--Ron

Hmmm, I'm not sure where Depauw (where it is located)is, but that might make a nice road trip come peony blooming time in 2007.

Sue

http://www.brooksgardens.com/ cut and past.

The true plant is expensive and will be smaller than the regular peony plant that you buy. Fuller growth does not happen until the plant is 5-6 years or more old. Do not be disappointed is the plants you find are small.

I did order from them, and apparently the peony is on its way to me as I write this. Of course, I had to order some other peonies from them while I was at it. A nice find for those of us in the west who can't order potted plants from the east due to the Japanese Beetle problem. I'm not terribly concerned about small plants, I grow lots of other stuff from seed, which of course, is even smaller!

--Ron

Just a suggestion, if you have time take a couple of friends and drive to the area around Brooks, Oregon there are many nurseries. Even if you can not afford to purchase after paying for the trip you will enjoy seeing the plants in bloom. I think gas will be real high next year.

Threse is a member of the Pacific Northwest Peony Society and might be able to get a map or guide as to where growers are that will welcome you into their fields. In that area of Oregon many of the growers of different plants have display gardens that allow you to look at plants, theirs and others, in a setting similar to what you would like your garden to look like. In Sherwood?, Oregon, the number one gardencenter in the US for last year exists. I was there once and it was staffed by very nice people. We arrived near closing and they stayed to answer questions for us and pointed out plants that would grow in our area and which we would be wasting our money on. Very nice when you see nurseries selling tropical plants for outside planting telling people that they will not needed to be brought in.

Kclifford, how old were those 50 that you got to bloom this year? Also, I had a friend who grew some Mollies from seed here, and got them to a good size and then "lost them in the shuffle" of literally thousands of other potted plants. Anyway, since he was able to get them to a decent size, I felt more confident that they'll be fine here, since even though he's only about 12 miles away, we're substantially colder here.

--Ron

I'll try to post a photo of them all as they bloom. I already have 2 Chinese tree peonies in bloom now, and the others have buds.

--Ron

Here's the photo. I bought 1 true offset of Molly, and 5 seedlings. The offset bloomed, as did one of the 5 seedlings roots, and they were identical, so I think they were true seedlings, and not hybrids (the foliage, growth, everything was just the same). Anyway, without further ado, here's a photo. The plants were small this year (about 8 inches tall, and the flowers only about 2.5 inches across, I suspect they'll get bigger in every way as they get more established).

--Ron

Winter has been slow to release its grip here, so I'll have to wait a while longer for my peonies. In the meantime I enjoy looking at pictures and planning how to expand the garden next fall.

--Ron

With the Molly seeds, I did the months of moist perlite and now some of the sprouted seeds are living in my fridge in moist perlite for a few months. Soon I'll pot up some of the seeds. Patience is certainly called for!

FYI, when my Molly plants were young, the blooms were quite pale in colour. As the plants have matured, the blooms are now the intense yellow you see in the photo.

Best wishes on your seedlings! That definitely does take patience, perhaps more than I have myself!

I look forward to my Mollys getting bigger and more colorful, though I'm pleased with them already.

--Ron

I'm guessing that if the soil is too shallow it might be a problem, since peonies do typically have serious root systems. But still, I'd think it would have bloomed by now. I wonder if you should move it to another location? I'm growing mine in light shade, but I just got it last fall as a reasonably sizeable bare-root, and it bloomed. The soil is deep where mine is. But, I'm certainly no expert on peonies, and in fact have really only lived in a place they do OK for the past 5 years.

--Ron

The lawn fertilizer is high in Nitrogen.