Peony Planting

I planted two peony roots this weekend. One is my favorite, light pink Sarah Bernhardt, and the other, a magenta Felix Crousse. I have pictures of the shoots below, which were actually very different looking, considering they are both peonies. Wish me luck! It is possible to grow them in containers, but I'm more concerned about how they'll adapt to the SoCal weather. I read online though, that to simulate a cold winter, you can water them with ice cubes, so I may give that a try if we have a warm winter. According to Grandma, April 15 is Peony season in China. I don't know if I'll have any blooms by April of next year (highly doubt actually), but hopefully sometime!

Shoots planted on February 28, 2010.



First sprout on March 19!

Ok, I won't pretend to have waited patiently for a month to see some evidence that the peony was doing ok. I actually dug up the root, at the risk of shocking it, to see if there was any growth. I was really relieved to see that it was growing! But that relief came at the surprise of seeing the plant break the surface. Either way, welcome, peony!

As of April 4, 2010.
The peony now looks like a mini-tree. Its been like this now for about a week or two and hasn't really changed much. It needs to get a LOT bigger than this before it can produce or support the giant peony blossoms. Hurry up, little plant, April 2011 is just around the corner!