By Sharon Cohoon and Jim McCausland, senior Sunset garden writers
Jim and I are both back at our respective desks today after manning the Question-and-Answer booth at Sunset Celebration—last weekend's big reader event at our headquarters in Menlo Park.
This is the 11th year we've had our major lawn party, and the eleventh year we've hosted a Q&A booth. But it's the first year we've had any questions about peonies. Ten years in a row not a single one.
Then this year it's the number one topic—more questions about peonies than any other subject. So what happened?
Really, curious minds would like to know. What got you interested? Using them as cut flowers? Seeing them in a nursery? Someone else’s garden?
We’d also like to know what you are growing and what kind of success you are having. Your interest seems to be bucking the current trend towards minimal care plants like succulents. It’s not that peonies are prima donnas exactly—if correctly planted and happy with their situation, they can last 50 years or more—but they’re not as bullet-proof as, say, society garlic.
Your determination to succeed with a little more challenging plant intrigues and, frankly, rather thrills us. So tell us about your new passion.
If you live in Southern California and have had luck with traditional herbaceous peonies, which aren’t supposed to grow here, tell me about it. I’ve been told certain cultivars—the gorgeous maroon-flowered ‘Kansas’ being one of them—can succeed here if grown in full shade. But until one of you confirms this from your own experience, I’m dubious.
If you live outside Southern California and are growing peonies, tell Jim about it. Let him know whether you’re growing herbaceous peonies, tree peonies, or the new intersectional hybrids like 'Hilliary' (above) or 'Bartzella' (both shots below). Where did you get them, and why did you choose the varieties you grow: color, leaf shape, durability in your climate?
We’ll post responses if they reflect trends, or if they offer hints that might help others succeed with these lovely Asian flowers. But mostly we're trend-spotting here: we really do want to know what's driving this!
