As part of our ongoing quest for a long-term stored peony of good quality, here are the results of our ULO-storage experiments, year 5 already. 

For those readers that are only now learning about these long term Utra Low Oxygen (ULO) treatments: we use large plastic boxes which can be closed airtight. Those boxes have several membranes that can be closed so as to let more or less fresh oxygen in. As the peonies inside use the oxygen to breathe, inside the box the oxygen proportion of the air steadily decreases from about 21% to some 5% (the ULO condition) at which point the peonies slow down their breathing rate and hence their ‘ageing’. It is a treatment which is commonly used for hard fruits like apples and pears to store them longtime and have produce available outside of the harvesting season. Unfortunately the procedure with peonies is not as straightforward as with those fruits and previous years have mostly resulted in disappointments as for example last year.

This year was a terrible year when we look at peony diseases. A very late deep frost in Spring and then rain and drizzle for weeks upon weeks resulted in a very high proportion of botrytis infected stems. Never before have we experienced such large numbers of bad stems, flowers and leaflets. This obviously made our testing much more difficult because we could be sure that at least some botrytis was going to be present when filling up the boxes. Therefore, and because we still hadn’t found a perfect protocol, we only used two boxes in our trial. 

Peonies were cut May 26th and placed into the boxes, without putting them in water first. We mainly used Coral Charm as we thought it would be a better candidate for long term storage than the usual ‘The Fawn’ from former trials. Coral Charm is a variety that can be cut tighter than most others and will always open well. Also it was noted that Coral Charm showed no signs of botrytis on the flowers whilst in the lactifloras it was omnipresent. A few stems of other varieties were also added just to give a fast impression of what could be possible with them. We didn’t have too many stems available this year so they were only half full with some 250-300 stems in them and one set of Calcium Chloride (1kg in total) laid above them. The boxes were closed June 2nd and opened July 31st (after 9 weeks) and September 15th (just over 15 weeks). 

The first weeks we left open all 6 membranes of each box to let oxygen levels decrease slowly. This was opposite to last year where we closed them all at the onset with the aim of going towards 5% oxygen in the air as fast as possible. Because we had some ‘grey flecks’ in the flowers last year we reasoned the fast decrease may have been a possible reason and thus wanted to avoid this. 

We have reported on our experiments before and you can read it all here:
https://www.peonysociety.eu/ultra-low-oxygen-ulo-storage-of-peonies
https://www.peonysociety.eu/a-long-term-storage-experiment-year-2
https://www.peonysociety.eu/a-long-term-storage-experiment-year-3
https://www.peonysociety.eu/a-long-term-storage-experiment-year-4

The research institute we cooperated with has not received any further funding from the European Union, which is unfortunate as now we have to go it all alone, but they sure did help us along the way. Their results were published this year.
https://www.actahort.org/books/1368/1368_4.htm

Herbaceous cut peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) has a limited marketable period due to seasonal production. A qualitative storage period can extend the sales period. For three consecutive years, the effects of storage and subsequent vase life of the cultivars ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ (SB) and ‘The Fawn’ (TF) were monitored. Vase life after dry storage at 2°C for 6 and 10 weeks under a normal atmosphere and a controlled atmosphere was compared to vase life immediately after harvest. The atmosphere was modified using a commercial pallet box (Janny MT module) which resulted in an average concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide of approximately 3%. During storage ethylene accumulated in the pallet box, while under normal atmosphere ethylene levels remained low. Disease incidence (Botrytis cinerea) increased during storage and was higher in 2021 (a cold and wet spring) compared to 2020 (a warm and dry spring). After 10 weeks of storage, disease incidence on the flowers was significantly less under controlled atmosphere compared to normal atmosphere. A postharvest treatment before storage in 2021 with 30% pyrimethanil as fumigant significantly decreased Botrytis incidence. However, the treatment was phytotoxic. Even though the maximum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm) decreased significantly during storage and was significantly lower under controlled atmosphere, flower opening, and vase life were not equally affected. Vase life of SB was shorter after storage. However, flower opening of SB was improved after 6 weeks of storage in 2020 compared to non-stored flowers. Flower opening of TF was not different after 6 weeks and poorer after 10 weeks of storage compared to non-stored flowers. The storage atmosphere had no significant effect on flower opening and vase life in 2019 and 2020. In 2021 vase life was shorter for flowers stored under a normal atmosphere due to supplemental Botrytis infestation during vase life.

With so few peony stems in the boxes and with all membranes open the oxygen level went down very slowly, so from June 15th we gradually closed some membranes until all were closed June 20th and the boxes were completely airtight. Oxygen levels then further decreased towards 5% and July 31st a first box was opened.

The second box had one membrane open again from August 5th after we saw the oxygen level decreasing towards 4% and we aimed at 5% (the black line in the graph). As can be seen from the graph, temperature was rather constant and low, we didn’t make the mistake to raise it halfway the experiment. Oxygen levels decreased towards 5% and then increased again after August 5th. CO2 levels went rather high when the box was fully airtight, but this lowered again with a membrane newly open. Relative humidity (right Y-axis) was rather constant although it slowly raised somewhat over time.

As to the results. July 31st was mostly fine as you can see from the images. My notes for each tested variety (only Coral Charm had several hundred stems, others are 10 stems on average):
-Coral Charm: perfect; petals undamaged; sometimes some rot on the foliage; sepals were already damaged from hail during the growing season; flowers open perfectly, although slightly faster than during the normal growing season; fragrance the same, though slightly less intense
-OFF-4 (Old Faithful x Coral Charm): ok; opens faster than Coral Charm
-Bowl of Cream: ok; two out of ten with botrytis on the buds, probably already present when cutting them; others perfect; opens very well; excellent
-Canary Brilliants: ok
-(The Fawn x open) 001 flat pink: bad; nearly all of the botrytis; some with the ‘grey flecks’ again
-The Fawn: 2 different treatments; first one left to dry very much (>1 week) before closing the box, leaflets of these don’t revitalize again and remain dried up; second treatment better, with leaflets becoming fresh again; some ‘open buds’ have some botrytis in the inner petals; ‘closed’ buds are mostly free from botrytis; buds free from botrytis open well

So we can conclude that they can be stored well for 9 weeks. Conclusions at this stage:

-Letting them ‘dry’ somewhat before the boxes are closed is good, but they shouldn’t be dried out to the point where they will not rehydrate again, a few days (2-3) is thus more than enough. The damage from too much dehydration shows most in the leaflets that are attached to the bud and are thus most visible when placing in a vase.
-1 set of calcium chloride is sufficient here, at least for these 300 stems. The box had no condensation inside. Some 1,6 litres of water was soaked up from the air by it. When fully filled we may assume that 2 sets will be needed.
-There were no ‘grey flecks’ on the petals (except for that one seedling variety). We cannot be sure but we assume they resulted from decreasing the oxygen content too fast last year, whilst this  year we opted for doing that more slowly.

We sold some of the stems at the auction beginning of August. Now we must note that a few years ago there were no peonies to be sold at the Brussels auction at that time of the year. How this has changed in only a couple of years, each and every week they were auctioned by the thousands, right up until halfway August. Not the numbers of the full season of course, but usually hovering around 10-20% in comparison. There are more and more peonies being grown each year and growers try to sell them over a longer period. Which is fine but, how to say it?, I wasn’t exactly impressed with the quality of what was being sold. I’ve taken some images from peonies sold by other growers. As can be seen below, the petals are often dried up and don’t seem able to rehydrate again, they are sure not to open very well whilst some other varieties that are known to open well tend to have damaged outer petals. I would not be happy to have such flowers in a vase and I suppose I wasn’t alone as the prices fetched for them were not higher than during peak season. Given the storage costs and waste it also involves, that can hardly be called a success for the growers concerned. It will be quite a challenge to overcome the bad reputation that ‘stored peonies’ now have unfortunately.

September 15 then… We intended to open the second box end of August, beginning of September, but an unexpected very late heat wave then struck Belgium and we drowned in work with our other flowers so opening this test box was postponed until this later day. When opening we immediately noticed condensation in the box and on the flowers above. A bit unexpected as the graph shows that relative humidity never reached 100%, although it did increase over time. It could be that the increase of oxygen above 5% again made the peonies inside respire some more, resulting in more vaporization perhaps. The calcium chloride had been insufficient to absorb excess humidity, so for such longer storage more sets need to be included.  Due to the humidity there was quite some botrytis. Bowl of Cream, The Fawn, Canary Brilliants and the Coral Charm on top were all lost. Some Coral Charm which was dried out too much also didn’t recover, but the great majority of this variety was actually still fine it seemed. I write ‘seemed’ because although they looked good, it turned out that the petals, which felt ‘wet’, had experienced some unexpected damage. They were no longer well attached to the stem actually. You could easily take all petals and pull them off without any trouble at all. On the vase this resulted in the petals suddenly falling down. I had decided not to sell any at the auction because I didn’t fully trust it after such a long time storage so I gave them away to several florists to try out. While initially they all found them good looking, the end conclusion was the same everywhere: several of them had their petals falling down after one or two days. So, this was a failure. The few good ones were ok, thus if the excess humidity can be avoided they would probably be fine. Next year we will repeat this very long storage with more calcium chloride, the set present in the box had absorbed some 2 litres of water which is only slightly more than 45 days before and we may thus assume that it was fully saturated at this temperature. Given that the box was half full, we expect 3 or perhaps even 4 sets will be necessary for such a long term storage. We hope this way we can keep the box totally free from condensation and if the petals can be protected from becoming too wet we think in our 6th year we may finally be able to show good results after very long storage, which is about time I would think…

As a small side-note: OFF-4 (Old Faitfhul x Coral Charm, a Hans Maschke seedling) was fine even after this long storage, the petals seem better able to cope with the humidity. This probably comes from it’s mother Old Faitfhul which, despite its’ ‘open’ buds’, are able to withstand the humidity. Unfortunately OFF-4 is currently only a few dozen plants.

The current best procedure to the best of our knowledge is as follows:

-harvest good quality stems that have preferably been sprayed against botrytis (fluopyram is a good protectant)

-use varieties that open well and can be cut tight, use varieties with ‘closed’ buds (good tested ones are Old Faithful, Bowl of Cream, Coral Charm, Rozella, OFF-4. I don’t know about the more common standard varieties, but it could be expected that Duchesse de Nemours will be good (cut tight it opens well) and Sarah Bernhardt will be better than The Fawn as it has closed buds)

-place something on the bottom of the box so the peonies are ‘floating’ in the box and don’t touch the sides or bottom

-lay the flowers in the box without placing them in water first and leave them in cold storage for 2-3 days so they can dry out somewhat

-add calcium chloride, 600 stems will need 2 kg for about 45 days, for longer storage adjust proportionately

-close the box, leave open all lids so oxygen levels decrease only gradually

-keep temperature constant and close to zero so that there will not be much condensation and the buds will not develop further

-check oxygen levels and open lids or close again to keep it around 5%

-open the box when needed, leave the flowers for half a day in the box so they can adjust to ambient conditions

-prepare the flowers, recut the stems, place in a solution of 15 ppm nano-silver for a few hours so the stems are protected from bacteria in the water and will be more resistant to ethylene, after some 12 hours they should be rehydrated again and be ready to be sold

As climate change slowly sets in over the years, with temperatures rising and more extreme conditions, we have again experienced some rather inhospitable weather this year. Whereas early Spring was characterised by a prolonged wet period, by the time the peonies started flowering mid-May, this totally turned for the reverse: a long very sunny and warm period resulting in dry soils.

This may well be the average future weather, meaning that we will be irrigating our peonies to help them grow well or we should look for more drought resistant peonies. Peonies not able to cope well with it, tend to die off early in Summer above ground, which can be an unpleasant sight. Some commercial cultivars are better able to cope with this, but this short review will have a look at their wild ancestors, the peony species. My own small peony hybridizing efforts have one line of interest that involves incorporating less used species, thus therefore I do grow quite a number of different species.

Most of these paeonia species are grown under a shading cloth that filters the direct sunlight in an effort to replicate the natural conditions where most peonies grow. Surprisingly, as opposed to most cultivated varieties, which derive (at least partly) from P. lactiflora – a sun-loving species -, most species do actually prefer dappled shade. Underneath that shading cloth they are grown in potting soil wich was placed on top of the original soil, resulting in a planting bed some 50-60 cm (2 feet) above the surrounding soil. This potting soil is very airy, with some 20% coarse river sand mixed in. It tends to drain rainwater very fast, which was our goal as many species can’t take a lot of water during Summer.

The shading net and elevated soil

Last year we lost several paeonia species ourselves. During the hot and dry Summer months, we irrigated too often and some species didn’t survive this. Even though they seemed to grow healthy and had green leaflets all Summer long, apparently rot had started to appear on the roots and P. clusii, P. parnassica, P. mascula ssp hellenica and P. sterniana were all goners by the onset of Autumn. Clearly, if in doubt, it’s better to leave your peony species too dry than too wet. That being said, we have noted some remarkable differences between the paeonia species we grow here after one month and a half without noticeable rain and high temperatures.

Following is a list of the species as they stand now. Each species plant was visually observed and then placed into one of three categories (1/ growing perfectly; 2/ some damage showing; 3/ poor growing and turning brown). We have received the remark that the pale green yellowish leaflets with the darker veins might also be a result of magnesium deficiency. Possibly, but all plants are grown next to one another in the same soil and some species show this whilst others totally not whereas the difference has also only recently come to be, so we currently don’t think this is the cause. We don’t have all species and observations are made on only one or a few plants at most. Some may be wrongly labelled and there will be differences between individual plants within a given species or population. There are also differences between seedlings and mature plants, the latter able to cope longer with drought. We also have some species growing outside in our normal fields, which receive full sun but where the soil is less dry, those have not been taken into account as the comparison here is for drought tolerance. So there are many remarks and possibilities for errors, but we do hope it can still be of interest for those wanting to grow peony species. And for us it is interesting in that it gives us some guidance as to what species to use in hybridizing.

As could be expected the species that naturally grow in places that experience dry and hot weather in Summer seem to cope better than the others. Those are many of the Mediterranean ones: P. cambessedesii, P. corsica, P. morisii, P. sandrae and P. broteri for example. Those species are growing perfectly fine despite the dry conditions.

The reverse is also true of course, peonies that grow further North, seem to have more difficulty, P. anomala is a good example.

Then there are the peony species that grow in areas that receive less rain, the so-called ‘steppe’ peonies like P. tenuifolia or P. hybrida, they are obviously well adapted to these circumstances.

Peony species that grow high in the mountains in nature seem to have more problems: all species in the wittmanniana group are in this case. P. tomentosa, P. wittmanniana and P. macrophylla are all showing lack of vigour and are slowly turning paler green and yellow. The best of these three seems to be P. tomentosa.

Between some closely related (or close by growing) species there are sometimes differences as well. The P. officinalis group, which is spread over a huge territory from Portugal over Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy and former Yugoslavia has representatives coping better than others. P. officinalis ssp microcarpa (aka P. villosa) copes very well, whilst the same can be said of subspecies italica and officinalis. The Southern France subspecies huthii and more Eastern subspecies banatica seem less tolerant of drought. Another difference exists in the so-called ‘daurica’ group. Whereas the Crimean P. daurica ssp daurica grows fine, the more Southernly growing P. caucasica has more difficulty. Of course P. daurica ssp daurica has more upfacing leaflets that direct the rainwater on the leaves towards the base of the stems and thus the roots. P. caucasica on the other hand has more flat or downwards facing leaflets that drain that rainwater away from the base of the stems. That difference is probably an adaptation to the the regions they are growing naturally with Crimea receiving far less rain than the Eastern Black Sea region. Two other close species are P. obovata and P. japonica, here at least it can be seen that P. obovata copes better with drought than P. japonica, although it would be unfair to classify even the former as drought tolerant. Another duo: P. peregrina also seems more tolerant than P. saueri. And within that other widely spread P. mascula species, it turns out that subspecies russoi and hellenica are far better than bodurii and mascula. Here it must be stressed however that bodurii is far easier to grow than hellenica, the latter not able to cope with wet circumstances, which is obviously the other side of the medal and which is probably also true for the species we lost last year.

Some that are perhaps a little bit unexpectedly doing poor are P. coriacea, P. mascula ssp mascula and P. turcica. Those are already turning brown. It doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t handle dry circumstances as they may simply be genetically inclined to do that this early. But it is obviously not a very pretty sight and if the leaflets are not green, then the roots will not increase during Summer also. P. wendelboi, despite it growing in a very dry location naturally is another one which was unexpected. It could of course be that I have a hybrid between P. mlokosewitschii and P. wendelboi, which could explain this as P. mlokosewitschii does not grow in such an arid climate. On the other hand I have several plants from a controlled cross, if the mother plant were a hybrid, then the seedlings should show much more difference (in height for example), which they don’t, so this actually points to it being true-to-name.

