few blooms and a couple of buds on the plant, decent blooming season for an Itoh.The very special peony Chestine Gowdy, introduced in 1913, a dear friend Ginger got it for me in 2012, is one very unusually gorgeous peony! It never bloomed after that first year until this year. But it was quite sad bloom too! Nothing like the beauty it showed 4 years ago!!! Got to take good care of it from now on!!!Its leaves in early spring are very unusual, dark purple almost burgundy. These pix are taken on Apr 23,2018. Looks like it’s finally recovery 6 years later since I got it from Ginger!Coral Charm. I bought pkgs of bare roots in spring of 2018 from McLendon’s, a local hardware and garden center, and this was the only bloom I got last year! The rest of the plants were all in the survival mode. I am just fascinated by the color changes in different stages of this bloom…so incredibly beautiful! I will get more blooms from different Coral Charm plants, they all made it so far, thankfully! The following picture shows healthy Coral Charm in my garden this spring!Very interesting pattern on the back of the coral charms’ petalsThis is a huge “Coral Charm” bloom, so stunning!This is Coral Charm as well, but has different color tone, interesting.Bee flies are not bees, but flies! They have proboscises and they feed on nectar and pollen, some being important pollinators!Paula Fay peony is very short and stout compares with Attar of Roses, which is very nice no support is needed for her!The full double peony is so huge, and needs warm sunshine to open. Some years the big buds never opened, which was really sad. Hope they’ll open this year!6/2/20Sarah Bernhardt Still reluctant to open to full bloom. SB’s blooms are really big, and full double, so I found sometimes they don’t open especially the bigger main buds. It seems like they really need heat to give them a push to open, but if it’s too hot after they open, they just shrivel. So they take micro climate pretty seriously.
I am still having a hard time to properly identify this following beauty….
This is probably the most exquisite peony I have… The full bright pink double blooms are made of those rose like flowerets, so special! I was so amazed every time I look at them! Again I believe they have mature blooms on the mature plants!See the different blooms on the same plant! The bloom with cream in the middle is what I’ve been seeing previous years! Such a perfect double peony! Full double Festival Maxima is definitely one of my very favorites! The pure white with little crimson dotted on the center pedals or on the edges of some pedals. No matter how you look at them, they are just undeniably gorgeous, AND their fragrance is equally impressive! Bought this peony a couple of years ago in a local garden club sale, it labeled as “Cheddar Surprise”, but it turned out to be Green Halo! It surely is a SURPRISE, a pleasant one! The greenish while blooms are quite unique and special, and it’s sweet fragrant is delightful!It was not a very healthy looking plant when I got it, so I’m just super glad I get to see the blooms in just a couple of years.Opened on May 29, ’20 Emile Debatene is considered by some one of the most fragrant peonies out there! They are quite fragrant and very prolific! A friend gave her to me in the spring of 2018, in just a short two years she has grown into a pretty good size plant ,( well think about some peonies don’t even bloom for 2 or 3 years), I was quite surprised by it.This one I have not been able to find the exact match. Might be “Gardenia” or Mother’s Choice, or… The full double peony blooms later in the season. I also noticed in the previous years that the big buds I picked would not open in the vase which is one of the attributes “Mother’s Choice” has; and in the past they would be open white then turn into blush pink (champagne), another attribute MC has. But this year, it looks like she started out blush pink… so I don’t know what to say… Anyways no matter what her name is she is a real beauty! Perfectly rose formed double with a wonderful pleasant fragrance, although a bit touch, but I’m always convinced when looking at her that she is worth it!Same bloom, color faded to white 5 days later…I have this peony for quite some time, and I just moved her out to a new spot because she was to close to Buckeye Belle. I remember this plant blooms later in the season, and the flowers always shrivel quite fast because of the heat. So never have I seen the bloom is this beautiful, perfectly formed, slightly frosted on the edges of the pedals, truly amazing! This picture shows the frosted pedal edges really well, but the flower’s color is a bit off. And I just came across the bag this peony came about, her name is “Bunker Hill”.The color on this pic is closer to the true color. It is crazy how different cameras can capture the images with such a big color difference. I believe that is why it is hard to match the names to my peonies sometimes! I bought this one from a local garden club plant sale last year and not knowing what kind of peony she is! A later bloomer, might be a Raspberry Sundae… Have to wait for the plant to get bigger to know for sure.Such soft pink and cream colors, fragrant as well! Definitely a good buy!Got this Dr. Alex Fleming last year bare root, good there is this one bud for me to enjoy. What a gorgeous bouquet for Spring!
Well there are so many lovely Peonies out there, and apparently their blooms vary greatly in the different stages of the plant, so it is very difficult to really pin down their names! All we have to do is to just enjoy them and maybe share our favorites with one another.
*Somehow I thought I have posted last year, then I just noticed it still a draft. I might’ve taken it down to add on something, who knows. Well here it is again.
4 thoughts on “My peonies 2020*”
What can I say but STUNNING!! They are all truly beauties. Thank you for sharing
What can I say but STUNNING!! They are all truly beauties. Thank you for sharing
Thank you Diane, happy you like it.
Wow!! There are so many kinds! Did you get any new ones this year?
No new additions this year.