Enchanting Peonies

I had a message on the blog this morning: "怎么今年不晒牡丹啊？" or "Why are you not sharing Peonies this year?"  

I have been remiss. I apologize!  对不起! 真是对不起!

So this is my first annual gratuitous peony picture post just for my Chinese friend. 

Several of the tree peonies I planted last year are blooming for the first time, and this spring, in a moment of weakness, I came home with several new ones, all of which are also blooming.

The herbaceous peonies are in various stages of bud, but still a few weeks behind, as they always are. That will be a future post.

The first time I lived in Taiwan in 1991, I brought a folding shoji screen back for my mother as a gift and it was a pain in the ass to get home on the airline! If I recall correctly it cost more for extra baggage to bring home then it did to actually buy it.

I have always loved it as art and it has been part of my inspiration for planting a multitude of peonies.

The Chinese idiom "国色天香" (guose tianxiang) painted on it refers to the beauty of peony flowers.

In a literal sense is means "national beauty and heavenly fragrance".

国色天香

It is easy to be enchanted by the beauty of a peony.
 
Which brings me to the newest peonies to bloom for the first time:

Paeonia  'Taiyo 太阳' (The Sun Tree Peony)

Paeonia  'Taiyo 太阳' (The Sun Tree Peony)

Paeonia 'Kokuryu Nishiki 黑竜錦' (Black Dragon Brocade Tree Peony)

Paeonia 'Yachiyo Tsubaki 八千代椿' (Eternal Camellias Tree Peony)

Paeonia 'Houki 芳纪' (Red Tree Peony)

Paeonia 'Shima Daijin 島大臣' (Island Minister Tree Peony)

'Paeonia  'Koukamon 皇嘉门' (Floral Gate Tree Peony)

 Some old favorites:

Paeonia ostii 'Feng Dan Bai 鳳丹白' (Phoenix White Tree Peony)

Paeonia ostii 'Feng Dan Bai 鳳丹白' (Phoenix White Tree Peony)  with 'Rou Fu Rong 肉芙蓉' in back

Paeonia 'Shima Nishiki 岛锦' (Forest Flame Tree Peony)

Paeonia  'Seidei 聖代' (Glorious Reign Tree Peony)

Paeonia 'Kamata Fuji' (Wisteria of Kamata Tree Peony)

Paeonia  'High Noon 海黄' (High Noon Tree Peony)

Paeonia 'Hei Bao 黑豹' (Black Panther Tree Peony)

Paeonia 'Hei Bao 黑豹' (Black Panther Tree Peony)

Paeonia  'Rou Fu Rong 肉芙蓉' (Pink Hibiscus Tree Peony)

Paeonia suffruticosa

 I'm not sure about this one?!?

One year, before I was careful about remembering where I planted each peony, I planted this one.

I think it may be Paeonia suffruticosa 'Hua Er Qiao 花二乔' (Twin Beauty Tree Peony), but it doesn't seem like the right flower or quite the right color pattern?  

And much to my joy, there was a baby born this year!

I sprinkled Paeonia suffruticosa seeds around and looks like one took! 

Airboat Bayou Tour or OMG Alligators!

Located off Hwy 90 in Des Allemands, LA is Airboat Tours, by Arthur Matherne. They offer a variety of bayou tours. Please see the link to their website for more info.

Our tour guide was Greg and he was quite the local character.

One of the birthday twins getting ready to tour.

Our boat. The red things are noise protection ear muffs. The engine is LOUD!

Hymenocallis festalis - Peruvian Lily

Being a born and raised Wisconsin boy, I have never been to the Bayou, but I was all about seeing the swamp and some gators!

Bayou means "small stream" in a local Native American language. It's basically a stream moving through a swamp.

There are lots of specialized plants that do well in the bayou, like cattails, bulrush, waterlilies and cedars. There are a myriad of animals that live there as well, like crayfish, catfish, nutria, snakes, frogs, toads, alligators, herons, turtles, etc.

Iris and Hymenocallis festalis

 

Spanish moss and a gorgeous view.

"Bob"

A nursery log.

In addition to being a natural habitat for many plants and animals, the bayou protects inland areas from coastal erosion caused by hurricanes and storm surge. As these areas disappear, so does their protection. The coastline of Louisiana is shrinking because of this.

I'm afraid I'm not completely sure the area we covered by airboat, but it was a mix of the Dufrene Ponds, Bayou des Allemands, and a little of the Petit Lac des Allemands.