With the limitations mentioned above we would welcome any additional comments on your experiences with peony species and drought tolerance (or the reverse, how do they cope with wet Summers). We can then add those remarks to the table. The comments section below is for you ;-)

Excellent tolerance of drought:
P. arietina
P. broteri
P. cambessedesii
P. corsica
P. daurica ssp daurica
P. hybrida
P. mascula ssp hellenica
P. mascula ssp russoi
P. morisii
P. officinalis ssp italica
P. officinalis ssp microcarpa
P. officinalis ssp officinalis
P. peregrina
P. sandrae
P. tenuifolia
P. velebitensis

Able to cope with it, but foliage turning paler green:
P. emodi
P. flavescens
P. mascula ssp bodurii
P. officinalis ssp banatica
P. officinalis ssp huthii
P. officinalis ssp mollis (garden species)
P. obovata f alba
P. obovata ssp willmottiae
P. saueri
P. turcica
P. wendelboi (hybrid?)

Poor resistance to drought (pale geen to yellowish leaflets, sometimes with greener veins):
P. caucasica
P. coriacea
P. japonica
P. kesrouanensis
P. lactiflora
P. x litvinskajae
P. macrophylla (garden hybrid)
P. mascula ssp mascula
P. ruprechtiana
P. tomentosa
P. turcica
P. wittmanniana

Peonies for fanciers and growers all over the world.
Translated from an article first published in a Dutch trade journal: Neefjes, H. “Pioenen voor liefhebbers en telers over de hele wereld.” In: Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij, nr 12, June 13, 2023.

A part of the wide assortment of Peony Shop Holland. These are the hybrids. The Scholten brothers are also active in the hybridization and propagation of lactifloras.

A part of the wide assortment of Peony Shop Holland. These are the hybrids. The Scholten brothers are also active in the hybridization and propagation of lactifloras.

“Our standard 3-5 eyes root divisions are so large that a horticultural crate is filled with only 25 of them instead of the usual 50”, Joshua Scholten from Peony Shop Holland says. With sophisticated fertilization and crop care on fertile sabulous clay in West-Friesland (a province in The Netherlands) this has proven possible over the last years. Hybridizing and selecting make their offer even more interesting.

Joshua Scholten points to one of the many peonies which are blooming on their fields. “That’s White Vanguard. A double white which we received some 20 years ago from an American hybridizer. It has large flowers and blooms one to two weeks earlier than Red Charm, which is usually harvested as one of the first peonies here in The Netherlands. That earliness of White Vanguard is an important characteristic, because cut flower growers want to be in the market as early as possible and spread their harvest over a period as long as possible. On top of that there’s demand for whites, although pink is the most requested color in peonies. But in the latter color we also have more than enough choice.”

Joshua Scholten

Joshua Scholten

Looking out over the fields of several acres in the polder close to the West-Friesland village Zwaagdijk we do indeed notice a lot of pinks and whites, in many shades, but also yellows, reds and purples. “Sometimes people ask if we also have blue peonies. Not yet, is my answer then.”

White Vanguard wasn’t the first peony Scholten found at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. As a student he already browsed the internet in the mid-90s for exclusive peonies. Computers were a hobby and at home they were already growing peonies. “Hybridizing peonies is a hobby for several people in the United States. Those peony hybridizers posted images of their results online, which I saw, and I’ve tried to buy the most interesting ones. In 1995 we imported our first bare root plants.”

Several contacts from those early years are still there, a result from mutual respect and honest trade, says Scholten, who never travelled to the USA in all those years. “The hybridizers there must want to give them to you. Of course we pay for their novelties, but I also see it as a gift because there are more interested people in the world knocking at their door.”

A quick glance at the online offering of Peony Shop Holland, the company Joshua runs with his brother Jeremy, shows that White Vanguard is only available again in 2027. Joshua: “He’s popular and thanks to its’ unique qualities also a good foundation for our own hybridizing program. He improves our assortment. The many descendants we now have are not 100% like their parents, just as with people, but some qualities are there.”

We walk towards Maximus. A double white with flowers so large that Scholten once laid a cabbage next to it to take a picture. “In 2016 we registered our first peony cultivars, this is one of those six. In 2022 we registered 222 cultivars. We use names that refer to the Roman era. It makes our assortment immediately recognizable in the market. Some cultivars receive a special name, as is the case with this pale pink one, having flowers that resemble a rose. We named it after our mother Tini Keeman, she loved roses.”

Customers are all over the world: a wide audience from gardeners and collectors of special flowers to professional cut flower growers. A cut flower grower usually caps prices at some 10 euros. Fanciers pay a multiple of this for exclusive cultivars: € 1,000 for a bare root is no exception. “We use six price scales based on availability and distinctiveness. For truly exclusive varieties we also charge royalties. The bulk comes from our own bare roots, but we also buy some from colleagues that aim for the upper end of the market, thus healthy, large roots which are virus-free and true-to-name. An exclusive variety means we usually have only 20 to 100 roots available in any given year.”

The webshop was made under own management, as are apps to register some 40 different cultivar characteristics and keep records of hybridizing programs, as well as online invoicing. “It’s all digitized,” Scholten says as he shows on his smartphone a list of cultivars planted on the plot we’re standing at. It’s also easy to follow with the naked eye as they are planted alphabetically and for each cultivar an aluminium plate with the cultivar name is pinned into the soil. During the season the grower can easily add remarks for each cultivar when checking and selecting his fields. A snowflake icon for example shows that a given cultivar is frost prone. Or a current image can be added to show some abnormality.

Hybridizing work is in full swing. Around his waist Scholten carries an apron containing plastic containers filled with pollen. The flowers which have been hand-pollinated are marked with a label saying who the father is of the seeds to be harvested later on.

Sowing and growing the seeds is being done in a barn greenhouse. It takes some 3 to 4 years to see the first flower of a seedling. Still a small plant, the selection process of ornamental value, the most important characteristic, can finally start then. The following years other traits come into play: bud presentation, bud and plant health, number of stems, earliness and others. “After some 10 years there’s enough information. The plants have grown to maturity by then. Another 10 years later there are some 1,000 to 3,000 plants of a cultivar. Sometimes bare root divisions have already been sold in the meantime, usually between October 1st and December 1st. Growth and sales differ for each variety.

Hybridizing work in progress. Jeremy Scholten applies pollen from the container in his right hand on a flower of peony cultivar Federica Ambrosini, named for an Italian floral designer.

Hybridizing work in progress. Jeremy Scholten applies pollen from the container in his right hand on a flower of peony cultivar Federica Ambrosini, named for an Italian floral designer.

Hybridizing is in full swing. Around his waist Scholten carries an apron containing plastic containers filled with pollen.

Hybridizing is in full swing. Around his waist Scholten carries an apron containing plastic containers filled with pollen.

After pollination a label is attached to the stem with the name of the father

After pollination a label is attached to the stem with the name of the father

Company profile

Company: Peony Shop Holland in Lutjebroek
Owners: Jeremy (51) and Joshua (43) Scholten
Activities: Hybridization, propagation and bare root sales of peonies. Uses some 8 hectares (20 acres) of land for this and some 700 m2 barn greenhouse for growth and judging seedlings.
Website: https://www.peonyshop.com/

Company history

1964: Jan Scholten joins the horticultural company which was started by great-grandfather Simon Scholten in 1875.
1964-1989: Growing of flowerbulbs (tulips and irises) and outdoor vegetables. Forcing of tulips was started in the 80’s, as was the cut flower growing of peonies. Grandfather Jan is still in the company.
1989-1999: Theo continues the company with his wife Tini Keeman and son Jeremy in 1989 by the name Scholten-Keeman. Their son Joshua joins in 1995. Flower bulb growing ends in 1999.
1999-2006: Joshua buys exclusive peony varieties through the internet. Peony propagation and hybridization is started. Peony Shop Holland is started in 2001 for the sale of bare roots.
2006-2023: Only peonies are left. Cut flower growing ends in 2016. Focus on exclusive varieties in hybridization, propagation and trade. Mother Tini died in 2005 and Father Theo in 2011.

The peonies from the Caucasus region (NE Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and adjacent Russia) together with Iran harbor many peony species that are lesser known. The region is less accessible and from time to time political problems arise, often resulting in less peaceful ways to resolve them. My interest in peonies from that region stems from one particular cultivar bred by A.P. Saunders early in the 20th century: Ballerina. A.P. Saunders introduced many hybrid peony plants from different species, but Ballerina is my favorite amongst them all. It is a pale yellow double herbaceous peony, flowering early in the season with particularly beautiful brownish foliage when young. As an amateur hybridizer myself I was eager to use it in my crossing efforts early on but it turned out to be highly infertile, which could probably be somewhat expected as it was the triploid result of Paeonia wittmanniana (tetraploid) x Paeonia lactiflora (diploid) according to his notes. So to be able to have somewhat similar results I surely needed to go back towards P. wittmanniana, a plant which I didn’t have at the time. It wasn’t easy to obtain such a plant and most of the plants bought turned out to be wrong, but when I finally had a good one flowering I couldn’t help but notice that it flowered white. You might call it milky white perhaps, but surely not pale yellow. This is fully in accordance with what it should be actually, many taxonomic mistakes are simply the result of using dried specimens to describe species, and when the flowers in a living state are white/cream/pale yellow, those differences will tend to disappear. Now why was Ballerina pale yellow? We tried to find some more information on the species plants of A.P. Saunders and it turns out that he said it was a difficult growing plant of a pale yellow colour. Now that cannot be P. wittmanniana of course, given the colour. It would more probably be P. steveniana or, if it is a synonym, P. macrophylla. Remarkably A.P. Saunders also grew a plant he knew as P. macrophylla, a completely different plant for him with white flowers this time, not yellow nor cream. He later believed his P. macrophylla to be P. tomentosa due to the tomentose carpels, low growth, and depressed veins of the leaflets. However that species is also known to have pale yellow flowers. The most obvious candidate then would be P. archibaldii – which has white flowers but was not yet named in Saunders’ days – but those are supposed to have glabrous carpels, not the tomentose ones which the plant of Saunders had… We might say the puzzle only got more complicated and it’s one that we were eager to solve given the magnificent plant that Ballerina is. So, here’s our best effort to give an overview of the species in the wittmanniana group and other peony species from that region.

Paeonia wittmanniana around Sochi, Russia - Image by mountaindreams.ru

Paeonia wittmanniana around Sochi, Russia - Image by mountaindreams.ru

Paeonia caucasica and Paeonia witmanniana around Sochi, Russia- Image by mountaindreams.ru

Paeonia wittmanniana near the Black Sea in Russia, around Sochi (in the background of the third image you can see P. caucasica)
Images by Аня и Митя Андреевы from mountaindreams.ru

The Caucasus is the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, but we also include Crimea and Iran in our overview as they are adjacent regions with somewhat related species. The map below gives the mountain ranges, (de-facto) countries and some regions, which may help to locate the species from the table below. What peony species do grow in that region? Botanists tend to differ widely in their opinions on this. The most widely used species classification is still Hong De-Yuan’s in his monograph “Peonies of the World”.1 For the species we are interested in here, there’s also his long publication ‘Paeonia in the Caucasus’.2 He recently added a third book in his series with some changes, but these don’t involve any of the species of this region.3 Which is somewhat bizarre given that two ‘new’ species in this region have been added in the last years by other authors: P. wendelboi4 and P. archibaldii5. There is also an excellent publication by Kemularia-Nathadze specifically on peonies from this region.6 Another great overview with many images was done by Elizaveta Punina and whilst this is in Russian there’s nothing Google translate cannot solve.7 Whilst we have no botanical nor horticultural training we have read quite a bit of literature, have seen many images and have grown several of the species and these have led us to, umm, ‘change’ Hong’s classification somewhat.

Some Caucasian peony species – Image by Elizaveta Punina


The caucasus region – Source: Edward W. Walker on Eurasian Geopolitics

Paeonia species Location
Paeonia arietina Russia (Karachai-Cherkessia: Teberda Reserve)
Paeonia caucasica Russia ( Kraj Krasnodar; Adygea; Karachay-Cherkessia and North Ossetia); Georgia (Provinces: Abkhazia; Svanetia; Megrelia; Imeretia; Adjaria; Kartli; Kakhetia)
Paeonia daurica ssp daurica Crimea
Paeonia macrophylla ssp macrophylla Lesser Caucasus Mountains: SW Georgia (Adjaria); NE Turkey (Rize)
Paeonia macrophylla ssp steveniana Lesser Caucasus Mountains: Central Georgia (Samegrelo, Imereti and Upper Kartli provinces); Greater Caucasus Mountains: Russia (Karachay-Cherkessia, upper reaches of the Kuban river); Georgia (Svanetia); South-Ossetia
Paeonia mascula ssp mascula W Iran (Kurdistan Province, near Chenareh village)
Paeonia mlokosewitschii ssp mlokosewitschii Greater Caucaus mountains of Eastern Georgia (Kakheti Province: Lagodekhi & Kvemo Kedi); Russia (Dagestan)
Paeonia mlokosewitschii ssp wendelboi Talysh Mountains: NW Iran (Gilan and Ardebil provinces)
Paeonia tenuifolia Crimea; Russia (Kraj Krasnodar; Kraj Stavropol); Georgia (Provinces: Kartli; Mtskheta); N Azerbaijan (Gazakh-Tovuz region)
Paeonia tomentosa ssp tomentosa Talysh Mountains: S Azerbaijan (Lenkoran region); NW Iran (Gilan province, Mazandaran province)
Paeonia tomentosa ssp archibaldii Elburz Mountains: N Iran (Mazandaran and Golestan provinces)
Paeonia wittmanniana ssp wittmanniana Greater Caucasus Mountains: Russia (Kraj Krasnodar, around Sochi); NW Georgia (Abkhazia)
Paeonia wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa Greater Caucasus Mountains: Russia (Kraj Krasnodar, around Sochi); NW Georgia (Abkhazia)
Natural hybrid species (nothospecies)
Paeonia x dmitrieva (P. macrophylla x P. caucasica) Lesser Caucasus Mountains: SW Georgia (Adjaria)
Paeonia x lagodechiana (P. caucasica x P. mlokosewitschii) Eastern Georgia (Kakheti Province: Lagodekhi, Ninigora Mountain)
Paeonia x litvinskajae (P. wittmanniana x P. caucasica) Greater Caucasus Mountains: Russia (Kraj Krasnodar, around Sochi)
Paeonia x majko (P. tenuifolia x P. caucasica) Central Georgia (Kartli province, near Igoeti)
Paeonia x maleevii (P. tenuifolia x P. daurica) Crimea (Near the city of Alushta)
Sources: Kemularia-Nathadze, Sergey Banketov, Hong De-Yuan

Some short notes to clarify the most obvious differences between our overview and others, more details follow with the description of each different taxon. The placement of way too many subspecies under P. daurica – as Hong did – is something we don’t follow and only the Crimean P. daurica ssp daurica do we consider as true, although there may be some populations a bit alike in Turkey and Greece which should probably receive their own ‘subspecies’ name. We have placed P. archibaldii as subspecies under P. tomentosa because they are much alike and grow relatively nearby. P. wittmanniana receives another subspecies here with P. wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa. It is often given as a synonym for P. macrophylla and/or P. steveniana, but this is wrong we think. P. steveniana is placed as a subspecies under P. macrophylla, although we must say that this is the one we are least sure about and they might as well be synonyms, but we currently have no way of checking this. P. ruprechtiana is missing from the table as we consider it merely a form of P. caucasica. The distinctive forms of P. tenuifolia (P. carthalinica/P. biebersteiniana/P. lithophila) we also consider as synonyms, although they may also be viewed as subspecies if the differences are between populations instead of within populations. As to the so-called ‘wittmanniana’ group they consist here of: P. wittmanniana, P. macrophylla, P. tomentosa and all their subspecies.

Following are some more details for each (sub-)species, we’ll start in the North (Crimea) and then go Southwards through Russia into Georgia, then towards Azerbaijan and ending in Iran.

