Peonies in the Garden including an Itoh Hybrid Peony ‘Hillary’

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Mominthegarden

Paeonia ‘Hillary’ a hybrid between garden and tree peonies

Peony season is still in full swing in my garden! Our temperature is quite mild here (in Ireland), which would have an influence on how quickly (or rather, slowly!) the flowers bloom. It started around the middle of May with the blooming of my Tree Paeonia Renkaku. Following quickly behind that was my new hybrid peony, Paeonia ‘Hillary’, which started to bloom on the 20th of May. I only bought it in early spring this year, so it was a treat to have a flower this year!

Paeonia ‘Hillary’

“A hybrid peony?” you ask. Why yes, it is. I had not heard of a hybrid before and was curious to learn about them (and to get one!). Here’s what I’ve learned about my new hybrid peony ‘Hillary’ (from the Peony Shop Holland):

Paeonia Intersectional or Itoh Hybrid Peony Intersectional Peony Hybrids, also known as Itoh Peonies, named in honor of Toichi Itoh, the originator of these unique hybrid peonies. They are representative of the progeny of crossing or hybridizing the two main groups or selections of peonies; the herbaceous hybrids which die down sub surface buds during their dormant season and the tree or woody shrub peonies which retain a year round woody branch structure above ground level.

During their dormant season, the Itoh or Intersectional hybrids retain only extremely short (1″-2″) woody stems above ground level. Ornamentally, they achieve the best of both parental worlds with the handsome flowers and foliage of the woody tree peonies displayed on an herbaceous plant, with annual new growth originating from buds below ground level.

Strong healthy plants form attractive dense, neat rounded bushes which are shorter in stature than most tree peonies. Flowers are displayed above the handsome foliage that remains greener longer than their herbaceous parents. Intersectional hybrids are somewhat hardier than tree peonies and more tolerant of heat and humidity which extends their ornamental potential in both the North and south.

Paeonia ‘Hillary’

The Irish Specialist Nursery Association hosted St. Anne’s Park Plant Fair in Dublin in March. I don’t usually head into Dublin on the weekends, and honestly driving someplace new is always a challenge for me, but I was intrigued enough to put aside my fears and check out what was on offer at the park. A slight tangent here, but St. Anne’s Park is absolutely fabulous! It was full of life with the plant sale along with a farmers market and lots of families milling through, just in the hour or so I was there. It is on Mount Prospect Avenue in Raheny, with free parking all along the outside of the park, but I’m sure any Irish ‘locals’ would know all about it already!

The point of telling you about the Plant Fair is that I bought my hybrid Peony there from Leamore Nursery. It was well worth challenging my uncomfortableness of driving someplace new (especially on my own!) to get such a lovely plant (and a few others, too).

Paeonia ‘Hillary’

The description for ‘Hillary’ stated that it should have large double flowers opening as very dark pink, gradually fading to cream on the upper part of the petals. I found the color difficult to describe – I’m not sure I’d describe it as dark pink. It did fade, though, changing the look. I look forward to seeing it in years to come with more blooms in different stages of color!

Paeonia ‘Hillary’

I’m always thankful for a fully hardy plant, and it enjoys either full sun or part shade, with deep, fertile, humous-rich moist but well drained soil. I think it is in a really good location, so I’m hopeful that it will be happy in my garden.

Peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’

Fast forward to June 11th for the next blooming peony (Bowl of Beauty).

Peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’

‘Bowl of Beauty’ is an herbaceous perennial (no woody stem like the Tree Peony has) which grows to 80cm tall, and has mid-green, divided leaves. What I like about this peony is that it looks completely different closed as when opened. The flowers are a bright vibrant pink on the outside with a cream almost pointy-like petals on the inside, and open as wide as 20cm.

Peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’

Just in case you’ve ever wondered (like I have!), the peony, or paeony, is a flowering plant in the genus Paeonia. They are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. There, now we all know! 🙂

Peony ‘Bowl of Beauty’

I try to support them as they tend to flop over with the weight of the flowers! There are some handy metal supports you can buy. I have tied them up, too, which also works. My next blooming peony plant needs lots of support (no woody stems like the Tree Peony!) as again the flowers are heavy. I don’t know the official name, but it is a common white variety that normally just has a streak of pink in it. This year, though, it is more pink than white!

