Ezra Pound 2013

Ezra Pound was the second peony plant to bloom this year.  This is a lovely plant.  The flower is large and has a smell like a rose.  The flower closes at night, and opens again during the day.  This is a tree peonies and is just spectacular.  This year there is three blossoms.

 The purple high lites really bring this flower to life.  Next year this plant will be stronger and have more flowers.

Roselette 2013?

Here it is, the first long weekend, and Roselette is the first to bloom again this year.

 

He is still a pink flower, but look very different than last year.  He is two years old now and has more than doubled in size.  This plant is close to the ground with many flower heads. Nine this year.  There is a shoot coming out of the ground ten inches away from the main plant. He is spreading already.

The flower heads start out a deep red, but by the time they open it is pink.  The season for peonies has begun. 

 This promises to be a very good year. I should have lots of different peonies to share with you. 

 

This peony came to me with the wrong label.  It was marked as Chocolate Soldier.  Thanks for the people that commented that it was the wrong cultivar.   It forced me to investigate further and confirm it was the wrong root sent.  I must  take this flower out of the red bed and move the flower in the fall.  Now I understand why it was such a surprise late year. I have talked with the grower and need help to identify this plant.  If anyone knows what it is please let me know.

Dreaming the winter away

I have decided that bare roots in the fall is the way to go with peony purchases.  I have picked out already the plants that I need to complete my garden.  In all I will have about 120 varieties of plants.  They have different growing times, so there will be blossom from May until late June.  By the beginning of 2014 all of the beds will be full, some of the plants will already be three years old.  Some will be two years old and a handful will only be one year old.  I have a layout of the garden so that I can remember which plant is which.  I have been searching web  sites from around the world to find just the right colour and shape to complete the garden.  Winter or a hot summer day is a great time to plan.  I will keep you posted on the new additions to the garden.  This certainly has been an adventure.  I did end up with a few extra pink flowers and started another bed by the pool.  There are so many different plants to choose from.  I have meet a few of the growers in person and have emailed many of them.  Gardeners are very friendly people.  Sharing your passion with others is the best humane connection.  This year I hope to enter a couple of the flowers in the show in Oshawa.  Only three more months until peonies are blooming again, until then I can keep dreaming....

Seasons Greetings

Roots Arrived!

The roots that I ordered have started to arrive.  There were some last minute substitutions that changed things a little, some last minute purchases, and all of the roots from the Internet were lovely.  My collection in growing.  Some of the roots took a long time to arrive so I soaked them in water before planting.  They came with lots of eyes to bring flowers in the spring. The soil is still warm and wonderful to work with. This is the right time to plant the roots.  The roots will send out the small hairs to secure the roots into the soil. I will wait one more year for the seedlings before transplanting them in the test beds.  It will be a long time before they bloom.  They are already 2 years old.
It is time to cut down the foliage of the plants from this season.  Some of the plant leave have turned a lovely fall colour.

I have the entire winter to dream of the new plants and how they will look. I still need to add some yellow and white peonies to the collection.  The pinks, reds, and coral beds are all full now.  I have already picked the flowers for next year.  I will be trying some new growers again.  North America has lots of growers to pick from.  They vary in size of growers, but the plants all have the same good quality.

Happy planting.

 

Plannning for the fall

I went to growers to pick the flowers for next year, taking pictures to remember the flower and the name.

I have been looking for flowers to add to the collection.  I have decided on a couple of paths to go down.  I have been looking for plants with family member's names in the plants like: Helen, Robert, Dad, Margaret, Mr. Ed, Lauren and Lovely Louise.

The second path is very old heritage plants. Looking at the Internet, old books researching the names and where they might be available.  I am also trying to find out the names of some of the plants I have.

I did buy some plants for the colour to complete more of the garden.  I expanded the garden to fit more plants.  It also will help with the tulips I planted last year.  The idea was to have a flower that would bring interest to the garden before the peonies, but they did not look nice when the flowers were finished.

Now the tulips will bloom and then the peonies will come out and distract your attention away from the tulips and concentrate on the beautiful peonies.  The soil will be well prepared for the roots to arrive this fall, and hopefully bloom next spring.
Gardening has always been about planning and preparing the soil.  These plants will live longer than me, if they are properly planted in good soil.  I hope not to loose as many this spring.  Today is hot and windy.  Not a good day to be in the garden, so planning is the thing to do.  In three years, this garden will be breath taking.

Red Charm

We survived the heavy winds.  There are leaves everywhere, bird feeders flung across the yard, tree branches on the ground but most of the peonies are okay. 
Red charm and Coral Charm are blooming. Red Charm is a bomb.  The American Peony Society describes a bomb as the outer ring of guard petals are larger than the center.  The center forms a closely rounded ball.  The heavy winds damaged some of the guard petals, but it could not stop the sweet aroma. This is a lovely red flower and well worth having.  This one came as a bare root in the fall from Peonies From the Field and has 5 blossoms on it.  It was a last minute choice, but I am so glad that I have it.

The flower is small this year, so next year it should be just spectacular.

So in the garden there are five different flowers blooming.  Prairie Moon, Bartzella, Coral Charm, Red Charm, the pink single from my Aunt's house.  Soon the rest will be blooming too.  It is an unusual year and everything is early.

Thanks for stopping bye.