Scentless Peonies

My pink peonies, I forget the variety, have no scent this year! The same is true for my pink Queen of Bourbon roses! My white peonies, however, are as fragrant as ever.

Anyone else experiencing this? I'm in northern Illinois, zone 5. Could it be the late frosts we had this spring? The white peonies bloomed later than the pink, and the pink roses and peonies bloomed at the same time.

I have no idea why this would be happening, but I sure do miss the fragrance of peonies! I need to plant some.

Not all peonies or roses (or lilies, for that matter) are fragrant, so I am assuming that these flowers have been fragrant for you in past years. If that is the case, then I would look to the weather. Some fragrances carry best in warm weather, others in cool. The amount of rain you've been getting, and the humidity of the air can also be factors. I don't think it would be late frosts, unless the buds show signs of damage.

I wondered about the weather, too. The first buds showed some brown edges from frost, but the flowers are as big as ever. We've had hot and dry, cool and dry, hot and rainy, and now cool and rainy during the life of these blooms, and throughout all, no scent.

Even the later buds that are opening now have no scent. It's particularly troubling with the Queen of Bourbon roses, which I can normally smell down the block. My New Dawn are opening this week, so I'm interested in seeing what we have there.

My peonies had a slight fragrance this year, but no where near as strong as in past years. I think it was the odd spring weather we had!

The flowers also did not last as long as usual.

Yes, I agree. I also find that my neighbor's rose bush has no scent this year, and my New Dawn buds are not opening, and just turning brown.

I'm also not seeing honey bees. I have one huge bee the size of a hummingbird that is running defense for a creature that is burrowing into my porch overhang. Never seen this kind before. It belly buts any hornets that come by, but doesn't bother us coming in and out of the backdoor.

Very few mosquitoes this year, I think because of the cool nights we are having. We had a frost after May 15, which is our usual last frost date.

Windy, you can have some of our mosquitoes - we've got WAAAAY too many.

I haven't noticed the peony scent this year because they aren't blooming yet. Except the fern leaf peonies - almost forgot them. They smelled as much as usual. The lilacs and lily-of-the-valley were also as strong as ever.

I have one huge bee the size of a hummingbird that is running defense for a creature that is burrowing into my porch overhang. Never seen this kind before.

Windy - that sounds like a carpenter bee to me. We get them every year. They are like big bumblebees that burrow into eaves and overhangs. They are harmless, but kind of scary, as they buzz loudly and sometimes bonk right into you.

yeah, we used to have them too! The beams of our porch roof began to look like swiss cheese! Nothing discouraged them either!

Never heard of carpenter bees. But last spring, a hairy woodpecker decided to excavate a nest in the east wall of my house!

Downy woodpeckers like to bang on the gutters during mating season, but I had never heard of this house-attacking behavior before. Apparently it is not uncommon - I found several websites devoted to woodpecker scaring devices. Unfortunately most of them needed to be suspended from the eaves, which are impossible to reach due to the steep roof pitch and steep slopes on both sides of the house.

I eventually bought several helium balloons with smiley faces, tied several reflective bird-scare streamers to each one, and let them float up from a window on the main floor. That kept the woodpeckers away, but I had to keep replacing the balloons throughout woodpecker mating season, and I still haven't figured out how to get high enough to fill the holes.

On the subject of peony scent - I wonder if it is something that only certain people can appreciate, like freesias. My husband planted several new bushes last year and they have been spectacular. He called me into the garden to smell their amazing fragrance, but what I could smell was really not that amazing. Disapppointing for me, but the roses growing nearby were heavenly.

I do think people smell and appreciate differently, afterall Some people actually are so sensitive to smells that they get headaches and other people could stand right next to a dead skunk and not smell it.

Interesting, but these are peonies I've had for years...I haven't lost my sense of smell. They just have no smell this year!

BTW, the New Dawn roses do have their light, spicy scent. I'm thinking it had to do with the lateness of the last frost and the early bloom of the pink peonies.

pollysmith: I'm one of those people who is over-sensitive to scent -- visiting the garden center during lilac season just about killed me.

I thought this thread was about varieties of peonies that didn't have scent -- I want to try planting peonies but finding a plant famous for it's scent without scent isn't easy.

On the other hand, I do get to enjoy the subtle scents of mulch and fresh rain. *shrug*.

krystolla - if looking for peonies without scent, check this excellent site http://www.paeonia.com/home.htm . I found out about it from ColdClimateGardening and it tells you which varieties have fragrance and which don't. Even if you don't want to order from them, you could find out which varieties you are interested in and look for them elsewhere.

Thank you tardis! I ordered a "Gay Paree" from them this fall and I'm looking forward to seeing it next spring.