A Tour of the Central Experimental Garden in Ottawa

A Peony Tour of the gardens at the Central Experimental Farm , bloom time 2015

 Since I was giving a tour of the peony beds at the farm to the CPS members attending the show, Margaret suggested that I take a few pictures for the benefit of the members who could not attend. I decided to start a week early so there would be something for everyone.

So,

Here we are approaching the peony beds from the south with bed 12 in the right foreground. Beds 11,10,&9 continue north followed by beds1 to 8 which are circular beds surrounding the oak tree which you see in the distance. There are two more rectangular beds (beds 13 & 14) to their left and two more large curved beds (beds C1 & C2) across the street to the north which you can just see above bed 12. Note the annual beds to your right which are just being planted.

 Here we have a closer look at bed 12. In right foreground is 'Sweet May' to her left is 'Bravura' just opening, and to it's left is 'Audrey' a lovely plant but unfortunately already finished blooming. Behind in the center the tall pink with yellow center is 'Pageant'

Continuing with bed 12 below in right foreground is 'Early Daybreak' and to the left rear is 'Garden Peace'

And below we have 'Heritage' and  right rear is 'Merry Mayshine'

And below is 'Lotus Bloom'  looking a bit distorted due to the support hoop. Every spring our first task after initial weeding is to put in the stakes and hoops. They seldom fit perfectly

Below is Bed 11. In front center is 'Victoria Lincoln' pink petals with yellow center. Note that beds 9-12 are 3 deep with 'Victoria Lincoln' in the middle and to the right of it 'Sprite' (white petals) and to the front of it as 'Nova' already finished and one of our first to bloom. Beds 11 & 12 are  Saunders peonies, hybrids notes for their earliness.

Moving  now to bed 9 below, you see only three plants in bloom, the large white flowered plant is 'Adrienne Clarkson' and the white one behind is 'Marie Victorin' both Menard/D'Aoust hybrids and the red is 'Jewel' also a hybrid.

Here we've now moved to our circular beds 1-8. You see bed 8 in the foreground outer circle. 'Early Glow' is in bloom. The red bloom at the end of bed7 is 'Montezuma'. Behind are the rectangular beds 13 & 14. The bench at the foot of the oak tree is a popular resting spot, and the gentleman resting with the big telephoto lens camera was out "birding" but he did take a few peony shots.

Below we are looking directly at beds 13 & 14 and we see 'Prosperity Maud' (Menard/D'Aoust peony) in full bloom. To it's left is an Itoh peony not yet in bloom. This bed has an equal number of Itoh and other herbaceous plants

Moving down bed 13 we see below 'Compagna' and in the next picture below 'Tranquil Dove' both Saunders hybrids that you don't often see.