Peonies

This is peony week in Wisconsin if there was ever such a thing. Peony Sunday is tomorrow in Rosendale at the Sisson's Peony Garden and the American Peony Society is meeting in Green Bay this week holding their peony convention.

And I am enthralled by peonies.

Roy Phearson's Yellow

Peony 'Red Charm'

  

Peony 'Tinka'

Peony 'Lavender Whisper'

Peony 'Mackinac Grand'

 

The above were all taken at Rosendales' Sisson Peony Garden. They have those they know named, but many are not. This is not so different from my own garden. Peonies, with their long life spans of even 100 years, are the ultimate pass-along plant.

It seemed at one time in my youth, peonies were everywhere. They bloomed in long stripes in the middle of lawns only to be mowed over by the first of July. This is a terribly wrong way to treat peonies, which might explain their disappearance from many farm yards over the years.

I have dug parts of peonies from every place I have lived. I have about eight different ones, alas I only suspect or know the names for half of them.

I only wish I had more room for peonies.

This one in my own garden may actually be 'Tinka'. When fully in bloom it seems identical. As 'Tinka' was hybridizes here in WI by Wilbur Sisson, and I believe this one is a piece of one from my grandmother's it would seem possible.