Paeoniaphilia

The fattest and most scrumptious of all flowers, a rare fusion of fluff and majesty

--Henry Mitchell on the peony, in The Essential Earthman (publication information at the end of this post).

"The Peony Bloom Time Project" is a new guide charting the bloom sequence of peonies, prepared by Michael Denny from data collected by himself and others. (I learned about this site from the Peony Group at Yahoo!.) Denny plans to update the guide at least annually with additional data which he hopes to receive from viewers of the site.

I was pleased to read that Lindsay D'Aoust of La Pivoinerie D'Aoust Peony Nursery of Quebec helped Michael Denny create the project's website. Peonies have been my favorite flower ever, for ever, and I was excited to learn, as a newbie gardener, that they do well in this (cold) climate and (clay) soil. So, the first perennials I ever planted were peonies from La Pivoinerie D'Aoust. In revisionist history, I'll claim that excitement trumped anxiety as I opened the box from Canada (oh, so that's what a peony root looks like!) and planted, carefully following the included instructions and using a desk ruler (this was before I got my trowel with inch-markings on it) to make sure the eyes weren't planted too deep. All four plants came up and flowered beautifullly the next spring: 'M. Jules Elie', 'Lillian Gumm', 'James Pillow' (a wonderful flower, but especially dear to me as one of the few plants with "James" in its name--the name of my middle child and my late father), and 'Dai jo kuhan'. And I thought: I have peonies. I have peonies! I've since planted even more from Lindsay's pivoinerie and am already making out my wish list for next year--I know just the place for a big, blowsy stand of them (see: front yard garden project).

Comments

[Kathy]

La Pivoinerie passes my first test of a good peony nursery: it carries the peony 'Bev,' whose magazine photo I fell in love with many years ago. You might take a look at Reath's, which has peonies of the same caliber as La Pivoinerie but is based in the U.S., thus sparing you the phytosanitary fee. Search my blog for Reath's for more info on it and 'Bev.'

[Bookish Gardener]

Thanks for the tips! I'd been thinking about doing a row of 'Nice Gal' (in my case based on a gorgeous photo in the Front Yard Gardens book), but 'Bev' looks even better...and apparently has better fragrance! I have to say that I haven't minded the phytosan. fee given the quality of the plants from La Pivoinerie & Lindsay's excellent customer service. The first year I ordered I thought there was a mistake when I found an extra plant in the shipment, only to find out that, no, it was a bonus gift of a smaller size root (which came up and flowered nicely the following spring). I don't think this is announced policy, but maybe just a way to distribute leftover plants that have fewer eye divisions than the size they sell...but in any case one of the most pleasant surprises I've ever encountered in mailordering from a nursery. This last year's gift was a second "James Pillow", just as nice, but extra special to me for the "James" factor.