Paeonia daurica ssp daurica (diploid)

This species grows in Crimea (Ukraine/Russia depending on your political beliefs). Until recently it was thought that it might also grow a bit eastwards into Russia (Novorosiysk region), – hence the question mark on the image with Caucasian peony species – but this has proven a false hypothesis, only P. caucasica grows there. It is mostly characterized by its lower leaves composed of 9 leaflets which are rather small, more or less rounded, slightly upturned and wavy. The flowers are usually pale pink and the carpels are tomentose with pink stigmas whilst the filaments are pale pink or yellowish white. It is sometimes also referred to as P. triternata but P. daurica seems to be the ‘official name’ nowadays; even though daurica is a misspelling of taurica which was the old name for Crimea. Hong lists many other species as subspecies of this, mostly because they have the common characteristic of 9 leaflets, but many other differences can be found in our opinion and we thus only retain these Crimean populations as P. daurica. There are some daurica populations in Turkey which are somewhat different and those we think should be other subspecies to this one.

Leaflets - Image by Дмитрий Зубов
Leaflets of some Caucasian species – Image by Дмитрий Зубов (Dimitri Zubov)

Paeonia daurica ssp daurica in Crimea - Image by travel2crimea

Paeonia daurica ssp daurica in Crimea – Image by travel2crimea


Paeonia daurica ssp daurica in Crimea - Image by Походы с натуралистом (podnimi.golovu)

Paeonia daurica ssp daurica in Crimea – Image by Походы с натуралистом (podnimi.golovu)

Paeonia x maleev (diploid)

A natural hybrid between P. daurica and P. tenuifolia only occurring in Crimea. P. tenuifolia is the seed parent, whereas P. daurica is the pollen parent (the cross in the other direction gives seedlings which totally resemble P. daurica and these will not be noticed). It is intermediate between the two and resembles P. anomala, P. hybrida and P. intermedia somewhat, but those species do not grow in this part of the world. It also resembles P. x majko somewhat, which can be found in Central Georgia. It is infertile, thus no seeds from them have ever been found. It is sometimes also known as P. x saundersii, because A.P. Saunders obtained this hybrid by crossing the parents himself. P. x saundersii is however also a bit broader as P. daurica is viewed by him as containing other subspecies as well like P. caucasica and thus P. x majko would also be synonymous with it.

Paeonia tenuifolia (diploid)

A well-known species with very fine leaves, multiple times dissected and with red flowers. It is rather short growing and loves open plains unlike most other Caucasian peony species that prefer some shade in forests (P. wendelboi is another exception). Again unlike most other species in the region it has tuberous roots, meaning the swollen roots are attached to the crown by thinner root portions. All other species in the Caucasus, except P. arietina and the natural hybrids with P. tenuifolia, have carrot shaped roots that are widest at the connection with the crown and then gradually become thinner. It can be found in Crimea, Russia, Central Georgia and northern Azerbaijan. There are some minor variations between populations, but those variations are usually also found also in populations and sometimes on the same plant, so we will not treat P. carthalanica, P. biebersteiniana and P. lithophila as different. But for those interested: P. lithophila is found in the Eastern part of Crimea and is smaller in all its parts compared to the usual P. tenuifolia. P. biebersteiniana is found around Stavropol and has on average somewhat wider leaflets (3-10 mm wide compared to 1-2 mm on Crimea) which are more greyish and sometimes have some pubescence above, whilst the indumentum on the carpels can be reddish to yellow (on Crimea they all have reddish indumentum on them). P. carthalinica can be found in Georgia in Kartli province and also has wider somewhat greyish leaflets (5-10 mm wide) but this time without the indumentum on them, although the difference with P. biebersteiniana is so small as to be hardly worth mentioning. As said, these will be only ‘averages’ and all those characters can be found on plants in all populations in fact. It is quite photogenic, especially when occurring in large numbers as you can find around Stavropol (Russia), hence it is photographed quite often when in bloom.

Paeonia arietina (tetraploid)

It is less known that this species also occurs in this region in Russia, close to Georgia, but it is very localized. It was at first confused with P. officinalis, which is quite alike of course. It has much divided leaflets which are rather narrow and dark pink petals. It is widely distributed in Turkey, but thus not so widely in the Caucasus itself.

P. arietina in Russia – E.O. Punina

Paeonia caucasica (diploid)

A species distributed rather widely in the Caucasus, from the Russian side of the Black Sea and nearly all over Georgia. Growing in dense shade in the forests at altitudes up to 1,000 m. It shares with P. daurica from Crimea the 9 leaflets on the the lower leaves, but the leaflets are larger, somewhat downward facing to drain the rainwater away, lengthier and less wide, have more pointed edges and lack the wavy edges. So we wouldn’t really name it P. daurica ssp coriifolia as Hong has done and we stick to the better-known older name P. caucasica. The leaflets are only sparsely tomentose on the backsides at most and the flowers are usually red, although there are also pink and white ones. A form with darker leaflets is sometimes found and is known as P. ruprechtiana. Given that these are rare and found within the normal P. caucasica populations, we ‘d rather not consider this a separate species, but merely a form. Many hybrids with P. caucasica can be found as it often grows together with other species.

P. ruprechtiana – Igor Uspensky

Paeonia wittmanniana (tetraploid)
(ssp wittmanniana/ssp nudicarpa)

Along the Black Sea Coast of Russia towards Georgia and into Abkhazia (a de-facto autonomous region within Georgia) you can find the species which started this article: Paeonia wittmanniana. We don’t really like botanical nomenclature and we leave most of it behind when possible. But that can simply not be done here because of the terrible taxonomic mess. First of all two different species were given the same name in the span of a few years. Paeonia wittmanniana was first given to the species from Abkhazia with white flowers and tomentose carpels by Lindley, thus as those botanists would say: P. wittmanniana Hartwiss ex Lindley, 1846. A few years later another botanist, Steven, – unaware of this – named another species from Central Georgia with the same name: P. wittmanniana Steven, 1848. That last one was pale yellow and had glabrous carpels. It’s not difficult to imagine that the mess of the wittmanniana group all started here. The older description takes precedence in botanical nomenclature thus P. wittmanniana ex Lindley can be found growing in northwest Georgia, Abkhazia and adjacent Russia, mostly around Sochi.

It always has white flowers, not pale yellow, and is also characterized by the glossy dark green leaflets which P. tomentosa and P. macrophylla lack. The leaflets are usually less wide and somewhat lengthier as well. When young they are not blackish brown as in tomentosa and macrophylla, but rather slightly bronze green and more widely developed from the onset. It is a rather tall plant, is tetraploid and grows at higher altitudes. The research of Hong on this species is not particularly good we think. He was unable to visit the localities where it grows due to safety concerns and had to rely on herbarium specimens and plants in the botanical garden of Tbilisi in Georgia. This resulted in a description of a species with both yellow and white flower petals and both glabrous and tomentose carpels.

The problem is this: P. wittmanniana has populations with either glabrous carpels or tomentose carpels. At some places you can find them on the same mountain, as on Mamdzyshkha mountain in Abkhazia, where the tomentose ones grow at a lower altitude in the mountain forests and the fewer and smaller populations of glabrous ones higher up in the Alpine region of that same mountain, but they never grow together. This means they are always different populations and this also means that they should be considered as two different subspecies according to Hong’s reasoning (one different characteristic, geographic altitude isolation). So we have P. wittmanniana ssp wittmanniana for the tomentose ones and P. wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa for the glabrous ones. Paeonia wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa is considered synonymous by local botanists with the pale yellow P. macrophylla/P. steveniana because those also have glabrous carpels. But in reality P. wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa is different in both the glossy leaflets and white petals and thus the synonymy is wrong. To keep matters complicated the original ‘type specimen’ (plant from which a species is described) of P. wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa is from a collection in Turkey and is thus actually a P. macrophylla. The best name to describe our subspecies is thus already taken by something else again and botanists would probably prefer to give the glabrous P. wittmanniana yet another name.

That’s why we consider P. wittmanniana with two subspecies here, the only difference between them being the tomentose/glabrous carpels. The difference of the carpels is shown below where you can see P. wittmanniana ssp wittmannia, P. wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa and P. macrophylla.




P. wittmanniana – Images by Sergey Banketov

Paeonia macrophylla (tetraploid)
(ssp macrophylla/ssp steveniana)

This species is for some best split into two different (sub)-species and for others best lumped together. We treat it as synonymous with a continous variation of some characteristics, as we did for P. tenuifolia. The typical form of P. macrophylla ssp macrophylla can be found in SW Georgia (Adjaria), but is also growing over the border in NE Turkey (Kackar Mountains) whilst the typical P. macrophylla ssp steveniana is to be found in central Georgia (around Borjomi) and grows also in northern Georgia and a bit into adjacent Russia. Both forms are characterised by glabrous carpels with long styles and stigmas and yellow flowers. In both the leaflets are not shiny as they are in P. wittmanniana, and when starting growth they are somewhat brown black coloured before turning a dark green. The differences are otherwise rather small between the two forms and are indicated below. Do keep in mind that the description of the leaflets is always for the lowest and thus largest leaf on the stems, those also have the most and largest leaflets. The ones more above on the stem may show the differences far less.

P. macrophylla ssp steveniana having somewhat deeper yellow flowers which don’t open as wide because they have inward leaning (concave) petals and the leaflets being somewhat intermediate between subspecies P. macrophylla ssp macrophylla (large and very wide leaflets) and species P. wittmanniana (rather narrow leaflets, gradually becoming smaller at the base (“tapering”), meaning some 9-13 cm long and 5-7 cm wide on average).

P. macrophylla ssp macrophylla has larger leaflets which are especially much wider than P. wittmanniana, and has wide open pale yellow to cream flowers. At the end of blooming those cream flowers fade and could also be described as milky white. It was named for the large leaflets and those are on average 12-15 cm long and 8-12 cm wide, with some of the largest ones being 19 x 13 cm.

Leaflet shapes and sizes of some paeonia species in the wittmanniana group – Hong De-Yuan

Below is what should be P. macrophylla ssp macrophylla in Adjaria (or close to the border of it)

And this ought to be P. macrophylla ssp steveniana in Central Georgia up to Russia

Paeonia x litvinskajae (tetraploid)

This natural hybrid derives from P. wittmanniana x P. caucasica it is argued. It has all the characteristics of P. wittmanniana except for the petals which show varying degrees of pink. Some people argue that these colour forms might only be natural variations and at first we agreed with this. The fact that P. wittmanniana is tetraploid and P. caucasica diploid makes for difficult hybridizing and should theoretically result in infertile triploid plants. P. x litvinskajae however is a fertile tetraploid with all characteristics of P. wittmanniana.

On the other hand it does very occasionally happen that some pollen from diploid plants is also diploid (unreduced gametes) instead of the usual haploid and these would thus be able to fertilize P. wittmanniana. It does not happen very often it must be said, but field exploration has shown that P. x litvinskajae can only be found in very local groups within populations of several thousands of P. wittmanniana plants. When the population is smaller with only a few hundred P. wittmanniana plants mixed with P. caucasica, there are no P. x litvinskajae. So that goes some way towards explaining the hybrid nature: a very rare cross of these two species resulting in a fertile plant which will then obviously be able to pollinate other plants nearby.

Another possibility might be that the extremely rare tetraploid P. arietina, now a very local species in the Caucasus, used to grow more widely in the past and hybridized with P. wittmanniana. Whatever it be, some of the plants are very attractive.

Paeonia x dmitrieva (tetraploid)

This natural hybrid is somewhat comparable to P. x litvinskajae, although P. wittmanniana is not the mother here but rather P. macrophylla and thus we have yellow with pink instead of white with pink for the petals. It was only recently described from populations in Adjaria where you can find P. macrophylla and P. caucasica growing together.8  The same remarks about P. x litvinskajae can be given. There are some populations (in Central Georgia) of P. macrophylla/P. steveniana with those colour forms that have no other species growing in its surroundings, so the natural variation hypothesis should not be completely thrown away. Again, whatever it is, pretty plants they are.

Paeonia x dmitrieva in Adjaria, SW Georgia

P. x majko (diploid)

A very rare and small population of some 5 plants, so hardly worth mentioning at all. A natural cross between P. tenuifolia and P. caucasica with the resulting hybrids being apparently infertile. It has erroneously been taken for P. hybrida, P. intermedia and also resembles P. x maleev and P. anomala a lot.9 It can be found in Georgia, Kartli province, somewhere near the village of Igoeti where its parents also grow.

P. x majko – E.O. Punina

Paeonia mlokosewitschii (diploid)

A yellow peony that grows in NE Georgia (Kakhetia Province) and adjacent Daghestan of Russia; perhaps also in adjacent Azerbaijan. In NE Georgia it grows in Logedekhi nature reserve, which borders the two other countries, and also somewhat more southernly in that same province. It may or may not be extinct in Daghestan, conflicting reports exist about this. The place where it was described from (mountain Ninigora) also happens to be a place where P. caucasica grows and hence the hybrid P. x lagodechiana. In other localities however pure P. mlokosewitschii can still be found and those are all yellow-flowered. Now this species is commonly accepted as Paeonia daurica ssp mlokosewitschii (Lomakin) D.Y. Hong which means the treatment of Hong stands.10 Unfortunately Hong’s team sampled the type locality of both P. x lagodechiana and P. mlokosewitschii together and treated it as one population of the latter whilst they didn’t visit the other localities where only P. mlokosewitschii grows. If you start with false data, the chances of drawing the wrong conclusions are rather large of course, so his team got them wrong. Their description of P. mlokosewitschii as a species with a very high degree of colour variation is not true to reality. Even more, their classification of it as a subspecies of P. daurica doesn’t seem right to us. The reasoning is that it has 9 leaflets on the lowest leaves and that it crosses easily with P. daurica ssp daurica. The 9 leaflets may well be right for P. daurica ssp daurica, P. caucasica or P. wittmanniana but here it is wrong, as visits to Lagodekhi attest they most often have 11 leaflets.11 And given that you can also easily cross some other different species the second reasoning is also not particularly relevant. Hong states: “Among the five subspecies of P. daurica, ssp. mlokosewitschii is relatively distinct; its leaflets are usually obovate with rounded but mucronate apex, mostly sparsely or rather densely puberulous, but sometimes glabrous.”12 Those puberulous (= very fine) hairs and the specific tip of the leaflets set it apart from all other peonies in the region and thus even if you forget his miscounting of the number of leaflets and messing up of the petal color, those two characteristics should already suffice to treat it as a different species according to his own criteria. But no…

The confusion with P. x lagodechiana also results in many wrong images and descriptions of the species, but let’s give it a try. It has glaucous leaves (pale greyish green or bluish green as you sometimes see on blue grapes, some kind of waxy coating which easily rubs of). The lowest leaves are made up mostly of 11 leaflets and they are rather lengthy (6-10 cm long, 3-6 cm wide), obovate (widest part above the middle) and at the top slightly rounded but with a short pointed tip. The backside of the leaflets are tomentose but the hairs are very fine and you’ll have to look very hard to see them. The flower itself is yellow and the filaments are pale yellow. The stigma itself is usually very pale pink. The carpels are tomentose. The plant is often collected for medicinal purposes and some are taken from nature to grow in gardens, so the population is dwindling, although repopulation efforts are under way.13 In much of the Western world many plants of this species are selected yellow forms from P. x lagodechiana because seeds have been collected most often in Lagodekhi. If you start with a yellow form of P. x lagodechiana however, the genes will have much more variability and thus seeds may result in a plant that can be pinkish in colour or have other characteristics going back more towards P. caucasica like darker filaments and stigmas or more pointed leaflets. Unlike other species plants where you can make protected crosses to end up with ‘true’ plants, this cannot be done with a natural hybrid like P. x lagodechiana which came disguised as a yellow P. mlokosewitschii. To do that you’d have to grow the ‘true’ P. mlokosewitschii and that one is rather hard to come by.

Paeonia x lagodechiana (diploid)

Given the long explanation when describing P. mlokosewitschii, we can be rather succinct here. Only to be found in Lagodekhi, Georgia, this is the natural hybrid from P. caucasica x P. mlokosewitschii. This hybrid is rather fertile, thus further backcrosses result in plants that tend more to the father or the mother. It has a very wide colour pallette ranging from whites to yellows over pale pinks to nearly reds and has bicoloured flowers as well. Many of the flowers also change colour over time, so the sight of a field of these plants is quite breathtaking. It is also known as P. x chamaeleon, but this is merely a synonym used for manmade crosses between the two parents.

