Re: Paeonia suffruticosa RE: Peonies

I have a friend who regularly spreads a bag of ice around her plants
needing winter cold, since she lives in a temperate area of
Berkeley/Oakland. Two to three times a week for a month with long
nights. Her lilacs love it.
Elly Bade

On Sun, 10 Dec 2000, Karl Hoover wrote:

> At our property in Sunnyvale on the UC Zone 17/15 border I've grown several
> tree peony cultivars for about 12 years. I ordered mine from Reath's nursery
> in michigan. These are various forms of Paeonia suffruticosa and hybrids
> with of this with P. lutea, I believe. I lost one plant presumably due to
> lack of summer water. They usually bloom beautifully. The soil is thick
> black adobe. They're all in an location south east of the house, sheltered
> from the wind but open to the night sky. Our particular location near the
> so-called Calabazas creek is in a bit of a frost pocket; hence I think it
> gets a bit more winter chill than most san francisco bay area gardens. I
> think a rule of thumb could be if you've been getting white frosts in this
> month precedeing the winter solstice, then your tree peonies will be happily
> chilled. They seem to not be picky about soil.
> 
>  I believe I've once seen herbaceous peonies once here in San Jose. I don't
> know how the gardener did it. Generally tree peonies will do O.K., but the
> hebaceous ones just croak.
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> [o*@ucdavis.edu]On Behalf Of William A. Grant
>   Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2000 4:47 PM
>   To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
>   Subject: Peonies
> 
> 
>   I could write a book about my attempts to grow peonies on coastal
> California. The native one, yes. But all the other scrumptuous, delicious,
> gorgeous ones - forget it!
>   Unless you are ready to try longer than I did. I even went to Oregon to a
> farm that had one they said would grow here. It did come up, and it did
> blossom - not very big. And then died.
>
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