I know that Kristen posted this one in her blog, but I admire this peony so much I wanted to post it too! This is probably my favorite of the new peonies. At first I thought it looked too much like "Coral Supreme" but after this flower opened up all the way I realized how much more beautiful it is. That deep orangey-pink color! Those heart-shaped petals! And over the course of a few days it fades so beautifully, changing from dark coral to peach to, finally, lemon yellow looking to the world like it hasn't aged, but transformed.
Not much of a fragrance, though.
Did I post this flower already? If I did, well, you get to see it again!
Our peony "Moonstone" has been blooming for the past few days. It's really one of my favorite peonies, even though this is only its second year in the ground. It has strong stems and flowers so huge you have hold them with both hands. It also has the loveliest fragrance, like honey and melon, unlike most of the fragrant peonies that smell like cinnamon chewing gum. Our Chinese tree peony "Blue Butterfly" smelled the same except not as strongly.
Unfortunately, our lawn doesn't look so hot in the background.
Of our many peonies, I consider "Moonstone", "Paula Fay", "Coral Sunset" and "Cheddar Charm" to be my favorites. If I were to recommend anyone a peony to add to their garden, however, I would suggest "Moonstone" over the others. It really is perfect in every way!
That's a funny name for a late blooming peony! But this is not an ordinary peony: it's an intersectional peony, a mutant cross between an herbaceous and tree peony. Quite a few of them are yellow, which is a very rare color for an herbaceous peony. "First Arrival" is not yellow...at least, it isn't supposed to be. Maybe it has cream centers because it's an immature plant?
It has a cute mounded habit and big, lovely flowers that unfortunately don't smell that good.
I hadn't realized that the petals start off light pink. When I first saw it starting to open up, I freaked out and thought it was the wrong plant!
We actually planted "Cheddar Charm" two years ago. Last year the only bud got bud blast. This year it's doing much better!
"Coral Supreme" actually bloomed yesterday. I love the flowers on this peony but boy howdy does it get tall! It's about 4 1/2 ft, and since I'm only 5'1'' I have to stand on tippytoes to photograph it. You must be staking this beauty.
I love the coral peonies, but they ain't much in the fragrance department. Actually, you'd be better off not smelling them.
Hey, it's here and it's really red.
Unfortunately, we planted it in such a sunny spot that it's very difficult to photograph. But oh, what a color! I think the technical name is "Dark Red" but that's not very romantic. I'll call it "garnet."
I wish that all flowers were as photogenic as the tall bearded irises!
I have the hardest time photographing roses, but taking pictures of irises and peonies is very rewarding.
I'll probably get a photo of Buckeye Belle later on. You can't really count your buds before they've opened. It seems that of all the new peonies, only Buckeye Belle hasn't suffered irrepairable weather-related damage to all its buds. That and First Arrival, which appears to be made of tough leather and is bulletproof.
Something broke the buds off James Mason...probably a bird, because they like to eat aphids and I found bird crap around the shrub. I'm not sure if we're going to get to see it bloom at all..but never fear, Marianne is here! With buds rapidly turning orange! And Madame Plantier is opening the rest of her buds. I think that I missed flowering for Madame Hardy, but she looks very happy in her spot.
Paula Fay is always more photogenic on the second day. The dark red petals have faded to a lovely strawberry pink.
Sometimes I think that this is my favorite of all the peonies in my yard, but then another one blooms...
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