Paeonia tomentosa (tetraploid)

Within Armenia and Azerbaijan not many peonies are actually found, or at least not many have been well documented. Some rare P. tenuifolia in both, but the most interesting species is P. tomentosa which grows in the Talysh mountain range which starts in southeastern Azerbaijan and goes along the Caspian Sea into northwestern Iran (Ardabil and Gilan provinces). This species grows there in the Hyrcanian forests. Thanks to high humidity caused by the proximity of the Caspian sea and the rain not able to pass the mountains the Hyrcanian forests are a rich biodiverse broadleaf forest, mostly consisting of oriental beech trees, completely different from the areas surrounding it which are (semi)-desert.

Paeonia species in Iran. Remark that Iranian botanists don’t recognize P. archibaldii and treat those as P. tomentosa. – Source: Assadi

The lowest (and thus most divided) leaves of P. tomentosa consist of 9 dark green large leaflets (6-8 cm long, 3-6 cm wide) which can be ovate, obovate or elliptical with an acuminate tip. The veins of the leaflets are also remarkably protruding on the backside relative to the leaf tissue. That leaflet backside is densely tomentose with long straight hairs giving a greyish appearance overall. The petal colour is pale yellow, whilst the filaments of the stamens are reddish, sometimes halfway turning yellow. The carpels are tomentose whilst the style and stigma are pale pink.

Given that P. tomentosa grows a far distance from P. wittmanniana, P. macrophylla and P. mlokosewitschii, there’s not a chance that you’d confuse it with them when visiting the places where it grows. However for most of us we’ll have to do with the few specimens we can collect or see in botanical gardens. The majority of these will probably be garden hybrids and thus intermediate, but here are some ways to see if they are as should be:

To distinguish P. tomentosa from P. mlokosewitschii:

  • P. tomentosa has flowers which are a paler yellow
  • the filaments are reddish pink and not fully pale yellow
  • the leaves consist of only 9 leaflets at most, not 11, 12 or 13
  • the leaflets have protruding veins at the back of the leaflets and are thus not flat
  • the leaflets are greyish on the backside due to the many long straight hairs, not greenish with fewer very short hairs

To distinguish it from P. wittmanniana

  • it has pale yellow petals and thus not white
  • it has dark green leaflets which are greyish on the backside, not shiny green on both sides
  • the hairs on the backside are straight, not curvy as in P. wittmanniana
  • the leaflets are broader at the base and not tapering

To distinguish it from P. macrophylla, which probably comes closest:

  • it has tomentose carpels

Paeonia mascula ssp mascula (tetraploid)

Surely not to be included with the Caucasian species, but as we also include Iran in this overview, we cannot leave it out. There is one isolated very small population of this species in Kurdistan province in NW Iran, on the border with Iraq.14 It was at one time in the past also known as P. kurdistanica. The species itself is very common around the Mediterranean, but nowhere to be found in the Caucasus. These are the only red flowered peonies in Iran and we’ve never seen a single image of it, which is to be expected as it is so rare, and very localized in a faraway region. It has glabrous stems and leaflets, the leaves consisting of 11-18 leaflets, ovate to elliptic, acute to acuminate at the top. Flowers thus red, carpels tomentose. Many images of this species in other locations can be found elsewhere, as in the article on peonies of Turkey.

P. mascula ssp mascula in Iran – Maroofi Hosein

Paeonia mlokosewitschii ssp wendelboi (diploid)

We consider this a subspecies, but there are also those who think it is a species. The current scientific agreement seems to be to regard it as a species P. wendelboi. As we are merely amateur writers instead of scientific ones, we don’t really need to bother about it and as it is very alike P. mlokosewitschii with some minor differences, we thus treat it as a subspecies. This means that the Georgian P. mlokosewitschii itself should then actually be written as P. mlokosewitschii ssp mlokosewitschii. Hong has never written anything about this one, not even in his latest addition to his acclaimed series, which we find quite remarkable. Whereas you can find P. mlokosewitschii in the lower and middle mountain forests of Lagodekhi Nature Reserve, this one is to be found on the western side of the Talysh mountains in Iran, thus not in the humid Hyrcanian forests on the other side where P. tomentosa grows. Here in the semi-dry mountains P. mlokosewitschii ssp wendelboi gladly bakes in full sun during Summer and experiences some harsh cold in Winter. No trees around, mostly dry rocks, so it’s fair to say that this one is an outlier when it comes to its natural habitat. The Russian botanist E. Punina considers this a rather xerophytic (=needing very little water) form of P. mlokosewitschii.15 Compared to P. mlokosewitschii ssp mlokosewitschii the leaflets are shorter and the plants are also shorter. It should also be even a bit deeper yellow.16 Before it was named P. wendelboi, it was supposed to be P. mlokosewitschii in fact and is sometimes also known as P. iranica.

‘Yellow’ is of course a broad color description and there are quite a few ‘yellow’ peonies in the Caucasus. It’s a color which is also difficult to photograph and depending on the camera and amount of light or shade you will often find that the image shows it deeper yellow or much paler, which means images can be a faulty guide. To give some guidance on the ‘yellow’ peony species of the caucasus, let’s list them according to their degree of ‘yellowness’. Remark however that even the most yellow species, P. wendelboi, will not be as deep yellow as you will see in P. delavayi (P. lutea).

P. wittmanniana: despite all descriptions you may encounter, this is white, ‘milky’ white at most
P. tomentosa ssp archibaldii: white, but often somewhat creamy yellow in bud, something which disappears on opening
P. macrophylla ssp macrophylla: this is the palest yellow one, described by Hong as ‘yellowish white’ and those creamy petals turn to white at the end of blooming
P. macrophylla ssp steveniana: this will usually be described as pale yellow, not as white
P. tomentosa ssp tomentosa: pale yellow again, probably more or less like steveniana
P. mlokosewitschii ssp mlokosewitschii: more yellow than the former ones, but still best described as pale yellow
P. mlokosewitschii ssp wendelboi: the deepest yellow of all herbaceous species

Paeonia tomentosa ssp archibaldii (tetraploid)

At last we are here, the final species to describe :-) The Hyrcanian Forests not only run along the Talysh Mountains along the Caspian Sea in Gilan Province of Iran. They go somewhat further along the Elburz mountains in Mazandaran and Golestan Province. Somewhere along this line we find something which resembles P. tomentosa described before, but still somewhat different from it. It was often misnamed as is the case with many of those in the wittmanniana group. Nowadays it is better known as P. archibaldii. Again we don’t follow current nomenclature, because the difference is rather small and because the description of the species was based on a single plant and that’s obvious a very small sample to describe a whole population. P. archibaldii is officially described as being totally glabrous for both leaflets and carpels, having white flowers and being very short, flowering almost at ground level. Now the images herewith do show a plant with white flowers, although in bud they may be somewhat pale yellow. But some do also show carpels with some hairs and which are thus tomentose, though never as much as in P. tomentosa from Talysh mountains. The same goes for the backside of the leaflets, some people who grow this species (from the same seeds from which the type specimen was grown) report that it does have some hairs there. As you can see from the images, they don’t always flower at ground level as well. And the leaflets shape are remarkably reminiscent of P. tomentosa. So with all these remarks we have decided to simply regard it as a subspecies of P. tomentosa, which is somewhat shorter, has white petals and is less (or not) tomentose.

So, after going through all the species, have we come to a conclusion about what peonies A.P. Saunders actually used? Apart from the possibility that he mostly had garden hybrids, we actually did. He has registered many hybrids with either P. macrophylla and P. wittmanniana as one of the parents. Both of these plants were mislabeled. His “P. macrophylla”, a low plant with white flowers, tomentose carpels and deeply depressed veins should be P. tomentosa ssp archibaldii from the Easternmost region of the Hyrcanian forests (Mazandaran, Golestan provinces in Iran) along the Caspian Sea. The hybrid we admire so much, Ballerina, which was claimed to be from “P. wittmanniana” x P. lactiflora is actually from P. steveniana/P. macrophylla x P. lactiflora. Given that he states the very large leaves for his other plant and not this one, it will probably have been a plant not from Adjaria (P. macrophylla), but rather from Central Georgia (P. steveniana) as those latter have smaller leaflets. So to repeat his cross we’ll need some P. macrophylla/P. steveniana. As it happens the only flowering plant of the wittmanniana group we grow is P. wittmanniana ssp wittmanniana. As far as we know, A.P. Saunders never actually grew any true P. wittmanniana and his work is the foundation for the great majority of all modern day herbaceous hybrid plants. So whilst we have no short-term possibility to repeat his crosses in the hope of obtaining something alike Ballerina, we do have some options with P. wittmanniana at least, which is itself a very attractive plant.

Our own P. wittmanniana ssp wittmanniana plant, from seeds from the Bakuriani Alpine Botanical Garden – Image Koen Hurtekant

Final remark: we have read quite a lot about the peonies from this region, but have never been able to visit and have not seen all species in real life. If you have seen them in their natural habitat or have seen errors or omissions (of which there are always some), please do not hesitate to post them in the comments below or contact us so we can update the contents. Next to that we have used many images to illustrate all the species. Given that most of the images were posted on social media and free for all to see or share it did seem reasonable that we could use them as well, but if you feel your photo shouldn’t be here and ought to be removed, please tell us and it will be done so.

Updates:
Jan 30, 2023. Thanks to reviewing by Vladimir Ranislavic, some errors were corrected. Thank you.
Feb 1, 2023. Thanks to information from Sergey Banketov, the distribution table was updated for P. macrophylla ssp steveniana, P. caucasica and P. daurica. P. x maleev direction of the cross was updated. P. x lagodechiana idem. Info on the type specimen of P. wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa was added. Thank you.
Feb 2, 2023. P. x maleev information updated to include note on infertility and the fact that P. x saundersii could be synonymous with both P. x majko and P. x maleev. Thank you Ruslan Mishustin.
Feb 3, 2023. Added more info on the ‘variations’ of P. tenuifolia, suggested by Vladimir Ranislavic. Thank you.
Feb 22, 2023. After finally recovering a long-lost comment on Facebook, the locations on the mountains for P. wittmanniana ssp wittmanniana and P. wittmanniana ssp nudicarpa have been altered to reflect reality. Thus the glabrous ones higher up the mountain.

P. archibaldii in Mazandaran – Image by Hassan_Ghelichnia

Footnotes:
  1. De-Yuan, Hong. “Peonies of the World: Taxonomy and Phytogeography.” Kew: Kew Publishing, 2010, 302 pp.[]
  2. De-Yuan Hong & Shi-Liang Zhou. “Paeonia (Paeoniaceae) in the Caucasus.” In: Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, vol 143, pp. 135–150.[]
  3. De-Yuan Hong. “Peonies of the World. Part III: Phylogeny and evolution.” Kew: Kew Publishing, 2021, 292 pp.[]
  4. Ruksans Janis & Henrik Zetterlund. “An Iranian peony to honour Per Wendelbo.” In: International Rock Gardener, 2014, vol 82, no 2, pp. 230-237.[]
  5. Ruksans, Janis. “Paeonia archibaldii Ruksans – A new peony species from Iran.” In: International Rock Gardener, 2018, vol 86, no 102, pp. 3-13.[]
  6. Kemularia-Nathadze LM. “Kavkazkija predstavileli roda Paeonia L. (Caucasian representatives of the genus Paeonia)” In: Not Syst Geog Inst Bot Tbiliss, 1961, vol 21, pp. 1-51. An english translation of this can be found on Carsten Burkhardt’s fantastic peony site.[]
  7. E.O. Punina. “Wild peonies of Russia and neighbouring territories.” Botanical Institute. V.L. Komarova RAS St. Petersburg, s.d., 46 pp.[]
  8. I. N. Timukhin & Kh. U. Aliev. “Paeonia × dmitrievae (Paeoniaceae), a new nothospecies from Adjaria (South-West Georgia).” In: Turczaninowia, 2018, vol 21, nr 3, pp. 51–54.[]
  9. E.O. Punina, E.M. Machs, E.E. Krapivskaya, E.S. Kim, E.V. Mordak, Y.A. Myakoshina, A.V. Rodionov. “Interspecific Hybridization in the Genus Paeonia (Paeoniaceae): Polymorphic Sites in Transcribed Spacers of the 45S rRNA Genes as Indicators of Natural and Artificial Peony Hybrids.” In: Genetika, 2012, vol 48, no. 7, pp. 684–697.[]
  10. See Plants of the World online: https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:70029773-1[]
  11. Templar, Judy. “Paeonia mlokosewitschii in Georgia.” In: The Peony Group of the Hardy Plant Society Newsletter, Autumn 2014, pp. 11-11.[]
  12. Hong, 2003, p. 146[]
  13. Nadiradze T & Eradze N. “Overview of Paeonia mlokosewitschii L”. In: World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2020, vol 6,  no. 2, pp. 5-8.[]
  14. Maarofi, H. “Record of Paeonia mascula (paeoniaceae) from Iran.” In: The Iranian Journal of Botany, 2005, vol 11, no 1, pp, 95-97.[]
  15. Comment by her in Facebook group ‘Paeonia species (only species)’ in a discussion on this species[]
  16. Assadi, M. “A taxonomic revision of the genus Paeonia (Paeoniaceae) in Iran.” In: Iran. J. Bot., 2016, vol 22, no 2, pp. 75-78.[]

Our yearly results of testing Ultra Low Oxygen (ULO) storage of peonies. After three years of failures and learning the hard way one would expect some success in year 4, no? Alas, long story short, it was mostly throwing money down the drain…

From past experience it was clear that we needed to get the relative humidity (RH) in the ULO boxes lower so that no condensation would occur and botrytis would be kept at bay. The silicagel in previous years was unable to keep RH at reasonable levels fast enough, so we changed tactics and went for calcium chloride. This substance can take much more moisture out of the air, works faster, can absorb more and also works fine at low temperatures. The only thing we were afraid of in fact is that the air would be too dry. You can read more about calcium chloride on the website of the producer, Absortech. The product we used was AbsorGel Hanging, which is a product that contains 1 kg of calcium chloride, divided over 8 bags in one long row, -together with some starch so that you get a rather gelly substance when it absorbs water- and the packaging material is tyvek paper which can withstand water and cannot be torn.

As usual a short description about the season as this differs from year to year. Quite average this year, with peonies flowering at the normal time, from mid-may to the end of that month for the most part. It was also dry during the season with hardly any rain. Given that it was continuously dry we didn’t spray with fungicides against botrytis. This is against the advice for long term storage of course, but in the long run most fungicides will be phased out anyway, the future is bound to be ‘greener’ and probably more ‘organic’.

The calcium chloride sets laying on the peonies

The peonies were cut at the last days of May for the boxes, placed in the boxes (no prior water soaking) and left to dry for about a week in a cold storage. The calcium chloride sets were laid horizontally on top and the boxes were closed June 6th with all caps closed to decrease the oxygen levels fast. It took about a week for oxygen levels to go below 10%. Below are part of the measurements of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Given all the failures and the peony stems thrown away in previous years, we only used 4 boxes this time and filled them with the smaller ones. Box 2 was only half filled due to lack of enough stems. The Fawn was used again, but some stems of other cultivars were also added to compare. As were some bunches that had soaked up water. Temperature of the cold room was set at 0,3°C until Aug 2nd when it was raised to 1,8C. Aug 25th it was lowered again to 0,3°C. Some caps were opened when O2 levels went below 5% to raise it again. When this happened CO2 levels concurrently went down rather fast. Box 4 had one cap opened June 24th, closed again July 2nd. August 2nd, both box 3 and 4 had two caps opened.

ULO 2022 Box 1 Box 2 Box 3 Box 4
Date O2 % CO2 % O2 % CO2 % O2 % CO2 % O2 % CO2 %
June 8th 16,9 5,8 18,5 4,3 17,0 5,6 16,7 5,9
June 13th 11,23 11,0 14,16 8,5 10,63 11,5 9,7 12,3
June 21st 8,15 13,9 11,42 11,1 7,52 14,5 5,88 15,4
July 2nd 6,78 15,1 10,0 12,4 6,27 16,2 6,41 11,1
July 15th 7,17 15,1 10,11 12,3 6,64 16,1 5,59 13,9
July 29th 7,95 14,4 10,63 11,9 7,17 15,9 6,03 14,7
Aug 2nd 8,19 14,2 7,25 15,8 6,17 14,8
Aug 16th 8,90 7,9 7,24 7,6
Aug 23rd 7,41 8,6 6,00 8,3
Sep 16th na na
Starting date June 6th. Opening dates in yellow. Temperature and Relative Humidity was logged in box 3 & 4. Box 2 only half full and only 1 set of calcium chloride. Other boxes 600-700 stems and 2 sets of calcium chloride. na = not available (no measurement done)

What did we seen when opening the boxes?