White Peony (really?)

I even checked my pictures from last year (because I was doubting myself!) – they were 99% white last year with streaks of pink. Funny isn’t it?

White Peony (with lots of pink)

Don’t get me wrong, I love pink! I think they are still so pretty. They were quite conical in shape this year too.

White Peony with shades of pink

This next Peony, which is also currently still blooming, was added to the garden in 2017, and this year is the first it has bloomed. The color is one of my favorite – a deep fuchsia pink! I bought it at National Trust’s Hidcote, in Gloucestershire, England, which is an Arts and Crafts garden in the north Cotswolds. I was there on a very special ‘Gardening Gals Getaway‘, so it reminds me of the wonderful time I had with some very special friends.

Peony ‘Kansas’

I’ve had a difficult time capturing the color with my camera – the sun distorts the color!

Peony ‘Kansas’

Peony ‘Kansas’ + Foxglove

You’ll just have to take my word for it that it looks different in person (and much prettier).

Every year peony plants add more flowers, which is such a delight. I have two more Peony plants that aren’t quite blooming yet, both of them ‘Sarah Bernhardt’. And then the Peony season will be finished in our garden. That’s not a bad run!

The last one to bloom … Peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’.

Peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’

I hope you have enjoyed my Peony tour! It was a pleasure having you visit! Which is your favorite Peony? 🙂

In Peace,
Dana

Killary Harbour Coastal Walk

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Mominthegarden

view of Killary Harbour and the farmed mussels behind us as we hiked towards Rosroe pier

I have lived in Ireland for 11 years and the beauty here never ceases to amaze me. There is so much to do and see, especially along the Wild Atlantic Way. To celebrate my Father-in-law’s 80th birthday, all 20 members of the extended family went away for the weekend to the Killary Lodge, which is a stone’s throw from Killary Harbour. Despite the bad weather we’d been having the past few weeks, we lucked out with two nice days of no rain! 🙂

The coastal path had a great view of Killary Fjord.

Killary Harbour (An Caoláire Rua) in Connemara is one of just three glacial fjords in Ireland, the others being Lough Swilly and Carlingford Lough. It forms a natural border between counties Galway and Mayo and is 16 kilometres long.

I turned to DiscoverIreland.ie to learn some more information about the area:

On the northern shore of the fjord lies the mountain of Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest mountain, rising to 814 metres. To the south rise the Maumturk Mountains and the Twelve Bens.

There are two minor settlements nearby. On the southern side near the mouth of the fjord lies the hamlet of Rossroe while Leenaun lies inland to the east.

Nearby lies the so-called Green Road, a rough road running along the side of the fjord back east towards Leenane at the head of the fjord. It stretches for approximately nine kilometres and was part of the famine relief program during the 19th century.

Aquaculture is important locally with a salmon farm based at Rossroe while mussel rafts are a common sight more to the east.

beautiful views of the harbour

Organizing activities for 20 people to do together is challenging. On this day, given the different abilities, we split into “hiking” vs. “non-hiking” groups. Our hiking group included 5 cousins, 2 brothers and two sisters-in-law. This hike was really nice. The only challenging part was the fact that it was 14 kilometers. It took us four hours to complete, and by the end we were all pretty tired! 🙂

Stone walls are a (beautiful) common feature.

Here in the West of Ireland, the stone walls, typically for dividing fields, don’t have mortar and are thus called dry stone walls.

View of the other side of the stone wall along the Killary harbour walk.

Climbing a gate along the path.

Waterfalls are great for photos 🙂

It is harder to see, but this is the view of the same waterfall taken from the Killary Harbour boat tour we took the day after our hike! You can just make out the stone wall pathway.

We hiked at a family pace, and whenever I needed a rest I just took pictures!

climbing high on the Killary coastal path

The walk was manageable with some rocky terrain, some dirt paths, and some country roads.

A requisite selfie with my husband 🙂

a blue sky backdrop looking to Rossroe

We stopped and had our picnic lunch when we reached Rossroe pier. Not only did blue skies appear, but the weather turned warmer at this stage, too.

Rosroe pier is where the coastal path ended and the country road path began.

stone cottage along the road

Two common features: stone walls and sheep.

