Hi Kathy,
I can't contain my excitement for the coming spring either. I bought a bunch of peonies this past fall and I hope that I would see some blooms this spring. Although they all said not to expect much blooms the first season, I still hope for the best. I bought two Itoh, Bartzella and Pastel Splendor and about 30 herbaceous cultivars. I also got Abalone Pearl and your picture of it is gorgeous. I am really excited to see some of my Saunders lobata hybrids that I planted bloom. Although I have never seen their blooms in real person, their pictures are just absolutely amazing. Do you grow any Saunders lobata hybrids?

Sorry haven't posted in awhile, Holidays & such. I don't have any hybrids, just about the 7 or so I named. I heard same thing about 1st year, but about 1/2 my plants gave me flowers. can't wait to see this spring.
The whole reason I found this forum is they started coming up in Feb ( there's still lots of winter left here in Jersey then) I was looking everywhere for what to do. Funny thing is the answer was nothing, they were fine.
Will be sure to post pics when I get blooms, Good Luck with yours!!

Kathy, how long have you had the Kirinmaru? Have you seen it bloomed yet? How about Sorbet? Do you have pictures of these two peonies in bloom? I am thinking of getting these two peonies from Springhill Nursery as they are on sale. Would you recommend them? Thanks.

I'm looking forward to receiving some Tibetian tree peonies in a couple of months. These are the tallest type which produces an abundance of yellow flowers, but they happen to be smaller than average.

I'm also waiting for all kinds of tree peony seedlings to sprout up as well as some itoh peony divisions which would be questionable on whether or not they are viable.

KOUSA,
The Kirinmaru was just planted in fall. The sorbet was fall 2011, had a healthy plant last year but no blooms. Springhill is reliable & they give you a good amount of time to get refund/replace if the plant fails. I had gotten Allium bulbs from them that didn't come up in spring, they replaced with no problems.
Snow coming today.........come on spring!!
Kathy

Thanks, Kathy. I just placed the order for the Kirinmaru and some lily of the valley from Springhill. Some say spring is not a good time to plant peony, but I just could not help it. Price is too good to pass up.

Will definitely post pic if Kirinmaru gives me blooms! I've heard same about peony planted in spring, good luck!

Can't wait to see Raspberry Firefly, Little Red Hen, Pink Jitterbug, Port Royal for their second season and Itoh Singing In The Rain and Lemon Dream this year. It will be their first season for bloom. I attached a picture of Raspberry Firefly and will try to find pictures of the Little Red Hen and Pink Jitterbug and Port Royal from last season.

Oops, here is Raspberry Firefly from last year.

Wow, those are big ants on your peony flower. You have a lot of nice peonies waiting for you in spring. I have been considering getting itoh peony Singin in the Rain. But it is really expensive. Hopefully it will come down in price this fall. Please post pics and how it performs for you this spring.

I have a few peonies that I'm looking forward to blooming this spring;
Bartzella, Command Performance, Coral Sunset, Festiva Maxima, Goldilocks, Kirinmaru, Pink Hawaiian Coral, Red Grace, Rose Heart, Sarah Bernhardt, Sorbet, White Frost, and an old antique red one handed down four generations.

Some of mine are small and are just getting enough eyes to make a pretty plant when in bloom. I love peonies!

A few Sarah Bernhardts, a few more that aren't "named", but I believe to be Sarah Bernhardt, and a Karl Rosenfield. I don't have the best luck growing peonies in our clay soil, not to mention I'm not very experienced at gardening, I just hope they all make it.

We've had a nice stretch of spring this week so have been cleaning up the peony bed. I too can't wait!

The large green bush in the foreground is Coral Charm, and the bushy green way in the distance is Carnation Bouquet - both have buds already. All 13 made it through the winter, although the plants I purchased as bare root continue to out perform the 3 I purchased in containers. The bed is entering its 4th year, although a few were purchased more recently.

It's getting exciting!

WOW! What zone are you in? Your plants look weeks ahead of mine. Mine are just budding up through ground. Come on Spring!

Yeah, WOW! Probably 1/4 of mine are still encased in iced over snow and those that aren't are barely showing eyes swelling. Mine won't be that big for another 6 weeks or so.
I have a major re-tagging exercise to go through this spring, had a lot of early labels fade away to non-existence and I didn't map where things were planted. I'm hoping this forum will help id some photos when I finally get blooms.....

I keep forgetting my zone - Portland, Oregon.

I complain a bit too much about our grey rainy fall thru springs, but the mild temps do give us early and lasting blooms. We've had a drier than normal winter, and partly sunny and warm weather all week allowing me to weed and clean up earlier than ever. The peonies and roses are loving it.

Hang on - your peonies are coming!

I think I have a lot of seedlings just waiting to sprout out as I am just starting to see the early ones now.

It looks like a lot of my tree peonies have flower buds on them, and most of them are only going on their 2nd year in the ground. One of my tree peony seedlings might be getting close to the flowering size as well.

Here's a sign of new life. I have a few of them popping out already. I hope it does OK with the freeze early next week.