July 29 the first one, box 2, was opened, the one which was only half full and which never went below 10% Oxygen due to this. All stems came out fully dry, no condensation at all against the inside walls or cover. So one set of calcium chloride seemed to be sufficient in this case. As it weighed approximately 1 kg at the onset of the treatment and ended up weighing some 2,3 kg at the end, we can assume that about 1,3 kg (or litre) of water was taken out of the air. From about 380 stems, only about 15 showed some damage due to ‘grey flecks’ as in 2021. Those were the few ones with the buds in the middle of the box, hidden below the foliage of the stems above. The other ones were all placed with the buds towards the sides and these were fine. This made us think that those few bad ones may have had too few oxygen perhaps? The ones that had soaked up water were also fine, contrary to our results of 2019, but there was an issue however. All peonies in the box had dried out leaflets when opening the box. The ones that went in ‘dry’ however could be rehydrated and the leaflets became fine again, whilst the stems that had soaked up water couldn’t as the leaflets remained floppy and dry there. There was 0% botrytis on the stems, leaflets and flowers in this box. So we might call this a success, with the conclusions that no buds should be stored between the leaflets, only at the sides, and they shouldn’t soak up any water before placing in the boxes. They opened fine in a vase when tested.

After long term storage and rehydrating. Left the stems that had soaked up water before being placed in the box, on the right the ‘dry’ ones that went straight in after cutting


Opening fine after long storage

A few days later, August 2nd, we opened box 1, which had more stems in it (550) and two sets of calcium chloride. We were obviously hopeful after the success of the first box. However… Whilst there was no condensation here either and no botrytis to speak of (except for a fews stems that probably were infected during harvest already), half of the buds had grey flecks again, as they did last year. Last year we assumed it was due to the oxygen level going too low at some point, but this year it hadn’t gone so low, so we are unsure as to the reason. This meant a lot of work sorting them out unfortunately. Some of the added other varieties seemed to cope better than The Fawn: Rozella and Miss America had more good ones in comparison (some 10 stems each were tested for these varieties). Myrtle Gentry was bad. Bowl of Cream didn’t show those flecks, but most of the outer petals had dried up and were ugly. Old Faithful was fine, but only the ones that went into the box ‘dry’, not the ones that had soaked up water beforehand. Another conclusion: whilst the oldest one in the boxes had dried about a week before closing the cover, the freshest ones had only dried for about three days and there wasn’t any difference between them after the storage, so those 3 days are already sufficient.

Rozella showing the ‘grey flecks’ symptoms very clearly

As the other boxes had the same amount of stems in them, the same number of calcium chloride, had reached comparable levels of O2 and CO2 and were in the same cold room thus the same temperature, it was to be expected that those too would have at least 50% flower buds with grey flecks. Because the temperature in the cold room was too low for our other flowers we grow, we hadn’t been able to use this refrigerator. Given the certain loss already of the peony stems in the boxes we raised the temperature in the cold room to 1,9°C so we could also use it for our other cut flowers (gladioli during Summer).

August 23rd we opened another box. Unexpectedly this one had fewer grey flecks on the flower buds, although they were still present to some degree. But, also unexpectedly, we did have a lot of botrytis here, about 2/3 of the flowers showed damage due to this fungus, and had to be thrown away. There was no condensation, but the flower petals felt ‘wet’, so relative humidity must have been higher, although not reaching 100% which would have resulted in condensation. The two sets of calcium chloride were not saturated, although they had soaked up an impressive 1,5 litre of water each.

Given that the other box would be comparable again, we were not particularly looking forward to opening it, most would be infected by botrytis after all. So we changed tactics: we lowered the temperature again to 0.3°C because we reasoned that the higher RH could only be the results of the breathing of the leaflets at the slightly higher temperature. Would we be able to lower the RH again by lowering the temperature?

The answer came when we opened the last box on September 16. No condensation again, the 2 calcium chloride sets had soaked up even more water, nearly 2 litres each. 95% of stems had to be thrown away due to botrytis. The few ones that had no infection were quite good, though not like fresh ones of course. Only few of them had grey flecks, although some may have been missed due to the heavy botrytis infection of course. Rozella and Old Faithful were the best ones of the ‘other’ varieties and better than The Fawn for sure.

Hardly a success, the last box opened…

And what about the Relative Humidity, were we able to bring it down again in this last box? The following graph shows both the temperature and the relative humidity.

Box 4, temperature(°C) and relative humidity. Red lines show change in temperature settings of the cold room.

As can be seen, relative humidity remained for the most part at 85% in the beginning at a set temperature of 0.3°C. The temperature in the box was slightly higher than this. When the temperature was raised towards 1,9°C, RH went up as well rather fast, towards 95% and above. When the temperature was lowered again, the rise of RH halted, but did not decrease unfortunately. It must be said that RH was also slowly creeping up towards 90% during the first period, but by far not as fast as it did with the higher temperature, which was closer to 3°C in the box itself.

At the research station PCS they also used the boxes as previous years, but they focused on avoiding botrytis by using a chemical, pyrimethanil. Last year it avoided botrytis but destroyed the leaflets and flowers, so that was hardly a solution to the problem. This year they tested first at half the dosage, but again had damage due to the chemical. At the suggestion of the producing company, they went for a 10% dosage in the boxes. This solved the problem of damage, but then did nothing to avoid botrytis, so we could remain positive, but it was a complete failure of course… Perhaps it could work with a dosage between 10 and 50%, but I’ll leave it to them to do any further research or none. The report of this research can be downloaded below, it’s in Dutch, but there’s nothing that google translate can’t solve here.

PTC_SN_22 Proefverslag ULO-bewaring pioenrozen

Now what to make of all this?

  • The peony stems must be placed in the boxes directly without soaking up water first
  • Three days of drying them out is sufficient before closing the boxes
  • Some cultivars are better than others, Old Faithful was the best one, followed by Rozella and Miss America. The Fawn is ok, but others are thus probably better
  • Calcium Chloride works fine to avoid condensation, far better than silicagel
  • Temperature must remain very low to avoid relative humidity rising too high, close to freezing is best
  • The ‘grey flecks’ remain a problem and the cause is not exactly clear

Next year with calcium chloride and temperature near freezing we hope for better results after a long time. The problem lies with those ‘grey flecks’ of course. Is it because of oxygen too low? CO2 too high? Or something else that we don’t think of? With lilies we have seen such things when we take the flower buds from outside where it’s very warm (>30°C) and place them into cold storage (<5°C) too fast. When we cool them down slowly the problem disappears. But the peonies hadn’t been taken from excessive heat towards very cold temperatures too fast, and besides, it should also show this in the first opened box then as well. Perhaps the O2 level went down too fast and we should go slower there? It’s something to think about. A remarkable thing is that at the research station they don’t have those grey flecks, whilst they have also used the same stems of The Fawn that I had cut. So we might try some different treatments to look for the reason next year, at least one will be slower decrease of oxygen through only closing some of the caps instead of them all. Any suggestions as to what readers might think could be the problem are most welcome.

Previous annual reports on our experiences with ULO storage of peonies can be found below and can be informative as to how we’ve gotten here:
2021
2020
2019

Turkey is one of the geographic centers of wild peonies. According to some estimates it boasts 11 different taxa, all situated in the herbaceous section of the genus. The ‘red peony of Constantinople’ is undoubtedly the best-known one. This peony, growing around the region of Istanbul (previously known as Constantinople/Byzantium) is the widespread species Paeonia peregrina. Peonies in Turkey are commonly known as Ayı Gülü, so a simple hashtag search on instagram will give you many images of peonies from that country. Most images will be of P. peregrina, P. turcica, P. arietina ssp arietina and P. mascula ssp mascula. The other taxa are more rare, more difficult to reach and thus less visited and photographed.

Whereas you can find good overviews of the peonies in Greece and Italy, two other peony species hotspots, it is more difficult to find this for Turkey, thus we thought it might be interesting to try doing this ourselves. For those that contemplate traveling in Spring in this vast country (783.562 km² which is twice Germany or 1/3 larger than Ukraine) here are thus some extra reasons to go ;-) Be prepared to climb quite a bit however, most peonies grow at higher altitudes in the mountains, often above 1000 m above sea level (asl). The list below gives an overview of the different taxa to be found in Anatolia. Some of these are endemic, meaning they only grow in Turkey and no other country: P. arietina ssp arasicola, P. x kayae, P. mascula ssp bodurii, P. mascula ssp orientalis and P. turcica.

Peony species in Turkey – Image by Cetiz M.V. & others

 

Paeonia species Location in Turkey
Paeonia arietina ssp arietina Balıkesir, Kazdağı / Çanakkale, Kazdağı / Erzincan, Çağlayan / Tunceli, Munzur dağları, 1350 m /Giresun, Dereli / Gümüşhane, Kelkit / Malatya, Doğanşehir / Rize, İkizdere / Muş / Sivas, Zara, Armutçayırı köyü, Abdiağa Çeşmesi, 1600-1700 m
Paeonia arietina ssp arasicola Afyonkarahisar, Afyon, Sultan Dağı, Dereçine Kasabası, Karaveli Tarlası Karşı tepeler 1400-1500 m / Bursa, Uludağ
Paeonia arietina (?) Yozgat
Paeonia daurica ssp daurica Mersin, Tepeköy, Yaprakseki, Ayıgülü Kayası mevkii 1300 m / Ordu, Gölköy / Samsun
Paeonia x kayae Çanakkale, Yenice, Kalkım, Aşağıçavuş village, Mursel district of Çanakkale province, 1000-1100 m
Paeonia kesrouanensis Hatay, Yayladağı, Denizgören Köyü 1100 m / Osmaniye, Amanos Mountains
Paeonia mascula ssp bodurii Çanakkale, Kalkım / Çanakkale, Lapseki, Beyçayırı Köyü, 600 m
Paeonia mascula ssp mascula Afyonkarahisar, Sultandağı / Çanakkale, Kalkım, Aşağı Çavuş Köyü, Tombaklı, Suçıktığı ve Kocaçalı mevkiileri, 1000-1100 m / Gümüşhane, Torul / Isparta, Eğirdir / Konya, Doğanhisar / Kahramanmaraş, Andırın / Tunceli, Ovacık / Uşak, Banaz / Burdur, Bucak, Kuyubaşı, Karlık dağı
Paeonia mascula ssp mascula (?) Tokat, Erbaa
Paeonia mascula ssp orientalis Hatay, Dörtyol / Hatay, Yayladağı
Paeonia peregrina Balıkesir, Savaştepe / Bilecik / Bolu, Seben / Bolu, Göynük / Bursa, M.Kemalpaşa / Bursa, İznik / Bursa, Kestel / Çanakkale, Yenice / Çanakkale, Bayramiç / Çanakkale, Çan / Çanakkale, Lapseki, Beyçayırı Köyü, 600 m / Çanakkale, Gökçeada İmroz / Eskişehir, Mihalıççık / İstanbul, Şile / İstanbul, Çatalca / Kastamonu, Daday / Kırklareli, Dereköy / Kırklareli, Babaeski / Manisa / Yalova
Paeonia tenuifolia Edirne, Lalapaşa, Ortakça Köyü, 50 m
Paeonia turcica Antalya, Elmalı, Beydağları / Antalya, Kemer, Hisarçandır Yaylası / Burdur, Gölhisar / Denizli, Acıpayam, Benlik Köyü, Bozdağı, Kabaçam mevkii, 1500-1600 m
Paeonia daurica ssp macrophylla Rize, İkizdere, Cimil yolu, Şelale civarı 1300 m / Rize, Çamlıhemşin, around Yukari Amlakit Yaylasi, 2350 m
Sources: Kaya, E. 1; Serpil Ünlü, & N. Özhatay2 & personal communications with locals from Turkey.

For detailed descriptions of these species, we can easily refer to the species description on the site, but we must give some extra information because botanists tend to differ somewhat in the species classification. The table lists the species as we see them, neither following Hong nor Kaya. Paeonia arietina has no subspecies in the latest classification by Hong, but as there is a clear subspecies arasicola to be found in Turkey, this means that the remainder of P. arietina then becomes the subspecies arietina. In some older texts P. arietina ssp arasicola is mentioned as P. mascula ssp arasicola, but this is wrong because the root system corresponds to P. arietina and not P. mascula. Paeonia x kayae is a natural hybrid between P. arietina ssp arietina and P. mascula ssp bodurii. Paeonia turcica is regarded as different from Paeonia kesrouanensis by Turkish scientists, contrary to Hong’s classification, and they are probably right. Paeonia mascula ssp orientalis is the name given to species populations that have more and often divided leaflets compared to the usual P. mascula ssp mascula, not sure if this deserves its own subspecies label. P. daurica ssp macrophylla is often referred to as P. wittmanniana by Turkish scientists, which is wrong as that latter species does grow in Georgia and adjacent Russia, not Turkey. As to the two species populations with the question mark, we have no idea what they may be.

There is currently an ongoing scientific research project, conducted by Halbay Turumtay and Cemal Sandalli, where all known Turkish peony populations are sampled and compared to international DNA databases.3 The results of that research are expected to be published early 2024, but some preliminary findings will be given with the species overview below. One of the unfortunate conclusions however is that some populations are under grave threat or already gone, sometimes due to road or building extensions, sometimes due to people removing the plants or flowering stems so that no seeds are produced.

As Türkiye is such a large country a map (or two maps actually) of the locations where they grow might come in handy:

What follows is a short description of each (sub-)species, but an image can say more than a thousand words so – when possible – we tried to add a good many images and videos to show them well. As Turkey has a population of some 85 million people and also attracts a lot of tourists, many images and videos of these showy flowers can be found.4 If you’re looking for more images of Turkish peonies, the facebook group ‘Flora’, which is all about Turkish flora, is a good starting point.


P. arietina ssp arietina
(tetraploid) is widely distributed in Northern Turkey and is the most common peony in the country. It is mostly distributed in Northern Turkey from West to East. It has pubescent green stems and petioles which set it apart from others. It has dark pink flowers, tomentose carpels and somewhat elongate leaflets numbering 9-13. Rather late flowering. It has been remarked by some people, and can be deducted from some images, that the populations more to the east in Turkey have finer leaflets, whilst in the west they are wider.

Those finer leaflets resemble P. officinalis (tetraploid) quite a lot. Both species are close to one another and some people had the idea that species might also grow in Turkey even though currently the closest known location to Turkey of that species is the Balkan. P. arietina can be recognized by the sepals always densely villose on the abaxial surface; stems and petioles always rather densely hirsute; leaflets/segments less than 32 in number, elliptic to oblong, 3–6 cm wide. P. officinalis on the other hand: sepals sparsely or densely hispidulous, or glabrous on the abaxial surface; stems and petioles sparsely hirsute or glabrous; leaflets/segments 15–41 in number, linear-elliptic to ovate-lanceloate, 1.5–5 cm wide.5 The DNA research that sampled all populations has however found that they are all pure P. arietina and there is no P. officinalis in Turkey.

Copyright: Ömer Faruk Gülşen –
Paeonia arietina in Turkey, MUŞ.

Copyright: Ömer Faruk Gülşen –
Paeonia arietina in Turkey, MUŞ.

Copyright: Ömer Faruk Gülşen –
Paeonia arietina in Turkey, MUŞ.

Copyright: Ömer Faruk Gülşen –
Paeonia arietina in Turkey, MUŞ, showing the indumentum on the stems, leaf stalks and sepals.

Paeonia arietina ssp arietina in Gumushane – Image by Oğuzhan Olgun. Remark how this plant from Eastern Turkey has much finer leaflets than the ones in Western Turkey, but DNA research has found it to be pure P. arietina

P. arietina in Kaçkar Dağları, Barhal Valley – Copyright: İsmail Bayram

P. arietina in Eastern Turkey, Kaçkar Dağları, Barhal Valley – Copyright- İsmail Bayram

Paeonia arietina ssp arietina in Kaz Dagi, Balikesir/Cannakale Province (Western Turkey) – Video by Mustafa Şıvka on Instagram.


P. arietina ssp arasicola
(tetraploid) is the same as P. arietina ssp arietina except for the all white or at most very pale pink flowers and is not yet described in English language literature. At first it was classified as a subspecies of P. mascula, but the roots are not carrot-shaped as in that species, but rather tuberous. The leaflet form, carpels and, most of all, the hirsute stems and petioles place it within P. arietina. The fact that all plants in these populations thus have white flowers make it a subspecies to P. arietina. It was only rather recently ‘discovered’ and is currently known from only two localities in Bursa (Uludag Mountains) and Afyonkarahisar (Sultandagi mountains), where it grows at around 1,500-2,000 m altitude in rocky places in forests of Fagus and Quercus. From DNA research again this species is identical to the usual dark flowered P. arietina and thus the only difference is the colour.

