The very first flower I wanted to grow as a cut flower was a peony. I had dreams of a Texas Tulip sized operation where people could come cut peonies straight from the field. I LOVE them!
In fact, my family and I tried planting a few in the spring of 2020 with no luck. After studying these plants and their growing habits, I know where we might have gone wrong. They enjoy the cold weather, and though various species can grow in zones 3-8, it is not always easy in the warmer climates (we are in zone 7). This is evident by the fact that there are not a ton planted in gardens around here (because trust me, they would be if it were easy). Simply stated, they love the cold as much as I love them.
I came to this revelation on our trip up to Mount Rushmore last June (2020). We were driving through a town in South Dakota. I was casually looking out the window when I sighted foliage that looked familiar. Dad kept driving, but my eyes were peeled. I looked closer, and sure enough, there were peonies EVERYWHERE. Not only did I see their foliage, most of them were IN BLOOM. I almost made my dad stop at a random house, and looking back now, I should have. These beautiful flowering perennials were thriving.
The take-away from this story is that it gets cold in South Dakota - cold enough to give these guys a decent dormant period in the winter. Could that just be the key?
So, fast forward a month, and there I was ordering a lot of tulip bulbs. A quick look around the website brought me to some bare-root peony plants. Remember, this is after I was unsuccessful in getting them to last through the summer from my spring planting. I quickly added 10 to my cart - because gardening is a game of trial and error, and I am not one to give up (like ever). So, I was going to trial these 10 precious bare-roots. My plan was to plant them in various locations in the yard to test their ability to grow in different areas - with full sun, in raised beds, or with just morning sun.
They came in and I planted them in pairs all over this fall. By planting the bare-roots in the fall, the plant would have the time to go dormant and get established before the heat of the summer prevails. Now we are in the waiting time period - all the way until springtime.
1.9.2021 Because I couldn't stand to not know the status of some of these guys under to soil line, I dug a bit - looking for any sign of life that I could find. Sure enough, it is ALIVE, and growing. Don't worry, I covered it back up, gave it a drink, and can NOT wait to see it in a few months.
1.23.2021 NO WAY THEY ARE COMING UP!! 🥰
]]>11.23.2020 Here is a row of daffodils the day that they were put into the ground. I’m excited to see these guys start to come up in the spring.
1.8.2021 I scratched the surface today to encourage the sprouts to break through the soil when it is time for them to come up.
1.15.2021 The snow that covered the ground 5 days ago has mostly melted, uncovering these beauties! First Daffodil sprouts of the season!
3.5.2021 FIRST FLOWER STEMS!!! They came the day after my birthday - what a gift :)
3.11.2021 While I was out of town, Chloe cut the first of our heirloom narcissus!
3.11.2021 With many more on the way! :)
3.13.2021 So many beauties ❤️
3.17.2021 The flower that stood in the middle of a wind storm!
]]>1.4.2021 Beginning to make an appearance here!
2.2.2021 First little bloom 💕
]]>1.4.21 Almost all of these little things look exactly like this right now. It won’t be long until they are a few inches tall.
1.17.2021 Look at how these little guys open up here 😍
]]>1.4.21 Coming up from the ground.
1.15.2021 Tonight I found more of these cute sprouts coming up and covered in frost, though green as ever. :)
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1.4.2021 Up and ready to start growing!
1.15.2021 As you can tell, these little guys are looking great, and others are still coming up. Exciting times here.
]]>1.4.2021 Look at how big they are getting!
]]>11.21.2020 These tubers were layered under the irises when I really got into the middle of the pile. I am excited to see what they grow into.
11.21.2020 This is a picture of the irises directly after I moved them and planted them in their new location. All I did was dig them up, bring them over, mix a little bone meal into the dirt, and water them well.
11.27.2020 Shortly after moving the irises, we were rewarded with not one bloom, but two! I think they were just screaming with joy because I moved them into a full sun location. We are looking forward to many more of these come springtime.
]]>11.10.2020 The photo above was taken quickly while we were trying to get all 3000 bulbs in the ground before the sun went down. When planting tulips for cut flowers, place them close together - like eggs in a carton. Here we are, trying out this method for the first time.
11.19.2020 Putting a few more tulips in the ground. ;)
1.8.2021 While scratching the surface, I found this little guy peaking through! I believe this is the first tulip sprout of the season (screaming with excitement) 😍
]]>10.31.2020 Above was us working the ground. Mixing in manure compost before putting the babies in the ground.
11.15.2020 This picture shows a baby anemone just popping up above soil level.
1.4.2021 The two pictures above show where the anemones are at currently. Some of them are HUGE, some are below the surface, and others are just making their appearances.
1.28.2021 OUR FIRST BLOOM. We don’t have a great stand on the plants as you can tell, but the plants that are up are looking great!
1.29.2021 I cut the little guy the morning after finding it and here it is all opened up and beautiful ☺️
]]>These little plants will be prolific bloomers come spring time. While they are cold hardy, ranunculus do not enjoy temperature below 20 degrees for more than a couple of hours at a time. For that reason, we keep them under low tunnels and cover them with frost cloths any time the temperatures get too cold. As you can see, each plant is growing at its own pace right now; however, it will not be long before they are all creating beautiful flowers. They will be among the first flowers to bloom this spring. It’s about time to get excited! :)
10.31.2020 These trays are full of ranunculus right before we planted them. They were being pre-sprouted in these trays for a couple of weeks before we put them in the ground.
11.1.2020 The photo above was taken the day that our baby ranunculus were put into the ground.
12.22.2020 This photo was taken on a calm morning while the tunnels were opened.
12.23.2020 These cute little plants were all at different stages in the growth process, and some are even still below the ground. We are eager to see some major growth take place.
1.4.2021 I have to be honest - some of our plants look GREAT right now, but some of them don’t look good. I keep thinking that they are just slow and they will eventually catch up, but there are days that I’m afraid they’re on the edge of death. Above are a couple of pictures of how they look right now.
I am looking forward to the day that I can take some pictures of the blooms. Stay tuned!
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