Mayo Blackface Sheep, originally from Scotland, are mainly raised for their meat and not their wool.

The two littlest in our group, 9 year old cousins, added walking sticks at about 8 kilometers, helping them to keep going for the entire 14 kilometers!

Although different from the coastal views from the first half of the hike, the views were beautiful along the entire walk.

We passed some lakes, too (see the sheep?).

The Rhododendrons were at the very end of their season, with just a few blooms left.

It was at about this point (about 9 km) when we started singing Scouting songs! (Did you catch them on my Instagram stories?)

We saw some interesting things along the way!

a quiet donkey

In the bog you could see the turf being dried out after being cut into briquettes, and arranged in pyramids.

briquettes of turf

Harvested turf

Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium), also known as bog cotton (thanks goes to my sister-in-law for knowing this!).

Typical scene in Connemara

End of the hike for us

A picture of ‘just the girls’ at the start of our 14 km hike

I have to add that the next day, we went on a boat tour of the harbour and were delighted to see three dolphins! I managed to capture one of them with my camera, and enjoyed seeing the others “live”. What a treat it was!

Dolphin in Killary Harbour as seen on our boat tour

Any plans to visit Ireland? 🙂

In peace,
Dana

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

Posted on June 13, 2019 by Mominthegarden

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

Hi there! One thing you might not know about me is the fact that my memory isn’t great. 🙂 I have a notebook that I use to track the plants I buy and where I plant them because I will forget! I like to tape the plant tags into the book, which means that it is quite fat at this stage. It’s also a hassle to go through when I’m searching for a plant name. So recently I started a “google sheets” file of my flower beds and what is in them. It is so much easier this way!

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

One of the first plants I put into the file was this Tree Peony. Its name is Tree Paeonia Renkaku and from May 11th through May 21st I was obsessed with tracking its progress with my camera!

Tree Paeonia Renkaku – this reminds me a a bowl of vanilla ice cream!

I was so excited to see the huge flower bud on it this year! I think this poor plant has been moved a couple of times (peony plants take time to adjust when moved). But honestly, only for the fact that I had to look up its details in the notebook did I realize that we bought it way back in 2012. So only having one flower is not a great sign.

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

I’m undecided if I should leave it here or try yet another place in the garden. It is not ideal for it to be all squished where it is now and where it can’t be fully seen. 😦

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

This Imperial Tree Peony species is native to China, and is a deciduous woody shrub peony featuring large, showy flower(s). The plant can reach 5 feet tall with a 4-5 foot spread, but is slow growing.

Tree Paeonia Renkaku – the flower is a handful!

The flowers are quite delicate and are easily damaged by rain, hail and frost (typical early spring issues!). By the time my flower finally opened up, it lost one of its outside petals to harsh wind!

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

In hindsight, I can say that I prefer the pictures of the progress along the way as opposed to the final “I’m open!” pictures. The petals were so delicate, lovely, and pure white.

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

Just like in life, it is better to enjoy the journey and not just focus on the final destination.

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

I loved seeing what the Peony looked like every morning, as it grew and bloomed.

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

The petals were starting to get a bit frazzled by the time the flower finally opened up (although it was still lovely).

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

It was a pity that the outside petal came off!

I’m hoping to keep better track of my flowers with my “new system”. And I’ll probably move this lovely lady one more time. Wish me luck!

In peace,
Dana

Wordless Wednesday – Chickens + Compost

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Mominthegarden

I turned the compost and the girls had quite the treat!

Gardening – it’s worth the effort!

Posted on June 4, 2019 by Mominthegarden

Viburnum opulus ‘Roseum’

Hello there! It is a rather funny name for the post today, but as I was working in the garden most of the weekend, it seemed apt. Maintaining and growing a garden *is* a lot of work, and I think even more so when you do it organically. This is worth it to me, though, as I absolutely love being in the garden and seeing how it is transformed and how it brings such beauty into our lives. And when things start to not balance out, it’s time to change things up and find easier plants to maintain!

