Cut-Flower Garden Adventures {Peonies}

Ciao! As a new-ish homeowner, I stand firmly by the belief that Year 1 is meant to “get to know” your surroundings - your garden, the type of light it gets, the composition of your soil, what kind of pests you’re dealing with - Year 1 it is a time to observe.

So now that I am almost a 2-year homeowner, I felt more confident knowing where I wanted to situate my cut-flower garden. I wanted to get a cut-flower garden going, Inspired by everything from supermarket bouquets, talented florist friends, and the cut-flower farm Floret Flower in Washington State (#goals). The dream is to have bounds of ranunculus, peonies, dahlias and roses someday. I’d love to have blooming flowers throughout the early spring to autumn, and maybe even set up a roadside flower stall where people can buy small hand-grown bouquets on the honors system.

But…baby steps. My first early spring goal was to have a couple of peony varieties planted for this season. I had planted two 2 gallon “Itoh” variety peonies which just bloomed today. I waited and watched them carefully, checking in on them daily with so much anticipation! When I planted back in the fall, the only special measure I took was adding bone meal to the plant and topping it off with mulch as of April. Interestingly, I found that they had about 3 fewer buds than they did when I purchased them in the pot a year ago. I think that that is normal, and the plant takes a few seasons/years to really get established and grow more buds.

This year, my Itoh peonies are also pinker than ever before. I have pictures from last year, and they were a lot whiter with a middle, pink center. My mom got me my first Itoh plant as a gift, because she knows how excited I am about this idea…these are from the same plant! So that makes it extra special. Also, it is so interesting to see how they’ve changed once they’ve been planted in the soil!

the itoh peony in 2019 was considerably whiter, with a shocking pink center.

The second variety that I am trying the a beautiful “Sarah Bernhardt” peony. I haven’t planted these properly in the ground yet, but wanted to wait for all the buds to blossom so they could be cut. So they are still in their store-bought pot. Now that they are beginning to blossom, I really see how they are different from the Itoh. The double, soft powdery pink petals are so luscious. Compared to Itoh, it is a much more rounded, layered, and compact flower.

I plan to use Bumper Crop in the soil when I plant the Sarah Bernhardts into the ground. I’ve literally been digging to get to know more about my property’s soil - the existing garden beds are very clay-based, so the Bumper Crop should help to moisten, loosen and enrich the soil to make it more suitable for all plants!

sarah bernhardt’s blossoms opening up a bit more on day two

So far, I am delighting in the joys of having these beautiful cut flowers in the house. I hope to keep them multiplying through the years, and I am so grateful that I was able to successfully get these lovely plants started in the first place. They are certainly a welcome distraction during this insanity!

ciao, xo