Coral Charm is a really pretty coral! Not fragrant, or at least not in a good way, but it looks wonderful and increases well.

I only have 2 varieties that have leaves so far, plenty of eyes swelling though! Looking forward to seeing your blooms, gardenchloe--means mine will be just a few weeks longer!

My vast collection (*snicker) is doing well so far. Two of my three are up out of the ground. These are the two I got from Liz over the years. In fact, the one putting out the most growth so far is the Green Lotus. I will be so excited if it blooms!

Only one of my four is peeking out of the ground, and no leaves yet. But I still have crocuses and squill blooming, so maybe I’m just in a bit of cooler spot.

Hopefully it will, popmama. Mine bloomed last year and the 2 pieces were about the same size.

My Abalone Pearl is above ground and leafing out well. The others are peeking out of the ground. Gosh, I love spring!!

It finally bloomed. I got this one from Liz a couple of years ago. It's called Early Scout. It's shorter than most other varieties but always cheers me up as it's the first one to bloom every spring.

That one looked like it was ready to bloom when I saw it last week.

My earliest is still several weeks away! Not sure if my Molly seedlings are going to recover from the cold on Friday, they're still looking pretty wilted--not a good sign. Everything else popped right back up.

I have buds on several peonies. I am really hoping there won't be a hard freeze that impacts them. I pretty much lost all the blooms on my all iris plants last spring.

I'm seeing a bit of color on some of my earliest bloomers, hope to have a pic to add to yours in a few weeks! Any new blooms, gardenchloe?

I have tons of buds on many but they haven't opened yet. Here's another shot of all the flowers from Early Scout few days ago. The color is just so pretty!

It's been an unusual spring for my peonies. My two tree peonies typically would bloom next but their buds are firmly closed still. It looks like my white cap and coral charm are about to bloom.

My first two are open! Top is a Molly seedling, not yellow like the parent. 2nd is another species, P. Mascula. Lots of buds on most everything this spring, sure hope this is a non-snow May.....

Nice, Liz! I see lots of buds on mine but no other blooms yet. I am thinking some may open in few days. I hope the weather stays nice.

No full bloom yet but I'd share some progress.....

Tree peony (I don't know the name)

Flame from Liz. I had divided this and have half of it away last fall. It's still big and beautiful...

White Cap

Hi everyone-I am new here. I just found this site and forum and am enjoying reading threads. I love peonies too! I didn't know you could successfully divide them. When would be the best time to do that and do people bring any peonies or irises to your swaps?

I can't answer your questions about when to divide, but I know several here will be able to answer that question. I can tell you that yes, peonies and iris often show up at swaps. I have acquired two of my three peonies and many of my iris from swaps organized by people on this forum. In fact, I owe much of my garden to this place! :-)

Hi hl260,

Welcome! I below it's best to divide peonies in Fall. As for Iris, I believe it's best to divide them ten weeks after they bloom. I have received several of my peonies from the swap and have taken some to the swap myself. People are super knowledgeable here about these plants.

Thanks everyone! Chloe your tree peony is gorgeous. Mine have buds but aren't in bloom yet. I can't wait!

I would have loved a bouquet like that for Mother's Day! So gorgeous. My only peony ('Primevere') hasn't started blooming yet.

Flame started blooming. I already cut some and took them to my work. They will be so pretty for days!

Here is another tree peony. It has never been a good bloomer. I have 22 blooms on the link one this year but it six on this one. It is located on a slope. I am wondering if it should be moved to a different spot.

Those are beautiful, gardenchloe!

My mystery peonies are still closed up pretty tight; I expect they won't start blooming for another week or two.

I think this is Paula Fay. I had ordered some from two different vendors. The bright color was the reason I bought them. If I remember correctly, they are supposed to be taller but they both seem pretty short compared to other peonies.

White Cap. I ordered this online too. I didn't like them last year when they bloomed for the first time but they seem very pretty this year.

Yellow Itoh. I don't know the name but I get tons of blooms on this every year.

Scarlett O'hara. I bought this three years ago from O'Tooles. The plant has not spreader very big but I love how upright the stems are.

Pink Dawn. Ordered this one in Fall two years ago. I was very impressed with how many blooms I got last year when it bloomed the first time. The difference between this and Flame is that the petals on these are more like ruffles while the blooms on Flame are more bowl shaped.

Nice, Liz!

