I am with you, Liz. I have been frequenting the forums more than usual to see other people's garden activities. I have placed an order for only one peony since the beginning of this year. And that is Berry Garcia from MB. I guess I will wait until late summer to see what space is available for more peonies. Right now, the major damage has come from purchases of perennials, summer blooming bulbs, and roses. I think we are really going to get spring fever when it starts to warm up. Can't wait for March as I really look forward to see the spring bulbs in bloom. Are you doing any wintersowing this year?

Yeah, I have around 30 milk jugs out with various perennials. Wintersowing works much better for me than grow lights inside for perennials but I've had no luck at all with vegetables. Mostly my wintersowing is penstemons, blackberry/candy lilies and other perennials that I can't find at the nurseries here. It's pretty ridiculous, I started a huge new bed last year to plant mixed perennials in but bought so many peonies that I probably won't have room for anything else! I numbered all of the seed packets/containers as I planted them but never started a list. Sounds like a good project for next weekend, huh?

I bought several rose bushes last winter, waiting to see how they survive before getting any more! I also planted a bunch of lilies and daylilies and have more daylilies coming in the spring. A few irises, too.

Those are beautiful, Karen! I'm checking out that variety to see if they do well here, LOVE the colors! Also, did you see the thread I started on Adelman's? If you want a pink single species fernleaf you might want to order from them soon, www.peonyparadise.com. I just put in an order for that one and 3 others....

You might want to add some sand to the soil around the penstemon, they are a fairly low water tolerant plant. I have them growing in mulched beds here but CO is so dry....certainly not a bog plant! They are so pretty, though. I was actually pretty successful with wintersowing last year, had lots of false indigo, varieties of penstemon and agastache and lots of blackberry/candy lily. I seem to plant the same things every year but it's stuff that is pretty and the deer leave alone....also had Joe Pye Weed germinate and grow for the first time! Wintersowing works so much better for me than starting seeds indoors...

I agree. I was never successful growing plants indoors. I just do not have a good setup for them. They all got so leggy. There were 100 seeds in the Esprit penstemon packet. I sowed the whole packet and got about 50 plants. I kid you not. That was more plants than I expected and had to plant them in clumps. I think you are right about the Rocky penstemon. After I moved them, the two remaining plants did much better. But it was too late for them to bloom.

That is so exciting about the pink fernleaf. I have to check it out. Catch you later,

Karen

Mine seedlings inside were always really leggy and sometimes would mildew. Much easier wintersowing! By the way, the Rocky Mountain penstemon self seeds fairly easily and is perennial down to zone 4. I normally collect seed from it in mid-late summer and wintersow again. Penstemon is so easy and pretty and the deer don't like it!

I was pretty excited to see the pink fernleaf, too. I almost bought it last year for $150 but it was from a grower that I'd never dealt with before, one where you mail in a check, so I chickened out. I am so glad now! Got all of the peonies I wanted from Adelman's for less than I would've paid for the 1 fernleaf!

I am glad that you did not, Liz. There is such a wide disparity of prices that sometimes I just don't get. But I must say that for Adelman to charge only $30 for the pink fernleaf, it just sounds too good to be true. That is why I wonder that their rosea p. tenufolia is the original or whether it is a strain. Anyway, at that price and with their reputation, I just can't pass up. Maybe they have a glut this year and they need to sell them fast.

Can't believe that we are going to get a warm up tomorrow and Monday. I really need to do alot of cleanup in the garden. This will be my chance.

The Adelman's are very knowledgeable peony growers and their posting specified that it was the species rather than a hybrid. I don't think they'd want to take the hit to their reputation by bait and switch tactics. Think I'll email their customer service and ask, last time Carol Adelman answered me herself. They had a few peonies well below the highest price advertised amongst the big growers this year, Mackinac Grand for instance was only $28 when it was over $100 in other offerings.

Lucky you, warming up on Monday! We're supposed to get over a foot of snow between now and then....I hate non-ending-feeling winter!

Sent an email to Adelman's asking about the species pink fernleaf and received the following reply:

Liz,

The P. tenuifolia rosea is the species peony, not one of the hybrids.

We don’t find the species peonies being that special, they don’t always grow well for everyone, some places they do really good and other places they don’t like it as much.

They like the soil type and conditions they came from, and seem to take more care.

I can raise the price if you want…. Just kidding.

Thank you, thank you for being one of our customers!

Glad you enjoy the catalog!

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Kady Adelman

Adelman Peony Gardens

That sounds wonderful, Liz! I am so happy they make it affordable for us. And thank you for writing to them to inquire. Apparently, the weather forecast changed the last minute and instead of the low 40's I was expecting, we got 2 inches of snow and 20's so no garden cleanup for me this past weekend.

We had a bit of a warmup, high 30's to low 40's, just enough to make all of the snow slushy before the temps dropped to the teens today.....Supposed to be back in the 40's by the weekend but I think we have too much snow for it to go away quick!