My peony season started about 10 days ago with P. cambessidessii, in a cold hoop house. This is the first year it has bloomed from seed started 3 years ago. Is this a normal time for it? The foliage is just so incredible - silvery green suffused with rose. The tree peonies in the garden that took a hit of 12 degrees this winter are showing buds. One is a very double medium pink intensely fragrant hybrid from seed. The other is the single yellow P. ludlowii ss. ??? or do I have it backwards? Jim, I was interested to note you claim 39 degrees of latitude -- to our 44 here in North Bend on the south coast of Oregon. Robin Hansen Zone 9, sort of North Bend, Oregon ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim McKenney To: 'Pacific Bulb Society' Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 3:03 PM Subject: [pbs] Peony season 2010 has started in my garden The 2010 peony season opened on Tuesday with (as usual here) the flowering of Paeonia mascula. Nearby is a handsome plant of Dicentra spectabilis - their colors are very similar. I should move in some Pulmonaria azurea for a great color contrast. Things are happening so quickly this year that I can't keep up. Frits and early tulips have been coming into bloom and shriveling two days later. Most came and went before I got pictures. The garden is full of odd flower combinations this year for sure. We've had several days this week when the temperatures not only reached 90º F (~ 32 C) but remained there for hours. At 8:30 P.M. last night, the temperature was 86º F - and it did not cool down quickly. Storms are predicted for this evening as a cold front arrives. The daily highs during the approaching weekend are expected to be about 30º F lower. I'm not positive, but I think I see the tip of an inflorescence on Dracunculus vulgaris already. I don't mow the front lawn here until the snowdrops and crocuses have ripened their seed. As a result we typically have the shabbiest looking lawn in the neighborhood while everyone who has been applying high nitrogen fertilizers has a picture perfect lawn. The heat this year has made it worse then ever - the lawn is dingy white this week with the flowers of weedy Cardamine. I'm waiting for the lawn police to knock on the door (But officer, I just wanted to get a good seed collection from my snowdrops.). Early roses are said to have started to bloom in one local garden - but not here yet (although some which just arrived from a California nursery are in advanced bud - very exciting stuff here). Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7; geez, Jane, multiscapidium? And the seven syllables of multiscapoideum were so much more fun to pronounce (not that I really ever heard anyone do it correctly). My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Internal Virus Database is out of date. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com/ Version: 8.5.427 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2755 - Release Date: 03/18/10 19:33:00