P. arietina ssp arasicola, Bursa, Uludag Mountains – Copyright: Yildiz Konca

P. arietina ssp arasicola, Bursa, Uludag Mountains – Copyright Adem Çevikbaş

Paeonia arietina ssp arasicola, showing the hirsute stem. Copyright by Yıldız Konca.

Paeonia arietina ssp arasicola. Copyright by Yıldız Konca.

Paeonia arietina ssp arasicola – Copyright Adem Çevikbaş

Paeonia arietina ssp arasicola. Copyright by Yıldız Konca.

P. arietina ssp arasicola in Bursa, Turkey – Video by Adem Çevikbaş on Facebook.


Paeonia daurica ssp daurica
(diploid) is a species with only 9 leaflets, tomentose carpels and usually somewhat rounded leaflets. P. daurica ssp daurica usually refers to the Crimean populations of this species with the conspicuous wavy leaflets, so perhaps the Turkish populations should have their own subspecies taxon. Not too many images of this species can be found as it is rather rare. It can be found in Mersin, Osmaniye and Samsun provinces.

This species is often confused with P. mascula ssp mascula, and sometimes it is not possible to relegate it to one of these two at all by means of simple observation. In P. daurica ssp daurica the best distinguishing feature is the number of leaflets on the lowest leaf because 95% of plants will have only 9 leaflets compared to P. mascula ssp mascula where 95% of plants will have 10 or more. Furthermore in P. daurica ssp daurica they are more rounded at the top and are somewhat shorter and wider compared to P. mascula ssp mascula. P. daurica ssp daurica is also usually pale pink, whilst P. mascula ssp mascula is mostly darker pink or red. The ploidy-level is also different as P. daurica ssp daurica is diploid and P. mascula ssp mascula tetraploid, but that is something which is not clear from casual observation of course. The DNA research project has found that there are only two Turkish species that are somewhat problematic when comparing them to international samples of the species and they are P. mascula (and subspecies) and P. daurica, for they don’t correspond exactly, so that might explain some of the difficulty of trying to classify them.

Paeonia daurica ssp daurica in the front, with P. mascula ssp mascula in the back. Image taken in Osmaniye, Amanos Mountains by Mehmet Çelik

P. daurica in Osmaniye – Mehmet Celik

Paeonia daurica ssp daurica from Mt. Amanos, Hatay, Turkey, drawn by Miss LI Ai‐Li.6

Most probably P. daurica ssp daurica in Isparta, Kesme Koyu – Video by Adem ÇEVİKBAŞ on YouTube. This population is probably officially marked as P. mascula ssp mascula, but the leaflets are more rounded and slightly wavy than we’d expect from that species and correspond more to P. daurica ssp daurica. The number of leaflets on the lowest leaf is hard to see in the video, with P. daurica it should be at most 9, very occasionally 10, and this seems to be the case. P. daurica is diploid, some reports in Turkish also give diploid for P. mascula, which is nowhere else confirmed. If both species are confused however, the error would be logical.


P. x kayae
(tetraploid) is a natural hybrid between P. arietina ssp arietina and P. mascula bodurii. It is similar to subsp. bodurii, except that it is much bigger and has bicoloured flowers. As can be seen it is particularly attractive. As Paeonia mascula ssp bodurii only grows in Çanakkale province in North-Western Turkey, this hybrid can obviously be found only there as well. 7 The image shows a selection from the natural population of Paeonia x kayae, which received the cultivar name ‘Kaya’ and is being propagated by the Yalova Atatürk Central Research station. It has a single flower of dark pink upon white, with a slight fragrance and is very early blooming (first week of April). It also produces large quantities of seed.

Paeonia x kayae ‘Kaya’


Paeonia kesrouanensis
(tetraploid) can only be found near the border with Syria, in Hatay and Osmaniye provinces. It is supposedly synonymous with P. turcica  because the former discriminating feature, the length and curvation of the styles, seems insufficient to separate the species.8 However, they do look quite different: P. kesrouanensis with pale green foliage from emerging, often flowering before the leaflets have fully grown and with pale pink flowers. Perhaps the leaf shape is also slightly different with this species having somewhat broader leaflets at the base compared to P. turcica, but that would need some further research.9 They are easily separated from P. mascula by their glabrous carpels (the only other peonies in Turkey with glabrous carpels are P. turcica and P. daurica ssp macrophylla). The style and stigma itself are rather tall and smoothly follow the shape of the carpels, whereas in P. mascula ssp mascula they are short and the carpels end rather abruptly with the style and stigma sitting on top of it. In general, P. mascula will also have a larger number of carpels than P. kesrouanensis. If you would grow all Turkish species together in one place, this would be both the earliest flowering and tallest species (60-80 cm).

P. kesrouanensis in Osmaniye, Turkey – Copyright Mehmet Celik

Paeonia kesrouanensis in Osmaniye, Turkey – Mehmet Celik

Paeonia kesrouanensis in Osmaniye, Turkey – Mehmet Celik

P. kesrouanensis in Osmaniye – Mehmet Celik

P. kesrouanensis in Osmaniye – Mehmet Celik

P. kesrouanensis in Osmaniye – Video by Mehmet Celik


Paeonia mascula ssp bodurii
(tetraploid) is a species growing in North-Western Turkey, Çanakkale province at altitudes from 400 to 900 m, with very attractive white petals with sometimes a purplish base. It has dark green foliage consisting of only 9-11 leaflets which are rather large (13-18 cm long, 7-9 cm wide), the stems are pinkish and glabrous. It flowers very early in the season (April-May in Çanakkale) and is easy to grow. As such it would probably make a good garden plant for even beginning gardeners. It resembles the Greek subspecies P. mascula ssp hellenica somewhat although the latter has a higher number of leaflets, which are relatively narrower, and flowers about a week later when grown together. Subspecies bodurii is a rather recent addition to the list of known peony (sub)species, rather rare (only 4 known localities) and under constant threat from deforestation, building and illegal plant gatherings.10

P. mascula ssp bodurii – Copyright: Cannakale DKMP

P. mascula bodurii, lowest leaf with 11 leaflets – Image by Koen Hurtekant

P. mascula bodurii in bud – Image by Koen Hurtekant

Paeonia mascula ssp bodurii – Image by Koen Hurtekant

Paeonia mascula ssp bodurii – Copyright: Bahar KÖKÇÜ, Ersin KARABACAK11


P. mascula ssp mascula
(tetraploid) is one of the most common peonies all over Europe. It is defined by 3-4 tomentose carpels, pink to red petals and a higher leaflet count of 9-18, with some populations that are characterised by the highest leaf numbers (12-18) referred to as P. mascula ssp orientalis,12 although the difference may not be enough to warrant a separate subspecies status and DNA research shows that the difference is extremely small. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between this species and P. daurica ssp daurica. The difference between P. mascula ssp mascula and both P. kesrouanensis and P. turcica is rather easy when you look at the carpels with only P. mascula ssp mascula having tomentose ones.

Paeonia mascula ssp mascula at 790m asl in Alanya, ANTALYA province – Image by Ahmet Tıraş

Paeonia mascula ssp mascula at 790m asl in Alanya, ANTALYA province – Image by Ahmet Tıraş

Paeonia mascula ssp mascula at 790m asl in Alanya, ANTALYA province – Image by Ahmet Tıraş

Paeonia mascula ssp mascula at 790m asl in Alanya, ANTALYA province – Image by Ahmet Tıraş

Paeonia mascula ssp mascula Silifke, Turkey – Esra Güven

P. mascula ssp mascula, Mugla, Marmaris – Video by Yörük Ali Demirtaş on YouTube. Compared to P. daurica ssp daurica, the species mascula has less rounded, more pointed and lengthier leaflets. The number of leaflets on each leaf is also higher (usually 11 and above, rarely less).

Paeonia mascula ssp mascula on Palamut Dağı, Marmaris, Turkey – Video by zeynepsoyer3

 

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Paeonia peregrina
(tetraploid) is the best-known peony from Turkey. It mostly grows in North Western Turkey and is easily recognized. The shining red petals from the flowers that remain cup-shaped and never open widely are quite distinct, as are the conspicuously lobed leaflets. It is the latest flowering species in Turkey and can be found in different surroundings (both forests and grasslands) and altitudes (50-1,500 m).

Kızıl lale – Ayı gülü P. peregrina in Turkey – Video by İbrahim Sargın on YouTube. At 1:34 and further there’s a clear shot of this species.

 

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Paeonia tenuifolia
(diploid) is probably the easiest species peony to recognize as it has the finest foliage (< 0.5 cm) of all peony species and the largest number of leaflets (40-130). It prefers sunny, dry habitats, unlike all other species of Turkey. It is both the shortest (<30 cm) and the only lowland (50 m asl) species of Turkey. Remarkably it can only be found in the European part of Turkey where its distribution goes further into Bulgaria, Romania and former Yugoslavia. ‘Remarkably’ because it can also be found in the Caucasus and Crimea, but thus not in between those two places in Turkey.

Paeonia tenuifolia Edirne, Turkey – Fatma Güneş


Paeonia turcica
(tetraploid) can be found in Burdur, Denizili and Antalya and, as that region is a magnet for tourists, many images of it can be found on social media. It resembles P. kesrouanensis in its glabrous carpels, but has reddish foliage upon emerging and the flowers are usually much darker pink towards red. The supposed difference of the style length and place where it curves are insufficient to discriminate between them. Whilst they are surely very close to one another, the ‘average’ differences in leaflet colour and flower color seem enough to keep them as separate species. Like P. kesrouanensis this species is also very early flowering, although P. kesrouanensis is the earliest one. P. turcica grows at the tree line in the Taurus mountains above Antalya. A description of its surroundings with many images can be found in this blog post by Jan Emming.

No tourist trap: Paeonia turcica in Turkey, Antalya, Beydağları – Photographed by Ömer Faruk Gülşen

P. turcica in Antalya, Hisarçandır – image by Ömer Aydoğan

Paeonia turcica - Image by Sibel Erim

Paeonia turcica – Image by Sibel Erim

Paeonia turcica in Beydaglari, Antalya, Turkey – Image by Fahriye Gokcen

Paeonia turcica in Beydaglari, Antalya – Video by Fahriye Gokcen

Paeonia turcica in Antalya, Turkey – Video by Sibel Erim

 

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We can conclude with P. daurica ssp macrophylla (tetraploid). Though in Turkish literature it is often referred to as P. wittmanniana, the glabrous carpels give it away as ssp macrophylla in fact. Although the officially accepted name of this species is P. daurica ssp macrophylla, it would be better to place it together with other species of the P. wittmanniana group as it is so different from P. daurica ssp daurica from Crimea. The taxonomy of the P. wittmanniana group is confusing and still rather unclear, with P. macrophylla from Turkey being genetically rather close to P. obovata (and P. mairei) according to the aforementioned research. This is a magnificent large species with large rather wide leaflets, glabrous carpels and pale creamy yellow flowers that grows in North Eastern Turkey very high in the mountains. It is the latest flowering species in Turkey – in June – due to the cold temperatures prevailing there. When growing it together with other species it is still rather late flowering, but not as late as P. peregrina.

Paeonia macrophylla NE Turkey – Image by Şenol Işık

Paeonia macrophylla NE  Turkey – Image by Şenol Işık

P. macrophylla Black Sea – Image by KhashKhash

P. macrophylla, Kaçkar Dağları Milli Parkı Yukarı Çeymakçur Yaylası Çamlıhemşin Rize 2300m – Image: Süleyman Soysal

P. macrophylla in  Kaçkar Mountains Turkey – Süleyman Soysal

P. macrophylla Kackar Mountains – Image by: Zahradnictví Zbiroh

P. macrophylla Black Sea – Both videos by KHASHKHASH

 

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The instagram post shows a leaf consisting of 9 leaflets, a botanical illustration and the original leaf above it. From a Paeonia macrophylla growing at high altitude in the Kaçkar Mountains, North Eastern Turkey.

 

Hybridizing with species

There is a program within Turkey, at the Yalova Atatürk Central Research station, to hybridize several peony species to obtain new varieties better adapted to local conditions with several varieties now under propagation.13 Some already named varieties are ‘Bocur’, ‘Eful’, ‘Tombak’, ‘Alev Topu’, ‘Kaya’ and ‘Kançiceği’. The hybridizing continues and four species have been selected for the further development of new cultivars and as a gene pool for future trials: P. arietina ssp arietina, P. daurica, P. kesrouanensis and P. arietina ssp arasicola.14 It remains to be seen whether these will be successful, but it is obviously positive that the Turkish species are being used to improve both garden and cut flower varieties. It is quite remarkable that so few peonies are currently grown as cut flowers and garden plants in Turkey when there is such a wide local gene pool for this species, but given all the hard hybridizing work and the rising popularity of peonies it can be expected only to rise.

Two examples of new peony varieties hybridized in Turkey, Eful and Tombak are both P. peregrina hybrids.

All omissions and errors are ours. Feel free to comment below, especially if you’re from Turkey and have seen wild peonies in your country. Improvements to this overview are surely possible and most welcome!

Footnotes:
  1. Kaya, E. “Türkiye Şakayıklarının (Paeonia spp.) Kültüre Alınması ve Islahı.” In: IV. SÜS BİTKİLERİ KONGRESİ BİLDİRİLER, 2010, pp. 230-231[]
  2. SERPİL ÜNLÜ & NERİMAN ÖZHATAY. “TÜRKİYE’NİN PAEONIA L. TÜRLERİ ÜZERİNDE FARMASÖTİK BOTANİK ARAŞTIRMALAR”. Istanbul, 2010, 104 pp.[]
  3. Personal communication with Halbay Turumtay and Cemal Sandalli, the lead researchers[]
  4. We have asked people to use their images/videos. Most replied and said ‘ok’, but some didn’t reply. As posting on social media is rather public we assume it’s ok for us to use them, especially as we give credit to the creators, but if you feel your image/video should not be here, please tell us and it shall be removed.[]
  5. De-Yuan Hong, Da-Ming Zhang, Xiao-Quan Wang, Selcuk Tugrul Koruklu & Dimitris Tzanoudakis. “Relationships and taxonomy of Paeonia arietina G. Anderson complex (Paeoniaceae) and its allies.” In: TAXON, 2008, vol 57, no3, pp. 922–932.[]
  6. DE‐YUAN HONG, XIAO‐QUAN WANG, DA‐MING ZHANG, S. TUGRUL KORUKLU, “Paeonia daurica Andrews or P. mascula ssp. triternata (Pall. ex DC.) Stearn & P. H. Davis (Paeoniaceae)?” In: Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, vol 154, no 1, 2007, pp. 1–11.[]
  7. Kaya E. & N. Özhatay. “New geophytes from Turkey”. In: Chronica Horticulturae, 2015, vol 55, no 4, p.  30.[]
  8. De-Yuan Hong, Xiao-Quan Wang, Da-Ming Zhang and Selcuk Tugrul Koruklu. “On the circumscription of Paeonia kesrouanensis, an east Mediterranean peony.” In: Nordic Journal of Botany, 2005, vol 23, no 4, pp. 395-400.[]
  9. Neriman Özhatay, Martin Page and Mike Sinnott. “Paeonia turcica.” In: Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, 2000, vol 17, no 2, pp. 92-98.[]
  10. N. Özhatay, E. Özhatay. “A New White Paeonia L. from north-western Turkey: P. mascula Miller Subsp. bodurii. N.Özhatay.” In: The Karaca Arboretum Magazine, 1995, vol 3, no. 1, pp. 17-26.[]
  11. Bahar KÖKÇÜ, Ersin KARABACAK. “PHENOLOGICAL BEHAVIOURS OF THE LOCAL ENDEMIC Paeonia mascula (L.) Mill. subsp. bodurii Özhatay IN ÇANAKKALE, TURKEY.” In: Trakya Univ J Nat Sci, 2021, vol 22, no 2, pp. 207-213.[]
  12. HONG De-Yuan. “A subspecies of Paeonia mascula (Paeoniaceae) from W. Asia and SE. Europe.” In: J Syst Evol, 2000, vol 38, no 4, pp. 381-385.[]
  13. Kaya, E. ” Türkiye biyoçeşitliliğinde geofitlerin yeri ve bazı çalışmalar.” In: TÜRKTOB magazine, 2016, no 18, pp 69- 79.[]
  14. Baktir, Ibrahim. “Geophyte research and production in Turkey. “In: Ornamental Geophytes: From basic science to sustainable production.” CRC Press: New York, 2013, pp. 503-518.[]

It’s been over a decade since we first began germinating peony seeds from open and controlled crosses. This has been with varying degrees of success and one learns with time of course. We shall not discuss all the details of hybridizing and germinating peony seeds, there’s already an excellent article on the site here from Nate Bremer. What we have done this year is a little experiment to find out which substrate is best to germinate peony seeds. To take a slide from the article just mentioned, this shows some substrates often used to germinate peony seeds:

Copyright Nate Bremer

In the past we have germinated peony seeds in outside garden soil, potting soil, coarse river sand, compost and perlite. We actually only use indoor germination as outside germination is slower and, at least we find, is quite erratic. Compost and potting soil gave different results one year to the next and was quite a gamble. We don’t seem to have a green thumb as so many other people have… Last year we used perlite and it turned out this was far better than potting soil and also much easier to work with. However some germinated seeds showed some damage on the roots that appeared and a few of those even rotted. It’s however very easy to give a certain amount of water when you start from fresh dry perlite. So we intended to try different treatments this year and see if we would get different results. Someone in the hybridizer’s corner with a whole lot more mileage in hybridizing suggested me trying vermiculite as that is his preferred substrate. I’m not someone to take good advice lightly and thus I’ve bought a large bag of vermiculite to incorporate it into my experiment.

