BLOGARDEN { Peony Edition}

Plucked from a home garden for me with LOVE....: )

I promise I won't act crazy like in my last post where I actually illustrate how flowers talk to each other in a street fight or catty gossip girl episode...I will just present my info! ; )

I <3 Peonies. That's just it. So I want to make sure I remember when the official last day of the season is here in the SF market so that next year during planning I can better help my brides. Last week was the official week my vendors were taking and filling orders but this week the market still had some stragglers so I decided to write up a little info post on them. Everyone just asks for peonies and what they don't realize is that color and type determine price. Its' not always enough to say the pink ones, because if you click here:
Full Bloom Farm
Heartland Peony Society
The Peony Farm

You will see a whole catalog of peonies in pink.
What makes them different is the the size and fluffiness factor
{an official term I'm sure}
There are:

single, semi double, double, japanese and anemone peonies and the Bomb double peony.
So you see, they don't just come in pink or fluffy. ; )

These beauties are the Coral Charm double salmon peonies and Old Faithful double peonies.

The big fluffy pink ones are Mrs. Franklin D Roosevelts

The hot pink peonies that I love are the Double Pink Ellen Cowley and the yellow ones are Bartzellas I believe.

They range anywhere from $4 to $9{wholesale} per stem when they are in season. The cheaper ones I find are the bomb peonies that have a single layer of petals on the outside then a fluffy ball on the inside. They sell those at Trader Joes for like $10-$15 for 5 stems in the peak of the season. The ones that brides like are the full double peonies that are what my vendors call the premium peonies. The big mommas a la Martha Stewart.