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Showing posts with the label peonies

Backyard Peonies Are Back - March 2024

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Over the years, we've had a tough go-of-it with peonies in our yard.  I suppose you can say that we were totally spoiled when we lived in Elmhurst.  We had a number of peony plants that were very productive.  But, in Downers?  Not a lot of luck.   I have long suspect that was a result of too-much shade, so that lead me to a number of years of moving them around.  From the far back to near(er) to the house.  And then, in 2022, I moved a couple of them out to the IB2DWS bed.   And guess what happened?  We got our first peony bloom in 2023.   Or, should I say 'blooms'.  The IB2DWs peony produced a number of blooms.  And, so too, did the ones by our curved-kitchen-window bed .   Each year, they emerge in late Winter/early Spring with their redish-purple tips.  Here's the 2023 version when they showed-up in early April .   Last year, because of the production, I decided to leave them as they were - a mix of front and backyards.  I'm now re-thinking that and have some ear

First Real Peony Season - June 2023

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It has taken six growing seasons, but we *finally* have enough peonies to make a bouquet.  Just one bouquet.   But, it is still a bouquet.  That's a major victory for me.  We had a major set of Peony tubers in our first house in Elmhurst.  We also had a full sun backyard.  In Downers Grove we have had peonies that have grown, but never really flowered.  And, mostly shade. So, over the years, I've moved the plants around.  And, it seems that I've found a few spots that work for peonies.  We have (this year) three flowering peony plants.  First, a darker, purple-ish single blom: That opened up to look like this: We had one white peony that bloomed - a Duchesse de Nemours white peony that is also in our backyard.  See below for that bloom after I cut it and brought it in: And, finally...the largest of the peony plants:  Sarah Bernhardt pink peonies .  This peony plant is out front, IB2DWS and this is what it looked like when the blooms were still closed and felt like 'mar

Peonies Are Back - April 2023

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When I was just starting to garden, one of the first things that I was able to document in my garden diary was the annual emergence of peonies.  Nat's Mom planted them for us in our house.  And, those red tips were one of my earliest lessons in the garden.  I've documented the Peonies being 'back' almost every year. Here's the 'back' post from 2021 .   And 2023 is no different.  Below are a few photos of the early, red growth from these tuber-based flowers that are planted near our kitchen windows.   I moved most of our peonies HERE because it is just about the *most* sunny spot in our yard.  Besides next to the patio (hey!  That gives me an idea).   I'm not CERTAIN how many are here - at one point there were four including a white one .  These photos are from a week ago (April 6) and I see two so far:

State Of The IB2DWs Bed - June 2022

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Yesterday, I posted some photos showing the series of Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses around the garden .  I also acknowledged that some folks consider them VERY basic.  But, I guess they're a guilty pleasure for this gardener.  In that post, I mentioned that I was planning on doing a follow-up on the IB2DWs bed that featured some of these same ornamental grasses.  Here, below, is a view of the IB2DWs bed.  Consider this the early Summer "State of the IB2DWs Bed". And, here below, is an annotated version of that photo.  Orange = five Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses White = Bald Cypress tree Red = two Serendipity Alliums  Blue = Prairie Dropseed Green = Peony Purple = two of the three Green Velvet Boxwoods that I planted a few weeks back Yellow = the trio of Blue Fescue grasses and Cat's Pajamas Nepeta from this season The bed is starting to fill-in this season, but it still needs some work to add some layers.  I'd like to try to plant some additional grasses

Backyard Peonies Emerge - April 2022

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One of the best features of our garden back in Elmhurst were our peonies.  We had well-established and productive peony plants that produced a ton of blooms.  When we moved to Downers, we inherited one, but it was planted back in the shade and never really did anything .   I planted a couple and transplanted a couple from some teardowns , but they were all clustered in the back with not a ton of sun exposure.  Until last year.  When I expanded the beds closer to our patio and moved three of them there and one to the front yard - IB2DWs area.    I also planted a new white one - Duchesse de Nemours white .  If you look at the photo in this post , it looks like I had FOUR peony plants in this area last year.   When I go to look at that spot, there's good news and bad news.   Good news first:  I see some of those tell-tale red tips emerging from the soil.  If you look closely at this photo below, you can spot them: Now...the bad news:  I only count three.  See below for an annotated v

Wandering Around The Beds - Early April 2022

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There are signs of life emerging EVERYWHERE around our garden.  Here's a few photos of things that are bringing me a little bit of Spring joy in beds around our garden.  First, the IB2DW bed - which has (now) five Pinball Wizard Allium bulbs that were planted last year .  Below, you can see the red-ish tips of the foliage emerging from the mulch.   On the south side of the house is an Iris that my Sister Vic gave to me from her Indiana Street (Elmhurst) neighbor.  I call this "Wes' Iris" .  It is coming alive as I type: Under the troubled (in Decline) Norway Maple out front are some *new* (to me) tulips that have arrived for the first time (below).  I planted these last year .  They're DIFFERENT in that the foliage is variegated and has a pink(ish) stripe down the edge.  And, here below, are a BUNCH more tulips that I planted down near the sidewalk in that troublesome spot.  Should note (to myself) where these are and how to augment them this Fall. Below is a peek