So, how did we go about it? At the middle of August we harvested some open pollinated seeds from an easy seeding cultivar, in this case Just Peachy. From previous experience we knew it germinates quite well. We threw away the cracked already ‘open’ seeds which are shown in the next image so as to have only perfectly round seeds. The ‘floaters’ were also thrown away as all others that seemed to be somewhat ‘different’. This to have somewhat comparable seeds for the different treatments. Seeds were then randomly allocated to the following:

Three different completely dry substrates with different amounts of water added. Coarse river sand (10 and 25% water (volume/volume)), perlite (0-5-10-15-20-25%) and vermiculite (0-5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-50%). In practice we simply took a water measuring cup, filled it to the right volume and then added the amount of water needed. For example 1 litre of vermiculite received 0,25 litre of water to have a 25% water content. The vermiculite absorbed all the water, so the total volume remained at 1 litre in this case. This was also the case with all other treatments, only with vermiculite at 50 % water, could we see that this was above the saturation maximum and some water remained floating in the ziplock bag. Each different treatment had 20 seeds of Just Peachy which seemed like a good number to work with.

Now this was all done mid-August. The ziplock bags with the substrate and seeds were placed in our greenhouse and then all we had to do was wait. It has been an exceptionally warm Autumn and many of our other seeds already germinated by the beginning of November. Thus we have opened our ziplock bags with the Just Peachy seeds as well, searched for the seeds and sorted them in one of five categories: large roots (5 cm +), average roots (2-5 cm), short or beginning roots (0,1-2 cm), no roots but still good seeds, and finally rotted seeds.

Let’s have a look at the results:

% water Long roots Average roots Short roots No roots, good seeds Rotted seeds
Coarse river sand
10% 20
25% 20
Perlite
0% 20
5% 2 1 2 15
10% 3 1 16
15% 5 1 14
20% 1 6 4 9
25% 8 12
Vermiculite
0% 20
5% 9 1 8 2
10% 9 2 3 2 4
15% 5 2 3 10
20% 7 1 2 10
25% 6 1 1 12
30% 7 6 1 6
35% 1 1 2 8 8
40% 3 6 11
50% 20
Total always 20 seeds per treatment. Numbers with orange background had some rot at the end of the roots. Green background shows the best treatment.
Seeds harvested August 11th. Treatments started August 12th. Opening of ziplock bags November 10th.

Some insights can be had from the numbers in the table. Keeping them dry (0% water in perlite or vermiculite) results in nothing, as would be expected. But, unexpectedly, if the substrate is too wet, this also results in nothing. The 50% water in vermiculite did not result in all rotted seeds, but they came out perfectly sound. Coarse river sand is immediately too wet it seems, even at 10% none of the seeds made any movement towards germination.

From the three substrates, vermiculite is clearly the best, followed by perlite and then, with no germinations, coarse river sand. Some treatments resulted in germination and roots but the substrate was too wet for them to remain healthy and some rot showed up at the root tip growing points usually (those have been marked by an orange background). Many of the rotted seeds also showed the beginnings of germination but the roots had rotted soon after breaking through the seed coat. Apparently the most rot occurs when the roots start growing and it’s less the seeds themselves that start to rot.

The best treatment needs a lot less water than what we oursevels expected initially. My standard treatment for all other seeds this year was 25% water in vermiculite. As can be seen, this is too much humidity for them. The most germinated seeds with the longest roots can be had from vermiculite with only 10 % water added (shown in a green background). As we all know, some seeds are simply inclined to rot, no matter what treatment you give them. But in this case we have 14 germinated seedlings, 2 that might still germinate later on and 4 that had rotted. This is 70% germination and is the best in the table.

Seeds from other crosses and harvested at other times will give different results of course, but the general message is clear: use vermiculite with only 10% water in ziplock bags for the best germination of your peony seeds!

As always, all errors are only to blame on ourselves and your own experiences or questions are most welcome in the comments section below. To conclude a few images from some of the different treatments.

Vermiculite 0% water

Vermiculite 5% water

Vermiculite 10% water

Vermiculite 15% water

Vermiculite 40% water

Vermiculite 50% water

Coarse river sand, 25% water

Perlite 5% water

Perlite 15% water

Just Peachy seeds with long roots

Beloved by growers around the world for their beautiful flowers, delightful fragrance, and interesting foliage, peonies are an integral part of almost every garden. We recently heard a very interesting question, “Do peonies do well in the shade?” Let’s find out all about shade-tolerant peony varieties.

How Is It Even Possible That There Are Varieties That Tolerate Shade?

Is there anything more beautiful for you than the thought of fragrant peonies in the shade of big trees on a hot day? We have to be honest, not a single variety of these beauties can withstand full shade. Namely, there are only some species that will normally grow and bloom in partial shade. You will learn more about them in the rest of this article.
Don’t get confused, most wild varieties actually do best in the shade. However, the secret is in the altitude at which they grow, and it actually protects them to some extent from too high temperatures, as is often the case in garden conditions.

Do Peonies Do Well in The Shade? Shade Tolerant Peony Varieties

1. Paeonia Lactiflora

Paeonia lactiflora or as others call it “Chinese peony” is a garden plant originating from Siberia and Mongolia, and in the last few decades it has experienced a great expansion in all parts of the world. It is very easy to grow, especially in rich, fertile, medium moisture, well-drained soils.
Paeonia lactiflora is one of those members of this family that can thrive in full sun but also tolerates afternoon shade quite well in hot summer climates. It is very important to emphasize that this variety needs a lot of sun, and by growing it in partial shade, it can still get flowers, but they will be quite smaller, and sometimes slightly paler in color.

2. Lobata Hybrids

Have you ever heard of prof. Arthur Percy Saunders? He is one of the greatest peony hybridizers the world has ever seen. He is responsible for the introduction of many new species that have a longer flowering period and bloom in different colors than before.
Without a doubt, his “Lobata Hybrids” are one of the members of this family that we are sure to live the longest. This group contains many beautiful pinks and reds, as well as unbeatable salmon, coral, pink, and deep cherry pinks that take our breath away every time we see them. In addition, they are one of the exceptions that do perfectly well in the shade.
Click here and learn more about ‘lobata of Perry hybrids’ created by Professor Saunders.

3. Lutea hybrid tree peony

The lutea hybrid tree peony ‘High Noon’ is without a doubt one of the easiest to grow and one of the most rewarding hybrid tree peonies. As for the light conditions, we must emphasize that this beauty loves full sun and partial shade.

4. Paeonia Japonica

Another beauty on this list is Paeonia japonica, a small herbaceous perennial that can thrive in the shade. It is very important to emphasize that it will not tolerate full shade, namely that it still needs a little direct sun every day, otherwise, it may not bloom. Trust us, you don’t want to miss its large white flowers with a bright yellow center.

5. Suffruticosa tree Peony

If you prefer flowers that have light purple, almost lavender petals, we believe that ‘Shimane Chojuraku’ will be your favorite. Did you know that the full name of this plant is ‘The Joy of Longevity of Shimane Prefecture’? It is an ideal choice for all compact gardens with partial shade. Also, did you know that in Japan they even put umbrellas over them when they bloom to make the flowers last longer?
Read more about flowering plants for morning shade.

To Conclude

Peonies are classic garden perennials that have specific light requirements. For most of them, full sun is absolutely necessary, but there are some varieties that can tolerate partial shade.
That would be it, now you know the answer to the question: “do peonies do well in the shade”. We hope you found this article useful. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comment section below.

Author’s bio

Tony Manhart is the founder and editor in chief at Days in Garden. Tony’s enthusiasm and rich experience in all things related to growing plants have led him to share his knowledge with gardening aficionados all over the world. When he is not working around his garden, Tony spends his time writing tips and tricks on various subjects related to plant cultivation and soil maintenance.

Find out our tried-and-true tips for growing peonies in pots or containers.

Tips to Grow Peonies in Pots or Containers; 6 Extraordinary Specimens That You Simply Want To Have

Have you noticed that cottage gardens have seen a big expansion this year? Peonies, blowsy old-fashioned favorites, stand out as a big part of this trend. Truth be told, their popularity (especially on social networks) is nothing new, moreover, they have been garden staples for decades.

Normally, they are flowers that usually grow in the ground, however, many people decide to plant them in various flower pots, and truth be told, they can be quite challenging to grow in pots than in the ground. Therefore, stay with us and find out the best tips to grow peonies in pots or containers.

Before Planting

The first thing you need to know is that peonies are large and vigorous plants, and accordingly require a lot of space to grow. Another thing you have to pay attention to is choosing peonies that are suitable for growing in pots or containers, some of them are:

  • P. ‘Bartzella’ (intersectional)
  • P. ‘Border Charm’ (intersectional)
  • P. ‘Dublin’ [ed.: a synonym for ‘Jan Van Leeuwen’] (lactiflora)
  • P. ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ (intersectional)
  • P. ‘Moscow’ [ed.: a synonym for ‘Blaze’] (hybrid)
  • P. ‘Singing in the Rain’ (intersectional)

Furthermore, try to avoid specimens with any leaf spots or unhealthy-looking stems when purchasing from your local garden center, as this way you can avoid great disappointment.

Choosing the Ideal Pot or Container

Image by Fang-Yun Cheng

Among the most important tips for growing peonies in pots or containers that an experienced gardener can give you is to pay special attention to the pot/container where you will grow this beautiful plant.

Accordingly, try to find one that is at least 1 ½ feet (46 cm.) deep and as wide or wider, and has plenty of drainage holes to prevent tuber rot. If you start with a container that is large enough you will most likely not have to transplant your peony later on.

Container Peony Care

Did you know that peonies simply love light and that they need at least six hours of sunlight a day? Accordingly, we recommend placing your container in a spot that gets as much sun as possible.

As for the soil, don’t get confused, it’s very simple to choose the right one. Namely, these unique flowers prefer loamy, well-draining soil that’s slightly acidic. Additionally, you can even add an extra layer of coco peat or other alternatives to lighten the soil mix.

Peonies can withstand short dry spells once they’re established, however, they will not tolerate any longer periods as they can be fatal. Also, it would be desirable to remember that plants in containers dry out much faster and therefore need to be watered more often than when grown in the ground. Our advice is to always try to water thoroughly and slowly, making sure that the water soaks every inch of the soil.

To keep them healthy and happy, you will need to fertilize them once a year, preferably after the flowering season, and prune them only when absolutely necessary, usually during the winter to prepare them for winter rest.

Final Thoughts

That’s it, now you know our best tips to grow peonies in pots or containers. Have you ever tried to grow them that way or are you a supporter of traditional methods? Let us know in the section below.

[Ed. note: Growing them in containers is not easy and they need more attention, especially as they dry out faster and thus need much additional watering. As to recommended cultivars: from our own experience we would strongly suggest Petite Elegance, a semi-double attractive pinkish white lactiflora cultivar which is rather short but highly floriferous on sturdy stems and very healthy. Given that you need large containers for them to grow well, these may become rather heavy so adding a large part perlite mixed into the substrate can be helpful in that is has excellent drainage and is very lightweight.]

 

Author’s Bio

Tony Manhart is the founder and editor in chief at Gardeningdream. Tony’s enthusiasm and rich experience in all things related to growing plants have led him to share his knowledge with gardening aficionados all over the world. When he is not working around his garden, Tony spends his time writing tips and tricks on various subjects related to plant cultivation and soil maintenance.

With so many different types of plants, shrubs, flowers, or trees available, it can be difficult to decide which ones you should plant in your backyard. The tree peony is a popular choice nowadays since it’s a non-dominant shrub that only grows about 3 meters.

If you have decided to add these plants to your home, here are six tips for planting tree peony seeds.


Tip 1: Get The Tree Peony Seeds From A Reputable Source

First, we need to focus on getting the right type of tree peony seed. There are a lot of online stores out there that sell all kinds of seeds, but they’re not always the best quality.

That is why it is so important to find a reputable source; otherwise, even if you invest time and money into growing a tree peony from seed, it will ultimately fail because of the bad seed.

So, do your research beforehand to find a reputable store for seeds or other garden-related products. Remember, it’s also possible to harvest the seeds yourself if there are tree peonies in your area.

Extra tip: Soak the seeds in water for one or two hours before planting them.

Tip 2: Use A Seed-Starting Pot

With the tree peony seeds ready, it’s time to get the equipment. 

It’s best to use a simple seed-starting pot; one around 10cm to 12cm (4-5 inches) is good enough. Make sure it has enough holes in the bottom for proper drainage.

Next, once the pot is filled with a garden mix, you can drop in the tree peony seeds. And again, pour some garden mix to cover them. Or, you can make holes in the soil and add the seeds directly into the hole. 

Note: Only one seed per hole!

Tip 3: Don’t Overwater

Once the tree peony seeds are planted, you will need to water them regularly to keep the soil moist at all times. Although you have to be careful of overwatering as this can quickly kill your seedlings. Dry soil can also cause problems.

Tip 4: Remove Any Rotting Seeds

You planted several seeds in one pot for a good reason. Not all of them will succeed. So, check on the tree peonies daily and make sure to remove any rotting seeds

Tip 5: Tree Peonies Will Germinate After 4-12 Weeks

Depending on factors like temperature, moisture, and sunlight, the tree peony seeds will start germinating between the 4th and 12th week. We suggest that you keep them indoors, at least until they begin to sprout. 

Tip 6: Separate The Seeds After They Sprout

Once the roots start to show up over the soil, it’s time to separate the seedlings into different pots. You can use any smaller but deep enough pot to fit the roots and use any kind of potting soil mix you have.

Final Words

By following the tips in this guide, you’ll indeed have several seedlings ready to be potted or planted outside in the spring. Once they get their first leaves out, ensure they get enough sun throughout the first couple of weeks and keep the moisture high.

After two or three seasons, you should see flowers sprouting.

Author’s Bio

Tony Manhart is the founder and editor in chief at Gardeningdream. Tony’s enthusiasm and rich experience in all things related to growing plants have led him to share his knowledge with gardening aficionados all over the world. When he is not working around his garden, Tony spends his time writing tips and tricks on various subjects related to plant cultivation and soil maintenance.


Editor’s note: It’s also important to keep in mind that peony seeds need a warm-cold-warm temperature sequence to break dormancy and start growing. More information about that sequence can be found on the site.

Back in 1989, Leo Fernig (1915-1999) wrote an article in the APS Bulletin wherein he announced the forming of SPIN (Species Peonies International Network) a new group of people interested in species peonies. SPIN was successful for many years but finally disappeared. Given the renewed interest in and popularity of peonies, we thought it was a good time to start this group again. If you are interested in species peonies and you agree with what is said in the text below then you are most welcome to join the SPIN group which has been created on this site again.

RESTORING THE PEONY SPECIES
By Leo Fernig, Bonne, France
Originally published in: APS Bulletin, nr 270, June 1989, pp. 12-15.

