I am hoping to find Amateur Forest in this country. So far only Riviere seems to have it. But then they originated it. I still have plants that I was not able to get in the ground before the first freeze. Since Friday is supposed to be in the -teens F it may be a while before I can do more than just toss stuff on the roots and hope they do not freeze. I have not started looking for new/old cultivars for this year but believe I will be looking for more specie plants.

The weather here has been unusual for us. With forecast of -16 degrees later this week I am really glad we have a good blanket of snow on the ground and should pick up an additional 6" of snow tonite. This is very different from what we have had these past many years. We generally have no snow cover at all and the harsh cold is right on the peony buds that are at or just below the surface of the ground. I am really glad we have the insulating banket of snow protecting our peonies from such harsh elements.

I have several recent tree peony additions that I really am hoping to see first time bloom on. Maria Teressa, Oread, and Calypso are relatively new to my garden. Oread was the most promising in the fall with a large bloom bud just waiting for spring. Tree peonies are really interesting in the way they set themselves up in the fall. Here in my location by early September we can actually count the number of blooms we will have the following spring. Plump and rounded bloom buds look so different from the slender and pointed leafy stem producing buds. Is that counting your blooms before the eggs hatch?

On the herbaceous front I am hoping Lemon Chiffon will yield a bloom. I am wanting some of the pollen to cross pollenate onto Salmon Dream and backcross onto Pastelegance. The Lemon Chiffon is pretty small and I may be overzealous in trying to get a bloom from it so soon.

Leon

I am starting a new peony collection. Please help. What do you need?

What do you want your collection to do? Start early, run late. Colors. Textures flower and foliage.

Im glad I caught this thread, I to want to start a collection. I rent I have lived here for 9 years I wish I started 9 yeas ago lololol. Anyhow is there any way to keep peonies in containers? Or if I were to plant them in the ground is there a way of moving them with out destroying them? What kind of soil do they like? Does different peonies like different conditions? What is the difference between a tree peony and the bush kind? Can you train a bush kind to be a tree?
Thanks
Cassie

Herbaceous (bush) peony stems die to ground in winter; tree peony stems do not.
Tree peonies are not trees: they mostly get only 3-4 ft tall; very slow growing.