The great thing about an airboat is that it can go almost anywhere. They are very shallow boats that use a fan to propel it over the water. We traveled though open canals, up and over dry embankments and through all manner of mud and "flottant", which are masses of floating vegetation. It looks like you could step out on it, but it's really not land.

Cypress "Knees".

A floating island.

Greg had lots of alligator "friends" out in the bayou. Each time we would pass one he would say hello and if they were really lucky, he would feed them a chunk of raw chicken from the front of the boat. There was Bob, Big Al, Sneaky, Mia and a few more. Greg was very close with "Big Al" - they have been friends for 12 or more years.

Greg playing with "Big Al"

"Sneaky"

A 1-2 year old alligator

Baby alligators are so cute!

At one point Greg picked up a baby alligator and put it in his pocket.

Be sure to stop at the Roadside Daiquiri a few doors down (Hwy 90 and Catfish Lane) for a frosty tasty frozen beverage to celebrate not being eaten by an alligator. I suggest the Amaretto & Pineapple!

You'll know you're there by the big blue gorilla out front.

Lots of nasty Salvinia natans (Floating Fern)

A marshy area.

Not sure what was going on here - but it looked funny!

Yvette, We're not in Portland Anymore

I had a blast visiting New Orleans recently.

I was fortunate to be with locals who knew where to go for the best food and drink and they were also willing to humor my inner garden nerd.  

My peeps live in Metairie, Louisiana, which is just outside New Orleans. They live in a lovely brick home in a nice neighborhood.

The Neighbor's House! She loved cutesie garden ornaments.

Metairie was not flooded during Katrina. The 17th canal that separates Metairie and New Orleans broke into the New Orleans side and flooded 75% of New Orleans. Metairie sustained a lot of wind damage and water damage from that but was overall in good shape comparatively.

The neighborhood was modest but lovely. Seems like most of the neighbors were not gardeners. But in general homes seem to have less landscaping. I'm sure it's the heat and the humidity. The average high hemp is 80 degrees and the low 61 degrees.

Bugs could also be the reason for keeping plantings away from homes. There were still cicada skins clinging to the brick at the back of the house.

So i can see how gardening in the summer could be trying. Unless I had a 72 oz frozen daiquiri from the Fat Tues Day, I wouldn't want to be out there either!   

While walking their two dogs, I got a glimpse of the plants in people's yards and while there were some Portland plants, it was decidedly a lot more tropical, as would be expected.

I was tickled to see all manner of Palm, Amaryllis as bedding plants, roses, lots of sun annuals and a few other random plants. 

Hibiscus

Dietes Iridioides

Lots of Amaryllis - Sure beats Geraniums!

Once one of the neighbors found out I was a gardener she was asking me what to do with the 50 count bag of tulips she got for retirement. I have never gardened in a tropical-ish environment, so I wasn't really sure what to tell her?!?

I hope to post some of the more garden related aspects of my trip, but I also got to help prepare a traditional crawfish boil, so there may be a post about that too!  

And there will be alligators!

A lovely Bottlebrush

Brunfelsia pauciflora (Yesterday-Today- and- Tomorrow)

A Weed Ecosystem - Palm Style

While plant shopping this weekend, I stumbled upon a lovely palm tree.  I'm not real good with palms, so I couldn't tell you which one it was. Probably one of the marginally hard ones for here in Portland.  

It was obvious it had been there a little while.

What intrigued me the most was the cast of characters that had made themselves at home in the palm and this was only the plant life.

Getting a little closer you could see the ferns, Himalayan blackberry and the dandelions growing out of the trunk. 

I guess it isn't the kind of trunk that's very amenable to just sticking your hand in to pull out a weed.

It's a little world of weeds.

I Told You It Was Too Early!

The last two nights have been in the high 20's/low 30's and I have woken to frost.

I haven't had to scrape my car windows for a very long time, but I've had too the past few days.

Isn't that terrible?!? I'm surprised Portland's "Frost-pocalypse 2015" hasn't been all over the news?

I feel a little awful whining about that (two days of frost), especially when the entire East Coast has had such a brutal winter.

But most concerning to me were the sad tree peonies, that told me weeks ago that Spring was over, which were now drooping their heads. I told you it was too early! I told you to go back to bed for awhile!

They will be fine however, they are tough! 

I should probably also not rub in the fact that our daytime temps have been in the high 50's/low 60's and the forecast for this Saturday is 67 degrees.

While I'm toiling away on my patio project, I might have to take my shirt off, so I don't get overwhelmed with heat exhaustion.

Sorry East Coast!