This is NOT a Bonus!

This is NOT a bonus!

Yes, I know you haven't seen me here for awhile. That's what having four grandchildren and being "retired" will do.

It has been an unusual spring so far with many of our plants just loving the cooler, damper weather while our bearded iris have been slow coming and looking for heat. Me, not so much. The tree peonies in our display beds have been blooming quite happily and our herbaceous and Itoh are budding nicely.

Each year someone will ask us about the "bonus" peony growing with his or her tree peony. This is NOT a "bonus"! The tree peonies we sell and the majority you find on the market for sale, are grafted. Tree peony stock is grafted onto a common garden variety root. We always tell people to plant the tree peony a couple of inches deeper than the level it is at in the pot. The tree peony will then set its own roots and the "mother" root will die off. Before this occurs or if the tree peony was not planted deep enough, the garden peony will send up stems and if allowed to grow, will eventually take over and kill off the tree peony which we certainly would not want to occur.

Tree Peony with "mother plant" coming up from the base.

To prevent this, you need to cut the stems completely to the ground. "But they look so healthy!" you may say and "Isn't it nice that I have a lovely pink peony to go along with my lovely yellow tree peony?" NO! You may feel mean snipping away, but your tree peony will be forever ( a good forty years or better) grateful that you have eliminated the intruder from its base. It is a good idea to mound up a couple of inches of soil at the bottom also if you think you did not plant deep enough originally.

Herbaceous Peony Leaves

Knowing what to cut is easy once you are aware of the difference in leaf structure. The herbaceous plant has leaves that are shaped differently and much smoother and shinier as seen in the accompaning photos.

Tree Peony Leaves

 

Tree Peony Leaves

Herbaceous Peony Leaves

                                                                                        
As always if you have any questions, send us an email and we will gladly try to help you with any peony or other gardening inquiries.

Have fun in the garden!
Cheryl

Tree Peonies-And So It Begins!

Kinkaku



John and I attended the New Jersey Floral & Garden Show followed by New York In Bloom Flower Show at the Albany State Museum while visiting with our grandchildren, Vehicle Boy and the Fairy Princess and both visits made us anxious for "digging in the dirt". That, my friend, is a little impossible for us here at Pittsgrove at the moment since our dirt is still under a blanket of snow that the Olympic folks would be happy to have on Cypress Mountain in Vancouver! The only digging has been by our native white tail deer who have foraged throughout our property for some tender shoots to nibble upon.

Just as John was starting to get twitchy from having to implement his snow shovel while the garden trowel collects dust in the barn, our friendly UPS man appeared with a shipment of tree peony grafts for us. John's face lit up the way Vehicle Boy's does upon the acquisition of a new Match Box car. Now he had something to do that didn't involve the movement of snow.


Tree peonies are so darn beautiful and pretty darn carefree once planted in the right location. Rather than deteriorating with age, these plants just get more spectacular with each passing year---I try to convince John and our sons that I'm doing the same as I age, but they're not buying that theory!

After John removed the one year peony grafts (tree peonies are grafted onto herbaceous stock) from their packing material, he soaked them in a bucket of water to rehydrate them since they have been dormant for a few months. After soaking for at least an hour, he potted each of them in a 2 gallon container making sure the graft and at least one bud were buried beneath the potting mix.

A third to a half of those plants John just potted will bloom this year. But with each year to come the size of the plant will increase and number of blossoms will multiply, maturing in 5-8 years. Tree peonies reach heights of 2 1/2'-5' tall and blossoms reaching 5-6" across.


Hoki






Although this batch was all yellow, we intend to have approximately125 plants in 8-9 varieties this year, ranging in age from 2-4 years old. Unlike their herbaceous cousins, tree peonies require partial shade and some protection from drying winds. With proper planting these lovely plants will reward you for many, many years to come.
Sahohimi

Just a reminder for those of you in our area, The Philadelphia International Flower Show starts this Sunday February 28 and runs through March 7. This is the premier event of its kind and if you have never attended, you will be blown away by the outstanding displays.

Think Spring!
Cheryl

Dig It-Garden Treasure-Intersectional Peony

Everyone who comes to Pittsgrove wants to know what that big yellow bushy thing is in the garden. What they are referring to is Garden Treasure which is an Intersectional (Itoh) peony, a cross between an herbaceous and tree peony. Intersectionals have the flower of a tree peony, but bloom later and much longer, with buds that continue to open up to four weeks. If given the room, Garden Treasure will grow up to 5' across and 2 1/2-3' high with dozens of yellow, lemon scented flowers and make a nice cut flower if you dare to cut them.


Don Hollingsworth of Hollingsworth Nurseries introduced it and it has earned many medals and awards, including the Certificate of Merit from the American Peony Society in 1984 and three time Grand Champion at the American Peony Society Annual Exhibit.

Dig It - Banquet Tree Peony

Banquet Tree Peony
I just finished planting the last of our tree peonies for the year. All of the buds on our display and potted tree peonies are really beginning to swell and you can expect to see blooms on tree peonies before their herbaceous relatives begin to flower. Although their bloom time is short lived, they retain their attractiveness throughout the summer due to their interesting foliage.

What fabulous plants to have in your garden. They last for years and get better with age with larger and more abundant flowers. (My wife tells me she is getting better with age---who knows???). Once planted a tree peony often will out live you (something else the wife is planning to do!).

Banquet tree peony is one of the first generation hybrid seedlings from Saunders in 1941. Any plant that is still around that long deserves a place of honor in your garden! Large semi-double flowers of a strawberry red with touches of gold on the undersides of the petals and cut-leaved foliage make this a landscape standout.

Tree peonies are grafted on herbaceous peony roots and need to form their own roots. Therefore, make sure you plant your tree peony deep enough so it will begin to form roots from the top graph.

Centuries ago the Chinese dubbed the tree peony the "King of Flowers" and once you establish one in your garden, I'm certain you will agree.