Playhouse garden with yellow lupine, Iris ‘Benton Storrington’, and bleeding hearts

The weather hasn’t been great recently, so I haven’t been keeping up with the weeding. It reached the point this weekend, though, that my husband even pointed out to me that “those flowers would look much nicer if there weren’t so many weeds! How sweet of him to notice 🙂

early stage pears

You’ve heard me say it before, and it remains true, that we like to grow what is easy (to grow and maintain)! Our fruit trees are a prime example. We’ve been very fortunate with an abundance of pears and apples the past few years. We’ll see how it goes the rest of the season, but as of right now we have a bumper crop of pears! All of this with just composting on a regular basis and light annual pruning.

Iris ‘Benton Storrington’

I try to add some new flowers every year. This Iris was added in 2016 and has done really well in my yard. I started with just two rhizomes, and last year we divided what had developed into a huge clump. I was actually trying to find spaces around the yard to fit in the divided plants! We planted several rhizomes around the yard, all of which are now ready to bloom.

Purple Sensation allium

The Purple Sensation allium is a new addition which we added into two beds last fall. Actually, I bought “Purple Sensation” allium years ago, but it most definitely was not Purple Sensation as the color is quite light, which you can notice in the picture below.

Purple Sensation allium and NOT Purple Sensation allium

a view of the main rose bed to the right of Abies Koreana (Remember when I planted those boxwood plants? Spring 2018)

The longest blooming flower in our garden is the rose, so we created a second rose bed a few years ago, and filled it with David Austin roses. The empty space between the roses was filled in no time with poppies (I didn’t plant them here, they “moved” from different beds in the garden, and possibly from my compost!).

Rose bed filled with Poppies (with a few allium “popping” up!)

Poppies love my yard. I’m not sure if I’m going to be 100% happy with them in this rose bed. They’ve grown incredibly tall, but thankfully they are also sheltering my rose plants from the harsh wind we’ve had recently. Pity you can’t really see the rose plants here though!

David Austin roses (the far side of the poppy invasion)

David Austin Standard Tree Rose Princess Anne

My first Standard Tree rose went into the garden last fall. It is rather tall and the roses are bright pink and very much visible!

Poppies in the Rainbow garden

The Rainbow garden is filling out even more with the addition of two varieties of Iris last year. Poppies are definitely hogging the stage at the moment, though.

Iris among the poppies

A full view of the Rainbow garden (with one chicken)

the chickens love to roam the garden!

Hawthorn trees in bloom (Weigela florida ‘Alexandra’ is the bright flowered shrub) + chicken about to jump!

this flower bed at our front gate is filled with Hosta, Sedum, Iris, Roses, Asters, Lavender, Bergenia, and the White Lilac is visible from the other side of the fence. We added the Bergenia (at the very front) last year.

front gate garden today

This little ‘Front gate garden’ has Aster, Sedum, Foxglove, a new Climbing Rose, and two new Primula capitat subsp mooreana, Woodlander (thank goodness for plant tags!). They are right on time for blooming now and should go until July (we’ll see!). My one variety of peony has just finished blooming – the blooms usually fall through from the other side of the fence and give a splash of color here (you can just see the spent redish flowers on the other side of the fence).

Primula capitata subsp mooreana, Woodlander

I’ve already made many “new flower/plant/tree” purchases for this season! Hopefully, everyone will settle in and adjust to our garden (and not be eaten/dug up by the chickens). There is just so much going on in the garden! The next flowers to bloom should be the rest of my peony plants.

Garlic beds with sweet pea planted in the middle.

Oh! and I almost forgot that we’ll be harvesting our garlic in July! I’ve planted some sweet pea down the middle of one bed, and sunflowers down the middle of the other. I’ll find out soon enough if that was a good or a bad idea!

So the main point I make to myself, on a regular basis, is to keep a balance. I can’t spend all of my time in the garden. I’ve learned to be O.K. with weeds – I’ll get to them eventually. The garden is a long term project for me anyway, no point in rushing! 🙂

I hope you get to spend the perfect amount of time in a garden and enjoy every minute of it!

In peace,
Dana

Mom in the Garden

Enjoying life. In Ireland. With my family.

Monthly Archives: June 2019

Peonies in the Garden including an Itoh Hybrid Peony ‘Hillary’

Killary Harbour Coastal Walk

Tree Paeonia Renkaku

Wordless Wednesday – Chickens + Compost

Gardening – it’s worth the effort!