Tree peonies finally making some good growth for 2014

Ever since May, it looks like most of the tree peonies have started to take off, and many of them have flower buds which should start blooming in about 3 weeks.

Some of the Japanese tree peonies with flower buds. They tend to make their vertical growth very quickly, and then leaves increase in size afterwards.

In ground peonies waking up after a warm week 2014

Finally, most of my peonies have broken out of their shells, so here are the photos. We just had 2 days of temperatures over 80F which will make many plants including peonies break their dormancy.

Herbaceous

Taking a look at the results from tree or itoh peonies grafted last fall

One of the things I experimented with is the grafting of some tree and itoh peonies and I'm finding that there has clearly been bud swelling from these grafted plants which is a clear indication that the grafts have taken. I have taken them from scions and nurse roots of all sizes ranging from the 1/4 inch diameter stuff to 3 inch diameter/ 5lb nurse roots attached to a whole tree peony branch. The purpose of this is to see the results and learn from them so I can develop an understanding of the true requirements of getting successful grafts.

Here's one of the massive ones where I take the biggest herbaceous nurse roots I can find, and hook it up with a nice big branch and these seem to be taking very well as expected. The buds are fattening up on the scion meaning that energy from the nurse root is already getting pumped in there.

Removing the tarps for good to let the give tree peonies some air

My peonies have been tarped for 3-4 months now, and I can finally get a sneak peak into the results. Some of them have done a good amount of growth underneath the tarps even though the average outdoor temperatures has lingered only around 32F for the past 2 weeks. It has been colder than average for the entire winter however it looks like the ground will no longer freeze so it should be safe to expose them to the air.

Here are some of the tree peonies that have really sprouted fairly well. The Chinese tree peonies seem to sprout way sooner than the Rockii ones. 

Propagating some Tree peonies

I visited Cricket Hill Gardens last weekend, and came back with some seeds and scions. I have germinated them from seed successfully in the past so it shouldn't be a problem this time around with fresh seeds.

These are supposed to be white Rockii tree peonies.

They are supposed to germinate next spring since they are still yellowish and have their moisture.

Peony update, almost fully leafed

In the last post, all the peonies were just waking up, but it has been 4 weeks since then, and they are almost fully grown for the year. Peonies tend to make almost all their growth before June which is when they typically flower.

Here are a few Japanese tree peonies which are noticeably larger and healthier than they were last year so most of them shouldn't be relying on their herbacous nurse roots anymore.

Some of them have flower buds already on their 2nd year as grafted plants.

Distinguishing all kinds of peonies

I like growing as many kinds of peonies as possible so I've grown them from seed as well as purchased many plants to get together a nice collection. I'm not even too concerned about the names anymore, but I am able to tell their age, and whether they are herbaceous, itoh or tree peonies just by their appearance. I'm only selecting no more than 7 of each type as it would be too long of a blog post to post hundreds of photos.

Here are some 1st year tree peonies which are just starting to come out this year. They usually make no more than 1-3 leaves on the 1st year while there has been a case where I've gotten 6 leaves before. These have just started coming out after a good week of rain and temperatures slightly above freezing.