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