Set out below is the current newsletter. At the bottom are links to the first newsletters of Auspeony the Australian peony newsletter
Newsletter
The PEONY LADY is pleased to announce that Neville Harrop's collection of tree peonies as seen on Gardening Australia in November 2000 has been kept together on his retirement, and is now held by the Peony Lady, Elisabeth Rundle. Elisabeth, who formerly traded as Paeonyflora, from Dunnstown, Victoria has moved to Canberra. Plants are available by MAIL ORDER, in the same way that Mr Harrop traded. His exceptional stock will be available through Elisabeth Rundle from SPRING 2001. There will be displays of peony plants and flowers this spring in Canberra (contact me for details) and on the website which continues to be updated with photographs of peony blooms.
Prepare your soilPrepare the soil well as it IS an investment plant you are purchasing – better to prepare now and wait till next autumn to plant. Peonies are NOT about instant gratification but they are certainly worth the wait when they bloom in your garden. THEY SHOULD ALWAYS BE PLANTED IN AUTUMN. As with roses, view in spring and buy and plant them in autumn.
Do your homework to find out what sort of bloom and bush size you want to buy, research the blooms for size and shape single, semi-double or double: also for colour - black red, yellow, pink, purple, white or suffused (some say confused!)
To learn more about growing peonies and make contact with other growing enthusiastsJoin AUSPEONY THE QUARTERLY NEWLETTER FOR PEONY GROWERS IN AUSTRALIA – membership is $10-00 per year as from I July 2001. Contribute your bits and pieces of peony knowledge including flowering times in your area so that an overall bloom time map can be produced.It was a chance comment from Jeremy Francis of Cloudehill at Olinda which led me to track down the 400 bloom per year Etienne de France in Ballarat.
Send a stamped self addressed envelope (SSAE) to AUSPEONY P.O. Box 106, Ainslie ACT 2602 for further information or email us on
STOP PRESS -
NEW RELEASE:
Chinese named varieties are being released this
season – they have vigour and these are divisions not grafts. Photographs of these plants have been added to the website. These peonies are referred to by a number (not unlike Chinese restaurant menus of the past) as well as their
Chinese name in roman lettering (pinyin). They are $65 each (bare rooted) or three for $175. These will grow strongly and will form bushes quicker than the grafted varieties. They have now been potted up and the price has had to rise for the spring potted sales to recognise this fact.
peonies@ozemail.com.au02 6251 4790
www.peony.com.au 0417 581 148
AUSPEONY
Interest in the peony genus is definitely on the rise in Australia, and across the world. If you love peonies, wish to find out more about growing them, and want to communicate with other Australian peony enthusiasts then please read on.
Peonies were once thought of as
"Grandma's flowers", but now the old varieties are avidly sought out
by collectors. Some growers are painstakingly growing rare and unusual species
peonies from imported seeds. Many people enjoy reading about stunning varieties
of peonies in American and English peony texts and in glossy, overseas
gardening magazines. But they are frustrated at being unable to find more than
the usual half dozen varieties of herbaceous peony roots, or un-named and
un-flowered seedling Chinese tree peonies in their local nursery. Also, a large
number of peony growers have asked for detailed information on growing peonies
in Australia.
There has been enough interest to form a group in Australia similar to the American Peony Society, to help us pool our information, and to put peony lovers across Australia, in contact with each other? After much discussion, a small number of peony enthusiasts have launched AUSPEONY. Two of us,
Denis Wilson and Elisabeth Rundle formerly of Ballarat, now of Canberra have offered to co-ordinate AUSPEONY.
Denis Wilson has grown an interesting variety of
plants in his old Canberra garden, including peonies, over 25 years. He has a variety of rare and unusual plants, which he has enjoyed tracking down by visiting small, relatively unknown nurseries, or else by mail order. His interest in correctly identifying an old-fashioned peony he obtained as a wrongly named variety, led him to make contact with Elisabeth Rundle, who runs a specialist tree peony nursery, also in Canberra has been a lover of tree peonies since she visited Japan as an exchange student. In recent years she has developed a fine collection of tree peonies. Elisabeth was formerly known to some of you as the operator of PEONYFLORA. After moving to Canberra Elisabeth is preparing display gardens on her new property so that people can visit and see spectacular tree peonies in bloom. She sells to the public through mail order in the autumn and
also sells potted plants all year. Elisabeth is also working on the establishment of a national peony garden so amny visitors can enjoy the beauty of these plants. ARRANGEMENTS WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON Denis has a lot of plant knowledge,
and also considerable experience in working in community organisations, and has
offered to help with contacting peony-lovers. At this stage, we envisage the
main function of Auspeony is to continue to issue a newsletter for members, which would
be sent out 4 times a year. Denis and Elisabeth are happy to compile the
newsletter initially, and would be very pleased to receive articles for
publication, and comments on your peony growing experiences. Another idea is to
start a "First peony bloom of the season" register, similar to one
presently being developed on an Internet site dedicated to peonies. That brings
us to the whole point of AUSPEONY. We don't live in the Northern
Hemisphere! Therefore our seasons,
growing conditions and experience are vastly different from the experiences of
most American Peony Society members. Many Australian gardeners are not "on
the Net". And, virtually all printed material currently available is
Northern Hemisphere based and we need to know how best to grow these exquisite
plants in our own environment. We know it is time we Australian peony growers
got together. If you wish to become a member of Auspeony, please contact us on the contact details below. To continue Auspeony, we need a small membership fee of $10-00 pa from 1 July 2001 to cover paper, printing and postage.
Mobile: 0417 581 148
peonies@ozemail.com.au