Thank you. I would love a piece of Paula Fay if one gets big enough. Seeing your garden last year makes me enjoy these pictures even more. It is very exciting for me to see your fenrleaf peonies as I have one from you as well. We got severe hails here today. I ran out and cut three Flame blooms before losing any. Then I had to rush in because the thunder was scary. I will check out the damage tomorrow. Hopefully I will still have a good blooming week.

An unnamed Itoh. It was almost thrown away by my husband one year.

This was purchased from Walmart years ago. I bought several bags of these which were supposed to be Bowl of Beauty.

Coral Charm. I cut these for my daughter's school teacher before the blooms fully open.

Gardenchloe,

All your blooms on everything are outpacing mine by weeks. I don't have a single peony yet! But love looking at yours. :-)

mmmm12,

Lizbest1 and I always talk about how much earlier my peonies bloom each year. The peonies on south side of my house get all day sun and bloom earlier than the ones on the north side. Same goes with irises. I am glad it makes the bloom season a little longer. I can't wait to see your blooms. =)

I am posting this again just to give you some hope if your peonies haven't bloomed. These never bloomed for me in the first three years. I was really anxious to find out what the blooms would look like. Even though they were mislabeled, I love such a pretty "statement" they make.

Cora Louise says Hi to the long weekend

Just noticed how Scarlett O'Hara fades. The blooms go from bright deep red then turn to hot pink then soft pink in stages. This peony has the most upright and strong stems. I cut several for myself and my friends. Just love them.

This is the peony I got from Liz at a swap several years ago. It has been a consistently reliable bloomer for me.

This was supposed to be Kansas but the blooms don't really look like what I see in the catalogs online. They are pretty though.

Popmama, if that one smells really good it's probably Edulis Superba. Funny story about that one, I placed a very large order from a big grower that year for peonies and I received a suspiciously small box. Opened it and the order inside was for another lady who had ordered only 2 Edulis Superbas! The bill was there and everything--they'd just switched the shipping labels, I had her $30 box while she had my several hundred dollar one! I contacted the seller and they put together a 2nd box for me, shipped it out the very same day, so my order was only delayed by a few days. They told me to keep the 2 ES for my trouble--I kept one and took the other to the swap that fall....

Wonder if they told the other lady to keep the box for her trouble, or if she ever contacted them about the mistake?

I would be super happy if I were the other lady. I like surprises and I love peonies. :)

My peonies finally started to bloom. Everyone else in the neighborhood is at the end of theirs. I couldn't resist lopping some off for a vase. But I made a mistake and on one bloom took a second bud with it. Bummer! But the display is pretty. I paired it with some purple saliva.

Got more blooms on my Abalone Pearl this year, as well as the unnamed raspberry colored one I think I got from Liz at a swap. Love them both!

Talking about incorrect orders. The first one below was supposed to be Circus Circus. The second below was supposed to be Kansas. Now it definitely does NOT look like Kansas. Along with the Paula Fay I posted above, I think they all were from Easy To Grow Bulbs. Oh well, I like them all still.

Mstywood,

Thank you for posting your pictures. I know you and I both ordered Abalone Pearl that same year after Liz told us about the great deal. For some reason, I keep thinking it's Coral Charm. I am going to label it this year. Your raspberry one is absolutely gorgeous.

mmmm12,

I like how you arrange your flowers. I may try doing something similar. I try to be careful when cutting the blooms that have side buds but I accidentally cut the buds with the blooms sometimes too.

My cut peonies didn't last too long in the vase so I checked the thread to see when I cut them. It was only a couple of days ago. They started to droop yesterday so really only lasted 2 days. In addition the salvia in the vase loved the water and stood straight up so I had to rearrange them at the top. Live and learn. The outdoor bushes look great. The purplish one always does the best. The pink is pretty good. But you can't really even see the middle one. It only has two buds. I suspect the flowers are white. It always does poorly.

Mmmm12,

The picture looks amazing even though you mentioned some does poorly. I just love the color combination in this area.

Talking about another mislabeled peony, here's a picture of "Barrington Belle" I got from Home Depot last year. The bloom looks completely different from what's on the tag.

Next one below is another bag of "Bowl Of Beauty" I purchased from Walmart (I bought two bags of them when I first moved into this house) which turned out different than expected. They are pretty though. The buds start as a tightly layered pink ball with couple of darker pink stripes which turn into pretty pink blooms as shown in picture below then fade into a lighter pink/white color.