Hi all,

I have my first 2 tree peony blooms opening! Both in air pots so a bit of a cheat but they're so pretty!

Red Hu


Snow Tower

Congratulations Liz! How exciting. Can't wait to see more!

I have some color on my p. smouthii

A few sunny days and Smouthii will be wide open! Such lovely foliage, I need to replace mine as the root I received was an mis-id.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! That's awesome Liz and LG. What a great way ring in the beginning of the bloom season in the northern hemisphere. Can't believe we're here already, but I love it! Looking forward to everyone's photos and stories.

Congratulations, Liz and LG The peony season 2024 has started

Cannot wait to see everyone's picture. You will wait for mine a bit longer though. The weather is getting cooler overhere. We will have several below zero nights in a row Hope the soil will stay soft and the buds will not be damaged

The blooms look great, Liz! So wonderful to see blooms are starting for the southern gardens. Red Hu and Snow Tower are so beautiful. I am with Nick and Jasmin - can't wait to see more from your gardens soon, Liz and LG. With each warm day, some of my peonies like Coral Charm are growing leaps and bounds.

Thank you all for the kind comments. Tonight it is going down to 26° F (-3.33° C).
I will try to cover some, but the cold front moving in is producing some high winds.
My cherry tree and my weeping crabapple tree are both blooming.
I will cover smouthii. Early Scout is showing color too.

I got together enough pots and stuff to cover the peonies in the ground. All are getting a bit tall for the smaller containers I'd planned to use so there was a bit of scrambling involved! Potted plants are in the garage already, waiting for the sun to go down a bit and temp to drop before covering the rest. Hopefully this will be our last below freezing night.

Awesome, Liz! The season has started!

I am sorry to hear about possible freeze damage on your peonies, LG and Liz. Hope they are not as damaging as last year.

Liz and LG, I also hope that you peony buds will not be damaged I have some concerns about mine too. The temperature will go down to -8C tomorrow night, but I can only hope there will be no significant damage

@AlexUnder, are you back to Toronto? How are you peonies?

@ol434445 Oscar, I hope you peonies are safe. It shouldn't be this cold in your area

Thanks Jasmin they should be ok but there's nothing I can do, will be back next week

These are everywhere,

Hope you are having fun The cold weather should be gone by the time that you come back You will probably come to a beautiful spring

ol434445 said: Thanks Jasmin they should be ok but there's nothing I can do, will be back next week

These are everywhere,

Love agapanthus! So beautiful!

I made it through with no damage here in Huntsville, haven't seen the plants since at the cottage but it didn't get as cold there and the below freezing temps didn't last as long so probably okay. I don't have much planted yet in Huntsville so I was able to cover everything well, actually double covered as I was able to put a pillowcase over each plant and then a rigid cover over that. The only threat here was cold, there was no rain or snow expected, so cloth directly touching the plants wasn't a risk. I have a huge length of heavyweight frost cloth in the garage but it's so unwieldy, need to cut it down to cover individual plants as the length doesn't work to my advantage here—was used on long rows in the last garden.

I brought in the mums, roses and azelias yesterday. I forgot one azelia last night. I brought it in today. Hope it will survive. I also cover the purple hydrangea that is in the pot. The pot was too heavy to bring it in for a couple of nights only. Hope the little TP seedlings that grow outside will be ok too.

Jasmin I think once tree peonies start growing, they are extremely tough. You might have some die back above ground, but it will recover.

So wonderful to see your first flowers Liz and LG. We have had a warm winter and the tree peonies and some early herbaceous got an early start. Now we are getting a lot of snow. Thankfully there are a lot of peonies that have remained in the ground. You never know how much damage you might have. March is much too early for me to be setting up sprinklers. Hopefully, all will be okay. Gardening in these times is always an adventure!
Keep those blooming pictures coming.

graycrna4u said: Jasmin I think once tree peonies start growing, they are extremely tough. You might have some die back above ground, but it will recover.

Agree, TPs are tough However, the seedlings are really small, they don't have enough roots.
It is snowing again, but the spring should be back my Monday

Blooming at the cottage now!

Mimi—unregistered Chow


NOID. Supposed to be Meikouhou, purchased from a nursery in CO several years ago that bloomed the wrong color.