As I mentioned in the previous post about our last peonies to bloom in our full sun field, oh but what treasures were found in our north facing field! Micro-climates are a peony lovers BEST friend! Being able to extend the peonies bloom time is wonderful! I’ll go into more detail regarding micro-climates and peonies in a future post. So for now if you were not able to attend our Peony Field Days, envision a sloped area facing north. Every peony at the top of this hill facing south receives full sun. The ‘treasures’ were found at the bottom of this hill facing north. Most of the peonies in this area receive some shade in the ‘hot’ afternoon and throughout the evening. The other aspect regarding these accompanying pics is the fact that the ‘treasures’ were all intersectional hybrid/Itoh peonies! Yes dear gardening friends, intersectionals are amazing peonies to have in your gardens! Unlike herbaceous/lactiflora peonies that for the most part, bloom all at once, intersectionals bloom for an extended period of time with both their primary AND secondary buds. One of the easiest peony bloom to spot from a distance away is Bartzella.
Continuing down the row, WOW what is that intersectional peony blooming? Holy cow is that gorgeous! The unmistakable, Royal Blush was tucked away on the northeast side of the plant. Yes peony gardening friends, a micro-climate within a micro-climate! Not only is this portion of the peony field a micro-climate but knowing this side of the individual plant receives less sun, may I submit to you, another micro-climate! So enjoy this pic below of the intersectional hybrid peonies called, Royal Blush!
Ok so these intersectional hybrid peonies have thrown up blooms over the past 3-weeks at or near the top of the foliage and only an hour or so ago did I find/notice these blooms? Of course its hard to see the lower blooms until I decided to take one last stroll through the peony fields with the Sony. Looking over at another row of intersectional hybrid peonies revealed multiple blooms located on the northeast side of the plants. For all the years we’ve had peonies growing in this field, why didn’t I notice this before? I know original bare root-stock intersectional hybrid/Itoh peonies have an extended bloom time, but 4-weeks of blooms if you look closely? Well I am now a firm believer of micro-climates within a micro-climate especially on the northeast side of the plant! I’ll leave you with this final shot of Norwegian Blush below that is normally one of the earlier blooming intersectional hybrid/Itoh peonies.
Micro-climates within a micro-climate for intersectional hybrid/Itoh peonies…you betcha!