Duchesse De Nemours White Peony - Planted May 2021

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I've posted dozens of times about peonies.  Nat's favorite flower.  By a bunch.  We had a series of lovely and productive (flowering) peonies in Elmhurst, but in the past four growing seasons here in Downers Grove, we have yet to have ONE peony flower.  I think it has to do with all the shade we have and where the peonies are planted.  To try to solve that, I transplanted some of the peonies closer to the house in an attempt to get them some Sun.   But, for Mother's Day, we also bought Nat a new peony.  It is this "Duchesse De Nemours White Peony" that you can see on the tag below: This particular cultivar is white (which, we normally don't have) and comes with some credentials.  From White Flower Farm comes this description : A century-and-a-half after its introduction, the fragrant double 'Duchesse de Nemours' remains a standard by which all other white Peonies are judged. Strong stems give the blossoms an aristocratic bearing; a touch of yellow at t

Our Peonies Are Back - 2021 Spring

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Starting all the way back in 2010 , I have documented the re-emergence of the pink peony tips as they peek out of the mulch in our flower beds.  When we lived in Elmhurst, our yard was MUCH smaller, but also it was full sun.  That meant that we could have quite a few peony plants that would throw off flowers that Nat could cut and bring inside.   Once we moved to Downers, peonies haven't been a focus.  And that's due to the shade garden we have in our yard.  We have a series of peonies that we've planted - including some teardown peonies, but none of them have ever flowered.   Here's one of them as they peeked thru this past weekend: Here are these same peonies in 2020 .  I think these are the 'teardown' ones, but I also planted some new ones as tubers back in 2018 .  Back in 2019, I did a roundup of all the peony plants on the property here and one of them even flowered ?!?  I don't remember that at all.   Well, I've been thinking that we either have

Disneyland Rose Transplanted - To Southside (Sunny) from Back

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All the way back in the late Summer of 2017, Nat's Mom sent us a Disneyland Rose as an anniversary present.  It was our first rose and I planted it in a bed that had basically nothing in it - right outside of our kitchen windows.  But, it was quickly clear that this was in the wrong spot.   The following Fall ( 2018 ), we acquired two more Disneyland Roses , but this time, I planted them in on the southside of our house, along the foundation.  And, they've fared pretty well.  But the initial one, planted in the wrong spot wasn't doing as well.  By last Summer, the Disneyland Rose was being crowded out by grasses, hostas and well, weeds .   So, this year, a portion of #6 on my 2021 to-do list was to transplant the rose to be over by the other ones.   I did a little bit of research on the timing and prep for transplanting a floribunda rose and figured out a couple of things:   1.  Do it in late winter/early spring.  When the ground is soft enough to work the hole. 2.  Pre-d

The Peonies Are Back - Spring 2020

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A series of garden diary posts that I've been sharing for ten years now features the moment when our peony plants emerge from the mulch each Spring.  The first time I posted photos of the redish buds was all the way back in 2010 here .  From then, I've posted about this: 2011 peony post 2012 peony post 2013 peony post 2014 peony post 2015 peony post 2016 - doesn't appear that I posted 2017 - one of our foster peony plants in Naperville 2018 - one of our *new* Downers peony post 2019 peony post   And another one here . That's 9 of the past 10 years.  Including this year, that makes 10 of 11 years. This peony in the photo is located back by our Dawn Redwood - it is a 'teardown peony' - either from our house before they tore it down or from The Fox Family Den's yard before they built their own house.

A Look At Our Peonies (Roundup for Summer 2019)

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After coming home with some peonies from Trader Joe's a few weeks back, Natalie asked me why we didn't have any peonies in our yard?  After all, we had a bunch of them back in Elmhurst that had established themselves enough to flower pretty productively every year.  Here's a look at some of them from 2015 .  That forced me to get outside and try to find the various peony plants that we have on hand and to start to chronicle them here on the blog.  These photos are a few weeks old, but sharing to start the diary entries on these. First...let me remind you all (and myself) that we still have the most important peony plant out in Foster Care in Naperville.  It grew pretty well last year and I'm thinking that it has likely flowered this season.  Time to move it, soon, I believe.    But, this post isn't about fostered plants.  It is about the five peony plants that we currently have on site.  The first one is above and was the only one that flowered.  All of thes

Teardown Peony Emerging - 2019

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Yesterday, I posted a hopeful photo of the first peony that I planted in the backyard that has come back for the second season.  Today, you're seeing another peony - one that we planted from my Sister-in-Law's yard before they built their new house.  Here's the post showing the harvest I pulled out of her yard that included irises, a grass or two, some hostas and what at the time I was pretty sure was a peony plant.  If you look at the date on that post, you'll notice that it is right in the middle of the Summer.  Not an ideal time to transplant anything.  But, we didn't have a choice, so late June transplanting was what we were dealing with in this situation.  Most of the plants didn't show much life.  They didn't show total death for the most part, but I wasn't that hopeful that much of anything was going to come back.  The only plant that seemed to flourish and grow post transplanting from her yard was this happy fern that I put in the

