They look wonderful Karen! Congratulations!

Thanks, Liz! The weather has been good and favorable for peonies growths. Most of my Saunders peonies are showing buds: Carina, Cytherea, Paladin, Roselette, Alexander Woolcott, and Ellen Cowley. The fastest growing peonies have been Coral Charm and Coral Sunset.

We're supposed to get nicer weather starting tomorrow so I'll uncover the ones with growth. And I'm putting out deer repellant! I uncovered one of my newer tree peonies before it snowed earlier this week and a deer munched all except 1 of the new buds! And I lost count of all of the tulip bulbs I replanted that day.....

The only Saunders peony I've seen any growth on so far is Nova and it's still tiny.

Oh no! That is a terrible loss. I hate to lose TP buds. We have to wait so long for TP to bloom so to lose the buds now is just heart wrenching. So sorry, Liz. I hope the repellent will keep them away from the rest of your peony buds. I hope no deers will find their ways to my garden.

I hope so too, Karen. I thought deer didn't like peonies until last year. I have at least 1 deer that never learned that....

Hi Karen, I remember that you was smitten by Cytherea at the beginning but at one point you was not so sure. Would you recommend it as one of 10 peonies to grow or there are some negative characteristics that I should be aware of ? Thanks ! Thinking about buying it or some corals/salmon - may be Pink Hawaiian Coral, Coral N Gold or Salmon Dream.

The only negative thing about Cytherea is that the blooms don't hold up well in the heat. If temps are in the mid 80's when they open, the petals will appear limp and color will look a bit dull or listless. Also, the blooms last about 3 days. Now if they bloom during a period of cool weather, you can enjoy them for at least 5 days to a week and the cup form will hold up very nicely. Since you are in zone 5, you may not get as hot as my area while they are in bloom. PHC is very beautiful from afar but smells terrible up close. Salmon Dream has probably the nicest flower form and sturdiest stems but it is rather finicky. SD is not a vigorous peony even with fertilizer, fish emulsion, and azomite at least this has been my experience with it. If I have to pick one among those 4, I would still go for Salmon Dream in spite of its shortcomings. It is just too beautiful and special not to grow it in the garden. Sorry if I get a bit long winded here. Hope I answer your question.

Salmon Dream

Good to see the peonies waking up. Every year is a gamble to see if the flowers will come on before the heat starts up. Yours are off to a good start.

Mine are looking good so far too. I noticed yesterday that the latest to bloom has shot up stems, just a day or 2 before all I saw was one tiny bit of eye above the ground. I was surprised to see several stems up. I'm seeing buds on several that haven't bloomed before, & some tiny buds on one I just got last year. We had a freeze last night & I forgot to cover Concrete Blonde. Not buds on it anyway, but it hasn't been a very good grower so I really meant to give it all the protection I could this year.

Thanks Karen, you answered it!

Oops, sorry, it is Blonde Vision. I have a daylily named Concrete blonde. I call my kids by the wrong name too

Actually I think it would be proper to order SD as well - I got Etched Salmon last year and they will be quite a matching pair. Thanks for info Liz. I was contemplating about Cytherea because quite a few mentioned that it is great in vase. The color on pictures is quite vibrant!

Are you the Nancy that I traded Blonde Vision to several years ago? If so, hello! BV doesn't increase very fast for me, either, but the blooms are worth it! It isn't frost tolerant at all, needs to be covered for freezing weather anytime after it comes up to do well. Mine had 2 blooms on it last year and it's above ground right now, hoping to have more blooms this year. The blooms have a depth of color that's very pretty to me, reminds me of Pastelegance. It's not quite open in this pic but you can see the pink middle well.

Yes, I am that Nancy. I don't expect a bloom this year, I'll be lucky if I get a bloom next year. It got hit hard last spring when we had a late frost. I learned then how sensitive it was to frost. I actually thought I had lost it, but so thankful that I spotted 2 small stems of it recently. I love your photo, can't wait to see it.

So here's the before and after (deer) of my Yu Hou Feng Guang tree peony. This is a first year plant from Tree Peony Garden (I'm really going to miss them!) and it looked like it had the beginnings of several blooms. I guess the deer kept me from having to decide if I should pinch off buds...

Liz, ever since I saw your photos of Blonde Vision, I am still kicking myself for not getting it two years ago. Your photo must have generated alot of sales because I don't see Hollingsworth Peonies offering it this year. They were sold out of it very early last year too. I think it looks even more beautiful than Lemon Chiffon. The thing about Lemon Chiffon that I don't like is the blooms look dirty and brown when they fade.

Alex, if you have room, you should just go for Cytherea. It is a great performer and the hot pink color is very intense when the temps are cool. It lasts a long time in the vase and the color does not fade until petals drop.

So sorry Nancy, I should've told you that one was not frost tolerant. I got it from Hollingsworth and their website warned about it. I didn't cover mine the first spring but did every year since then, that big pot that you can see in the 2nd pic is there all of the time once it starts growing so I can just flip it over to cover it. Works like a charm as long as the pot is big enough so no piece of the peony touches it. Don't give up on it, the blooms are worth it!

If mine ever gets big enough I want to divide it and send a piece to my sister in OK just to see how it does in a warmer place. Their winters are plenty cold enough but they don't typically have the late spring frosts that we do.

I guess we cross posted. I am so sorry of the damages the deers did to your TP. They nibbled off 3 buds! But I am glad that you see it positively - less need for you to disbud! LOL

Karen, someone on Facebook posted an amazing pic of an entire plant of Blonde Vision in bloom, think it was in Boston. It must've been in place for several years to have gotten that big. I don't think Hollingsworth offers it often because it does take a long time to increase. Summer Glow is the same way--mine still hasn't bloomed and it's been 4 years, but the pics I've seen of it are gorgeous. If it doesn't bloom this spring I think I'll move it this fall. It's in full sun but near a path that's a bit higher than the ground, think it might catch more snow melt there, might be a bit too wet.

Yeah, I'll be watching for those little mooches from now on! I put out some deer repellant, hope it helps. Need to get the fishing line back up. They hate that...

Did most of my fertilizing today, Karen. Saw that Impossible Dream is up, saw at least 5 fat little stems! Hopefully it'll put on some vigorous growth with the Azomite and bulb fertilizer...

Karen, the space is in short supply :) well, sort of, before I can convince my better half that we do not need lawn and somehow get rid of maple tree in the back yard :) Until then I have to go on one by one basis especially knowing that some of my Itohs have to be moved in a few years. Petite Elegance and Hana Kisoi are on my list for sure. All my peonies from Parkland are showing pips, but ES is somehow behind - may be not a negative thing considering we had a few inches of snow today.