lol meant to spell- smell

My Festiva Maxima's are pure white with flecks of red on the inside. Mine are coming up after being moved, too, so I'm excited!

does anyone know where to buy these? I just saw them at teh BBG and fell in love with htem. How long do they bloom?
Michelle

I was reading somewhere that Peonies will not bloom south of BHam because of insufficient cooling times in the winter.

Has anyone had them bloom south of town? I am in Alabaster, and I just planted 6 peony plants this year. They are all about 6" high now, and I'm hoping to prove that website wrong!!

:)

I live in Prattville and mine have bloomed. I have a friend that had them in Montgomery.
It may depend on the variety. I'm not real knowledgable just like them.
Lynn

Sometimes peonies will bloom south of Birmingham and sometimes not. It is said there was a lady in Montgomery who died a few years ago who had 300-400 and they bloomed well each year. After she died, they never bloomed again, so she must have had some secret that the children, who inherited her home, did not know.

I have peonies in Prattville and some years they bloom and some they do not and it is not necessarily related to chill as some years when winter has been mild, they bloom. However, about the time they bloom, here comes the heat and zaps them. I don't think the Lord wanted me to have peonies and delphiniums in Prattville, otherwise, he would have made them so that they would do better.

Michelle, I bought my peony at Myers in Pelham. bcb77, mine was blooming in Helena last year and another house in my neighborhood has a huge one!

Joy

YAY! That is great news for me. I'm so happy to hear about y'all having luck with these gorgeous flowers bloomin in our neck of the woods. I LOVE the way they look, and I'm hoping to have some beauties within the next few years.

Thanks for the reassurance!
Beth

I live in Gadsden and have some beautiful double pink peonies -- one a transplant from my daughter's 70+ year old house in North Carolina and one I bought I-remember-not-where. They've been putting on lots of buds and the first blooms are beautiful, but the rest of the buds turn brown and die. They bloom pretty early, before the weather gets hot and muggy. As summer comes on the foliage always dies back and I just have to cut them down, leaving bare spots in the garden. They have always come back the next spring. Any suggestions besides throwing them out?

Plant something that is deciduous and will appreciate the room. Or maybe put in a clematis, or what about some annuals?

Or you could plant them in containers and move them to a less-noticeable spot after they bloom. That is what I do with mine.

Catbird, I just saw a post in the Hostas forum that shows a hosta and a peony. It's titled "Peony Support" and the picture is great. Since you cut back your peonies anyway, maybe putting a hosta with it to cover the gap would work.

How much sun does that spot get?