Here is the scoop on the peonies we grow!
If you don't already know, peonies are perennials that only get better with time, producing some of the most sought-after spring flowers. The sad part? They only bloom once per season, and the bloom season is quite short. (late spring-early summer in Oregon).
We planted all 500 roots this past fall, if you'd like more details about all the things we did prior to planting, let me know, I'd be happy to share. Peonies take some time to mature (3 looooong years), so we may not have a ton of blooms this year or next but get ready for year three. It will be worth the wait!
I sat at the kitchen table for hours mapping out my farm, and coming up with how many holes I had to work with based on the required spacing of the plants. Peonies can't be too crowded and need some room to breathe.
Then came the hard part, deciding on what varieties to grow. Since peony season is sooo short, I wanted to make sure to grow some early bloomers and some late bloomers, to extend our season as much as possible. Narrowing down the choices was a task, because let me tell you I wanted to grow them ALL. I tried to remember not to just pick the ones I wanted, but to think about what our customers would enjoy!
There are 5 different types of peony blooms, single, Japanese, semi-double, bomb and full double. We picked 10 varieties to grow so far. So which ones did we pick?
Pink Doubles: Sarah Bernhardt, Walter Faxon, Alexander Fleming
White Doubles : Shirley Temple, Duchesse de Nemours, Marie Lemonie, Frances Willard
Red Double : Kansas
Pink Bomb : Monsieur Jules Elie
White Bomb : Charles White
I also moved my personal peony garden from my house to the farm, so we have about 40 plants of various varieties in addition to the ones above we have in larger quantities. 20 of these are from my grandma’s garden and are extra special. It has been such a treasure to have them in my collection.
When we were planting the initial 500 peonies, at one point we were both so exhausted, I may have sworn to Dave we would never do this again and promised I would be content with the amount we planted. But I won't lie, I've already thought about which varieties I'd like to add this coming fall.
The peonies are going to be AMAZING and I can't wait to share them with you.