Sarah Bernhardt Peony Emerging - 2019

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Last May, I planted the first peony tuber in our backyard after having quite a few varieties in our old backyard in Elmhurst.  This first plant was a Sarah Bernhardt variety and is supposed to have big, beautiful pink blooms.  Here's the post showing how I planted it in May of 2018 .   It seemed to establish itself in the Spring because in June of last Summer it showed some signs of life with little purple shoots coming up for the first time .   But, that's about all the 'action' we saw out of this plant during the Summer.  But, I'm thinking that it was busy establishing itself under the mulch because if you peek at the photo at the top of this post, you'll see that we now have a strong leader popping up this Spring.   This is still an immature peony and I'm hoping that we get one flower out of it this year, but we might not get any.  If you want to see what a very mature (7 year established) peony plant looks like at this time of year, have a lo

Harvesting Perennials From A Downers Yard Across Town

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Holy moly.  That's a lot of perennials, isn't it??  Peonies, irises, hostas and even ferns all lumped together in my garden cart.  So, where did these come from?  Someone we know is in the process of moving to Downers Grove and as part of their move, they're doing some clearing of their property.  That meant that the garden that was existing was going to disappear.  So, just  like we did with the house down the block , I went over there with my spade shove in hand and dug.  And dug.  And dug.  I filled the back of the van up and there was still so.much.more.  I'm going to try to go back and dig up a few more things.  But first, I have to plant these.  I'm planning on putting them out in the far back of the yard where they can recover from the massive amount of shock they're undoubtably going to go through.  I'll try to baby them for the next month or so with the weather being warm and then hope *fingers crossed* that come next Spring, we'll see mo

Update on Fostered Peony in Naperville - June 2018

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Nat's sister sent us this photo of our 'fostered' peony plant that is in Nat's Mom's garden out in Naperville that we planted in 2015.  As you can see, it has grown up quite a bit and seems to have recovered almost completely from the harsh transplant.  It is even blooming with two small blooms, but more importantly, the green foliage looks quite strong.   I posted a photo of this same peony emerging last Spring , but didn't followup with another post.  The peony struggled and didn't flower last year, but I knew it would take a few seasons to recover. That's the good news.  The bad news?  I'm going to take it back this September and restart that recovery cycle.   The foster care, has indeed, worked, but now that we're ready for this beauty, I'm eager to bring it home.  About a week ago, I posted about how the Sarah Bernhardt variety was starting to emerge this Summer (after planting this Spring), so I'm already thinking about

Update on Sarah Bernhardt Peonies - Shoots Emerging June 2018

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Back in May, I posted about the first peony plant that we put in our backyard - a variety called Sarah Bernhardt .  Despite the fact that peonies are Nat's absolute favorite flower, we had gone almost a year without planting one.  (We did, however, have a foster peony at Nat's Mom's house .) I put this particular peony near the north fence line and after burying the tuber, I covered the area with mulch and marked it with a stick and then a stone ring.  We were putting together Fairy Gardens with the kids recently and I noticed that the peony shoots and broken through the mulch and we had some actual growth.  These are way, way behind what most normal, established peony plants look like by June.  This is normally the time we're cutting the blooms and bringing them indoors.  Since this was planted as a tuber this year, I was just hoping that we'd get these to emerge this year and that they'll have enough time to establish their root system before the dry/

Karl Rosenfield Peony Tuber Planted - Sideyard 2018

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Back one month ago, I shared a photo of the Sarah Berhhardt peony tuber that I planted in our backyard and talked about how peonies are Nat's favorite flowers.  Unfortunately, before that one, we didn't have any peonies in our entire yard.  But, we *are* fostering one at Nat's mom's house out in Naperville and I plan on bringing that over to Hornbeam Hill early this Summer.  For Mother's Day this year, the kids all decided to buy a few bulbs/tubers for Nat and one of them is this Karl Rosenfield Peony  - which is a double bloom variety.  Around the side of our front porch, we have a couple of hydrangeas, but then a lot of blank, naked beds.  There is literally NOTHING in this spot on our landscape plan, so I decided to wing it.  It is south-facing, so peonies planted here would be getting some good sun and due to the downspouts and grading, this area gets a good amount of water.  So, just in front of the downspout off the porch is a spot that I stuck these

Sarah Bernhardt Peonies - Planted Spring 2018

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Along with the various other tubers that I've planted (Dahlias, ferns, hostas) this Spring, I also put down our first set of Peonies in our #newoldbackyard out on the north side of our backyard - about halfway between the house and the back fence.  These are of the pink Sarah Bernhardt variety that you can see in the top photo.  They're of the 'double peony' type that Nat adores.  Welp...she actually loves *any* peony, but based on what she cuts and brings in, it is this delicate, double flower kind that I think she loves the most.  And, that's why I bought them:  as a landscape gift to her - the love of my life. At our old place in Elmhurst, we had a series of peonies that we were gifted, bought and took (from a tear down) that bloomed every year.  There was one plant in particular that Nat was given from her Aunt that (I think) was from her Mom's Grandmother's garden.  That's the one that we dug out and transplanted out in Naperville where Nat'