A long sought after peony

As a kid, I had plant catalogs under my bed (vs. the usual dirty porn most boys had under their mattress) and one of them had this pink peony on the cover that I was so infatuated with called 'Vivid Rose'. It was a photo that was most likely staged to give it the appearance of abundant blooms, but it was it's description that made me want it so very badly. Fully double pink, voluptuous ( didn't know what that meant, but it sounded good!) petals with powerful and enchanting fragrance that one bloom can scent an entire room!!!!! What held me back was the near $30 per 3-5 eye division plus shipping it was supposedly worth. At that time, I couldn't justify why I'd spend my monthly allowance for a single plant.




In an old episode of the Victory Garden on PBS that I rented from our library, I noticed one segment was a tour of the peony fields of the Klehm family (now called Klehm's Song Sparrow) in Illinois. There they discussed peony breeding and showcased several hybrids that just made my mouth water as I rewound it again and again to see flower after gorgeous flower on the television screen and one such flower happened to be 'Vivid Rose'. It was voluptuous and HUGE!

Years passed and I'd think about it each fall as peony catalogs came in the mail or appeared online and I always intended to get it because the sooner I have it in my possession, the sooner I can plant so the sooner I can experience their luscious blooms because peonies take a few years to really get established. But each year I flake and fail to place an order.

THIS SPRING IS THE YEAR it finally happened when I noticed the peony in a 2 gallon pot with 4 budded stems at a local garden center. I eventually caved and willingly paid $24.99 plus tax for the plant.

Now, to witness it in bloom....

Will I still be enchanted by what appears to be just another pink, double flowered herbaceous peony? Or, will I find it plain, ordinary, and "so over with.."??


I'll let you know in early June!


R

A plug for public television

Some of you know that I did a little brand story with our local public television station, KCTS 9. I don't know if you read this post from July.

I've had a copy of the DVD for awhile, but I just now managed to format it so I could post it on the web.




Hope it gets people's attention to support quality television that raised me growing up!


Riz

Sitting Down with KCTS 9

I've been involved in a little project with our local public television station, KCTS 9.

Last year, I met Stephen Hegg; a producer at KCTS who greeted me at an event I was invited to at their studios promoting, "The Victory Garden", a gardening show on PBS I grew up watching. In our early conversations, I shared this fact about myself and how public television practically raised me as a child. Hinting that it played a huge role in my aspirations of becoming a horticulturist, an idea came to his head about possibly doing a brand story on me.

We stayed in touch, filmed some promotional tidbits for KCTS's summer programming last year and earlier this year, we got together with his camera crew to begin this long process of filming for a very short segment piece he is going to create.

He had his crew follow me around during this year's NW Flower and Garden Show and just last week, they came out to Landwave to get some footage of me working.

On Tuesday, we filmed my testimonial where he asked me questions about my work and how public television and KCTS has impacted my life.



It was nice to kind of look back as I recalled memories of when I was a child watching KCTS. From all the kids shows (some of which I still watch today when I get a chance), Saturday afternoon cooking segments, inspiring dance and music through shows like "Great Performances", and, of course, watching Roger Swain, Marian Morash and Peter Seabrook show me the ropes on growing plants, it was a huge honor to be able to somehow give back to public television.

I just hope that my story is compelling enough to reach a broad audience and garner the support of those who can financially contribute to KCTS during this tough time.

We're still not sure when my segment will air, but I do hope that people will stay tuned; watch the quality programming they have to offer and pledge their support.
Click here to SUPPORT KCTS 9!!



Riz