Today’s quote is from Hadeco Bulbs’ Twitter feed. I recently planted some freesias and I’m also ordering…PEONIES! I certainly have lot to learn about them, although I did a huge amount of reading on these incredible flowers last year. I think growing them for myself will be quite the learning experience.
Words cannot express how excited I am to try growing peonies in South Africa. The actual plants are unheard of at garden centers and most places will tell you they do not grow in our climate. I came very close to ordering some bulbs from the Ukraine last year, but the postal strike stopped me. I know that some peonies are better suited to warmer weather than others. Being build specialists I do hope that Hadecos sole, red peony vaierty is one of those. There is no indication as to whether it is tree peony or a herbaceous one.
The Hadeco site has info that I’ve read in various forms elsewhere about growing them, but what I’m keeping top of mind is to plant them in a sunny place, and a bit shallow, otherwise they may take years to flower or never flower at all. The other things to note is that they may not flower in year 1 or only produce 2 or 3 blooms, but they tend to double their production from then onwards.
Here’s to a learning opportunity in the years ahead, and hopefully an amazing and fragrant addition to my rose bouquets.

English peonies image (c) Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (1863–1944) – Public domain, via Library of Congress & Wikimedia Commons.