Winterthur Part 2A: Late Spring 2013, Peonies
Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
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Winterthur in Delaware is the outstanding Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, US) area garden that I am profiling this year. For links to previous gardens profiled and background on Winterthur itself, read my previous Winterthur post by clicking here. In preparing for my second Winterthur post, I visited the garden at the end of May with fellow blogger Donna from the blog Garden Walk Garden Talk. I took hundreds of photos during the visit and that was my downfall. I find that the more photos I have of a potential blog subject, the less likely I am to do the post because the prospect of sorting them seems overwhelming. For example, I never did a post on the gardens I saw during the 2012 Garden Bloggers Fling in Asheville, NC, although I haven’t given up hope.
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I decided that there would be no hope of actually getting the next Winterthur post up on the blog unless I broke the photos into some smaller categories. So today I am showing the images of the peony gardens, which were absolutely spectacular at the end of May. Henry Francis du Pont (1880 to 1969), the man behind the Winterthur gardens, was a voracious collector of plants from all over the world. His peony gardens are magnificent and justify a visit to Winterthur just to see them. However, Winterthur is so wonderful and varied that a visit at any time of year is a pleasure. In fact, for sheer garden beauty, I think Winterthur is my favorite Delaware Valley garden.
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tree peony garden
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The Winterthur peony gardens contain both tree peonies and herbaceous peonies. As I walked through them, I said to Donna I want that one, I want that one. However, I was to be disappointed because most of the peonies in the collection were acquired as unnamed plants by Henry Francis du Pont. There are accession numbers and source information but no names, and the plants aren’t available for sale today according to a Winterthur staff member who was also taking photos. So you can enjoy these photos as images of gorgeous flowers but they won’t lead you to any specific plant purchases. I hope that they will also inspire you to visit Winterthur in person.
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The lilacs behind the peonies were gorgeous.
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This is the same peony as the one pictured at the very beginning of the post. I think it was my favorite although it would be hard to pick one.
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I hope you enjoyed Part 2A of my year of Winterthur posts even though it is slightly out-of-season. The next installment will be on the Quarry Garden filled with candelabra primroses among other treasures.
Carolyn
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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
August 9, 2013 at 1:44 pm
I loved the Peony garden as much as you did, wanting each and every one of them. This part of the garden was spectacular with all the colors of Spring. The visit was perfectly planned, but I would bet anytime of year is equally as lovely. Your series is showing that. Thank you for linking.
August 15, 2013 at 8:06 pm
The next time I go to Winterthur it will be late summer, and I am sure it will be delightful. I have never been there then.
August 9, 2013 at 2:34 pm
thanks for sharing your visit, we have a peonie farm near us and that is spectacular, I have posted about it in previous years but I do know what you mean about too much of a good thing where photos are concerned.
August 15, 2013 at 8:13 pm
I spend hours going through the photos for most of my posts. It’s especially bad if lots of them are similar and there are no clear winners.
August 9, 2013 at 3:10 pm
So wonderful to be able to visit a garden through the seasons to see the parade of blooms. I visited Longwood Gardens a few years ago and did not realize how close we were to other wonderful gardens. Since I may never have an opportunity to visit that area again I will enjoy the photos you post here. I love peonies and have added several to my garden, some were starts from my mother-in-laws garden.
August 15, 2013 at 8:24 pm
Glad you enjoyed the peonies. I hope you get to this area again. I tried to comment on your blog but kept getting an error message. Also if you don’t already know this, a lot of bloggers don’t comment on blogs with word verification.
August 9, 2013 at 3:44 pm
A mouth watering selection makes the few I grow look pretty insignificant, pity I am on the wrong side of the pond would love to see them, thanks for showing
August 9, 2013 at 4:28 pm
They are all very beautiful Carolyn. Do they tolerate shade? Or do they require full sun to flower like this?
August 15, 2013 at 8:27 pm
Denise, herbaceous peonies do best in full sun but tree peonies grow in part shade. Both are very long-lived and easy to grow. For some reason your comments are not coming through with a link so I can’t get back to your blog. Carolyn
August 9, 2013 at 8:44 pm
I love peonies and hope to add some new ones when I develop my front garden. Thanks for sharing these.
August 15, 2013 at 8:28 pm
Jean, As you can tell from the photos I choose, I like the single-flowered peonies best. They don’t flop in the rain and have a much more interesting less fussy look. Carolyn
August 9, 2013 at 10:11 pm
Hi Carolyn,
Your peonies photos are lovely! I am looking forward to seeing your pictures of the Quarry Garden. I have a large patch of red primula japonica, inspired by the Winterthur quarry garden I saw over 30 years ago, before the QG was hit by an unusually bad storm which caused a lot of damage. After quite a few years, Charles Cresson was appointed to restore it.
A little rivulet of water trickled down the cut stone wall onto the stone quarry floor, spreading out into a wide, shallow brook where many primroses grew, along with ferny clumps in the shady places and many other wet-loving plants. It was one of the most magical spots I had ever seen.
So I look forward with pleasure to seeing your images of the new quarry garden.
August 15, 2013 at 8:46 pm
Starr, I didn’t realize Charles restored the quarry garden. I will have to ask him about it. Carolyn
August 10, 2013 at 9:42 am
I visited Winterthur last year when the peonies were in full bloom. Unforgettable! I took one of my all-time favourite flower photos there — wish I could share it with you.
The only problem about visiting Winterthur in the spring is having enough time to see everything. The garden is superb!
August 15, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Pat, You are right. It was quite a hike to see everything that was peaking when we were there. I would have liked to sit for a while. We were very lucky to be admitted on a Monday when Winterthur is closed. We didn’t have to wait for people to get out of the way because we were the only visitors. Carolyn
August 15, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Blogger must be down because comments won’t post. See my comment above about word verification.
August 10, 2013 at 1:57 pm
Shame these lovely plants only have numbers – they deserve more than that!
August 15, 2013 at 9:06 pm
BG, You are right numbers are for criminals not gorgeous peonies. Carolyn
August 11, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Carolyn what a refreshing journey back to spring to see all these gorgeous peonies. I needed it.
August 15, 2013 at 9:08 pm
Donna, I feel bad that these posts are out of season but they will still inspire people to visit, which is the point. Carolyn
August 11, 2013 at 11:10 pm
How refreshing to read/see a post about Peonies at this time of year. Time to think ahead to fall planting, I guess. Do you recommend planting them in September? I really enjoyed your beautiful photos, as always–especially the shot of the Lilacs behind the Peonies.
August 15, 2013 at 9:15 pm
PP, Fall is the best time to plant almost any plant because it can establish before winter but doesn’t have to go through a potentially hot and dry summer. However, all my peonies were planted successfully in spring. Peonies should only be moved in the fall. Carolyn
August 14, 2013 at 1:24 pm
Hi Carolyn, I am loving those Peonies at Winterthur. The singles are beginning to catch my attention these days.
August 15, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Alistair, I love the singles especially because they don’t flop when it rains. Carolyn
August 15, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Hi Carolyn,
I always enjoy visiting your site to see all the beautiful garden, plant and flower pictures!!! Peonies are one of my favorites, especially the double peonies.
You might be interested in my handcrafted Garden Bluebird House Give-Away, free birdhouse! check it out.
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August 15, 2013 at 9:40 pm
I am a single peony person but all of them are beautiful.
November 28, 2017 at 10:13 pm
i’m here regarding concern for donna of garden walk/talk.. she’s been totally silent since earlier in the year when she mentioned some health problems…
i’m in ecuador and am not online often, but i sure miss her beautiful posts and her love for nature…
lisa