This is a progress report from a group of gardeners who devote part of their energies to the peony species. In late 1986, the APS bulletin published an article by Trevor Nottle, the Australian garden authority, in which he described the progressive destruction of the habitat of wild peonies, especially in the Mediterranean region, and called for some remedial action. In following this up, a number of us have formed a network, using the acronym SPIN (Species Peonies International Network) to enable us to cooperate in this particular field. We now have around 30 members scattered across a dozen countries of Western Europe, North America, and Oceania, about the right size for the type of voluntary effort we represent.

The amateur gardener may have various reasons for growing the wild forms of peony. They can be the basis for producing new hybrids, for example, in regions where the early flowering season of the species would be an advantage because of hot, dry summers. Then again, the species more than justify a place in the garden: they extend the peony flowering season and their single blooms have a fresh beauty that the double or full hybrids never approach. Indeed, it is amusing to note the tendency among the most successful hybridists to select and develop the simpler forms of their crosses re-inventing the wheel, as it were, in the plant kingdom.

But a still more powerful motive for cultivating wild peonies is the ecological one evoked by Trevor Nottle. We are slowly becoming aware of the rapid degradation of our natural environment, with many species of plants and animals disappearing every year. While the issue is one that confronts governments and international organizations, individuals too can play a part in working for solutions. Many of us believe that a gardener has a duty to be concerned about conserving the plants that give her or him so much pleasure; with the peonies, this means the wild stock from which all our garden cultivars are derived.

The hard facts of plant extinction are difficult to document. We do know that the Balearic peony, Paeonia cambessedesii, is on the endangered list; it has completely disappeared on Menorca and is extremely rare on the other island, Majorca, where a combination of development for tourism and grazing by goats appears to have driven the plant to a few isolated stands. Another site, the Monte Generoso in Switzerland, housed P. officinalis and was described as a blaze of pink flowers in May by writers of the 1920’s; I’m told that you couldn’t find a single plant there now, even though it is supposed to be protected in Switzerland. However, it’s more by inference than direct measurement that we believe the peony species to be at risk. In the wild they are attractive flowers to be dug up or plucked, they multiply slowly and their mountain habitats are increasingly being used for tourism.

WHAT ARE THE PEONY SPECIES?

For a good answer, readers need only to refer back to the article by Kendall W. Gambrill, “King of Flowers, Queen of Herbs: the Peony” which was reprinted in the December 1988 issue of the APS Bulletin. Mr. Gambrill gives a clear and readable account of the main species and their garden requirements, on the whole following the groups and names established in 1946 by F. C. Stern in his classic “Study of the Genus Paeonia”.

One of the members of our Network, Ray Cooper, who lives near Manchester in England, has made an extensive survey of what botanists have written about the peony species since Stern’s time. He carried out this piece of work as a contribution to the purposes we share in common: in trying to preserve the species, we obviously have to start by knowing what plants we’re talking about. Some of the broad conclusions of the survey can be briefly given. A few new species have been identified and described: one from Tibet, named P. sterniana in honor of F. C. Stern, two in Greece, P. parnassica and P. hellenica, and in Turkey, P. turcica. The botanists who issued the Flora Europea in the 1960’s have differed from Stern by treating the two old Western European peonies, P. mascula and P. officinalis, (roughly, the southern, Mediterranean type and the northerly Alpine one) as complex names, covering a number of subspecies hitherto regarded as species. I doubt whether gardeners will be much affected by such decisions, but it is needful to keep terminology in line, if only to avoid confusion over a period of time. And another conclusion one gets from the Cooper survey is that Soviet and Chinese botanists have been devoting a lot of attention to the many peony species native to their countries. The former in particular differ considerably from Western scientists in their definition of “species”, so that we find a Georgian botanist identifying 13 species in the Caucasus, against the four or five enumerated by Stern. The big issue, I feel, is whether natural hybrids are to be counted or not for many of the peony species are notoriously promiscuous!

As our Network has taken shape, we’ve been able to top the experience of quite a range of people, many being skilled gardeners who have been hunting for the species for years. It does appear that the state of affairs could do with clearing up. A number of nurseries send out plants labeled wrongly as species, or use incorrect names; selected strains, too, have evolved over the years from popular species like P. arietina and P. peregrina, with trade names that add to the confusion. This observation is not intended as criticism of our nurserymen. The point is that species represent too small a part of their stock to justify more detailed attention. On the other hand, the record of botanic gardens isn’t much better. I know at least four, all famous, where the peony collection is only about 50% correct and/or authentic. Again, gardens are chronically short of staff, with so many demands made on them, that one genus, usually held in a single large bed, cannot receive preferential treatment. Despite these problems, the members of our Network, acting individually, have managed to find and grow a wide range of the species, at times from wild-collected plants or seed. During the past two years, as a group, we’ve been able to obtain a fair amount of seed from the wild, and one of our members, K. Sahin, a Dutch horticulturist with a private love of peonies, has been most helpful in this respect. Another member, Gian Lupo Osti (whom readers will recognize from articles he contributes to the Bulletin), travels and mountaineers a good deal, and has collected seed from peony species he has found around the Mediterranean. So it is that a small group can, by pooling its resources, make quite a bit of progress in tracing and obtaining wild material.

PROPAGATION AND RECORDING

A great deal is already known and written about raising peonies from seed, as innumerable articles in the bulletin show, and even though the writers are mostly concerned with raising hybrids, much the same rules can be applied to the species. Freshness of seed seems to be very important; stratification; patience and care with the seedlings, which should not be disturbed too soon. Once well started, the species peony is a pretty hardy subject, although the received wisdom is that some of the Mediterranean species (P. clusii from Crete, for instance) are tender in damp and very cold climates. However, I believe we need to try out these plants in a wide range of situations before coming to conclusions about their hardiness.

At a fairly early stage of the Network, Will McLewin, another English gardener and a mountaineer, circulated a paper on authenticity, in which he urged that the group should concentrate on growing the species from wild material. He gave a simple code for plants and seed: 4 being the ideal, collected directly from the wild, 3 being seed from a 4-level plant in a garden, but obtained by hand pollination or “strong isolation.” The lower numbers 2, 1 or zero, would, of course, be attached to plants or seed or doubtful validity. With this policy, our Network thus focuses on the 4/4 and 4/3 plants at least, treats these as the main object of our collaboration and we have now begun to set up the SPIN Pedigree Book. This rather pretentious name goes to a record book which I’m maintaining, to set out the mature, authentic plants that our members grow and from which, in due course, they will be able to propagate either by division or by seed. For each submission, we will have: a sequential number; species name; growers’ surname; date of registration; then follows an open-ended abstract to say where and when and by whom the plant was obtained, along with its characteristics. We hope to accumulate here the data on the requirements, hardiness, and so on, of a particular species. The abstract could also, of course, record the names of other gardeners who have obtained material from the first grower.

EXPANDING CULTIVATION AND AVAILABILITY

To know what the peony species are; locate them in the wild; and from this material grow and record plants; these are the first steps on the way to conservation. And I fear we shall be some years yet with the first steps. Authentic plants from the Caucasus, Soviet Asia and China must remain high on the list of priorities, and, of course, that elusive P. sterniana from Tibet, named in 1959, and now all but lost to cultivation. But sooner or later, the Network should have a reasonable Pedigree List, and members will have plants from which to hand-pollinate and make divisions. Maybe we will specialize, each growing clumps of those that do best with us, trying out single specimens of the others.

The point then will be to disseminate the species as widely as possible, maybe restore some of the natural stations. Swapping plants with neighbors and friends is the normal commerce of gardeners; but we should, too, interest the nurserymen and work with botanic gardens to improve authenticity. And for some members, there may be an opportunity to move their surplus material into commercial channels. The essential goal then will be to maintain records, so that when someone grows a P. peregrina, it is a P. peregrina.

 

Where is The Best Place to Plant Peonies – Understand in Which Conditions Peonies Thrive

The garden Peonies are a renowned, long-lived perennial that blossoms gloriously in the spring and has gorgeous leaves all year. However, where is the best place to plant peonies? An established peony will blossom for many years if given a good setting and appropriate maintenance.

Peonies dating back over a century have been discovered, meaning that this beautiful flower can last extremely long in a suitable environment. Peonies grow to be around three feet tall and broad as they are tall. In May or June, they produce fragrant blooms with a diameter of 3 to 6 inches.

Many gardeners grow Peonies for the pure pleasure of it, but they also serve as a high-priced bloom for floral design work. Due to the high quality of the flowers and a large number of varieties available, herbaceous peonies are ideal for commercial production. These flowers come in a variety of colors and styles, including double, semi-double, bomb, and single with many varieties having long and robust stems.

What are the less glamorous components of establishing a peony garden? Soil nutrition, watering, and continual plant upkeep are all things to consider. By looking at the broad picture and concentrating your efforts on all these areas from the start, you can optimize your garden’s long-term production potential while also enjoying the peace of mind that comes with starting a project with a well-defined strategy. So, without further ado, let’s understand where the best place is to plant peonies.

Where is The Best Place to Plant Peonies?

When planted in the correct place with suitable soil conditions, peonies are quite straightforward to grow. Most cultivars thrive in zones 3–8 in the USA, and they appreciate a sunny location with good drainage. Growers in hotter climes may wish to choose a place with some shade to protect their plants from the midday sun’s heat.

If you live in a colder climate, peonies will thrive in a sunny area all day. Peony roots that are planted in soil that does not drain well may rot, so choose your planting location carefully. Raised beds can aid with drainage, and clay soils, which is one of the favorite soils for peonies, will require good drainage to ensure a thriving surrounding.

Plant peonies apart from trees and big bushes. Plant development and blooming will be hampered by the shadow cast of the trees and shrubs, as well as competition for water and nutrients. Wet locations encourage root rot and frost heave, which can harm and kill peonies. Plant peonies at 3 to 4 feet apart.

When propagating peonies, you must take into account a few things. Tree peonies are usually grafted onto herbaceous rootstocks, only very rarely are they divided. Layering may be a possibility for the average gardener and is explained in this article. Herbaceous peonies are more easily propagated: plants should be carefully dug out in autumn and gently shaken to eliminate loose dirt from the root system. Alternatively wash away all remaining soil to better see where the eyes are located and where you can best divide the clump into pieces. Ensure that they contain at least 3 to 5 eyes (buds) and a portion of the root system in each segment. Place the herbaceous peony plant 1 to 2 inches below the soil surface, with the eyes facing up. Flowering will be a stunt if you plant too deeply. Fill the hole with dirt and thoroughly water it. During the first fall and spring, water on regularly. Tree peonies should be planted deeper than herbaceous ones so that the grafting place is well below the soil and the graft will have the possibility to grow its own roots.

Why Do Your Peonies Fail to Bloom?

What are the mistakes that gardeners make that make peonies fail to bloom? Here is a list of the more common reasons, try to understand these and act accordingly.
• Peonies are not big enough (have fewer than three eyes).
• Herbaceous peonies are placed too deep in the ground.
• Surrounding trees and bushes compete with the peonies too much.
• Peonies receive too much shade, resulting in tall, leafy plants with few flowers.
• Too much nitrogen fertilizer was applied to the Peonies, causing them to produce more foliage rather than blooms.
• Peonies are weak and tiny due to a lack of nutrients.

Companion Plants That Go Well With Peonies

When talking about peonies, we must mention some of the companion plants that will not compete with them for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Gardeners often forget that some plants are more dominant and will leech the necessities that make Peonies grow and flourish into beautiful flowers.

So, Peonies bloom well with Columbines (Aquilegia), such as the “False Indigo” and the “Speedwell”. Other than these two, they bloom well with Irises and Roses. We recommend planting white Peonies with yellow Irises. As we mentioned, try to avoid planting Peonies near bushes and trees. In other words, Peonies go well with other flowers which are of mid-range height.

Final Thoughts On Where is The Best Place to Plant Peonies

In conclusion, for Peonies, it is best to aim for a place that has well-drained soil and plenty of sun. If you live in a region that has elevated temperatures, you can use a half-shade for your Peonies, that way they will not burn.

On the contrary, if you are planting Peonies in the northern parts where the temperatures are lower, the full sun will not hurt them.

Lastly, Peonies are beautiful and impressive flowers that are perfect for any garden, you can plant them as a hobby, or you can look at them from a commercial perspective and generate a business out of them.

Nonetheless, you will not make a mistake if you plant these incredible flowers in your garden.

Tony Manhart is the founder and editor-in-chief at Gardeningdream. Tony’s enthusiasm and rich experience in all things related to growing plants have led him to share his knowledge with gardening aficionados all over the world. When he is not working around his garden, Tony spends his time writing tips and tricks on various subjects related to plant cultivation and soil maintenance.

Tony Manhart

Obtaining species peonies, by Galen Burrell.1

Nearly seven years ago I saw my first photograph of Paeonia mlokosewitschii flowering under an apple tree in a book about English gardens. I knew I just had to have this plant. At the time, I had no idea that this one photograph would consequently begin my love for species peonies and would also begin one of the most difficult tasks I have ever undertaken, obtaining authentic species peony plants or seeds.

Paeonia mlokosewitschiii - copyright Sergey Banketov

Paeonia mlokosewitschii – copyright Sergey Banketov

I started by visiting some of the local nurseries. No luck. Then I went to some of the specialist plant sales that are so common in the Portland area. At the last show of the year I chanced upon five potted plants of what I was sure were Paeonia mlokosewitschii or at least that is what I thought the labels said. Luckily, I was quick enough to rush past a couple of elderly ladies, who were also interested in the peonies, and purchased all five of the little plants. When I got home, and started to plant the peonies, one of the labels fell out much to my surprise and chagrin the label read Paeonia mlokosewitschii hybrid. I was devastated. I almost threw the plants away but I am lucky that I didn’t. Over the last six years they have proven to be some of the most beautiful hybrid peonies that I have ever grown, but that’s a different story. (By asking a lot of questions and by doing a great deal of my own research I was able to find the parents of these plants, which were in no way as beautiful as their progeny. It was also interesting to find out that none of their parents were actually Paeonia mlokosewitschii they were also hybrids.)

Next I wrote to the peony nurseries listed in the back of the APS Bulletin. One actually did have a couple of plants of Paeonia mlokosewitschii but they were not for sale. I was amazed that no nursery in the United States seemed to grow or sell this beautiful peony. (Today at least two peony nurseries sell Paeonia mlokosewitschii.) It was even more amazing to find that only a couple of species peonies at all were being sold by nurseries in the United States and that these plants were questionable as to their authenticity. At that time I decided if I ever succeeded in obtaining species peonies I would start a nursery that grew and sold authentic species peonies.

I decided to try a different tactic. I obtained a list of botanical gardens from around the world from a fellow American Peony Society member. Luckily, I was naive enough to think that they would actually send me seed of species peonies, and I sent off a bunch of letters with international reply-paid coupons. Most of the gardens never did reply, some said that they might have seed the next year, and three or four gardens actually sent me a few seeds which I was extremely excited to receive. Obtaining these seeds led to 2-3 years of germination experimentation, with, and I must admit, a lot of failures. Even today, I have a lot of unanswered questions about peony seed germination.

At the time I got the list of botanical gardens, I also received the names of a few seed catalogs that supposedly sold species peony seeds. It turned out that some of them actually did sell peony species seed, but most no longer did. To make a long story short, out of ten packets of seeds that I purchased from one seed dealer only seeds from two of the packets ever germinated. The rest rotted. (As far as I know there is only one reputable source for species peony seeds, that is Jim and Jenny Archibald. Their April 1995 seed list includes P. caucasica, P. peregrina, P. steveniana, P. cambessedesii, P. lactiflora, P. obovata, and P. veitchii var. woodwardii. Their catalog is free.)(Editor’s note: the Archibald nursery no longer exists.)

At the same time I also decided to write to all of the European nurseries selling peonies to see if they sold species. I found a few that sold species. But in order to place an order I had to apply for a plant importation permit from the Department of Agriculture. I also had to pay some pretty high fees to the nurseries so that they would ship to the U.S. It turns out that the nurseries with the best species lists would not even consider shipping plants to the U.S. I obtained plants from three European nurseries in this manner but a number of mistakes were made in my orders and there was no real way for me to return the plants. I was stuck with some expensive peonies that I did not want. Surprisingly, all of the plants that I ordered did survive.

After I received a few plants I came to realize that I had no idea if I had actually obtained true species or hybrids. I had no key to the species and subspecies of wild peonies or complete descriptions of each of the species. I needed to obtain a copy of A Study of the Genus Paeonia, by F. C. Stern, which was published in 1946. It turns out that this book had long been out of print but after a great deal of searching, I was able to find a copy through interlibrary loan. (Since I received my copy by Stern, I have spent untold hours reading other papers on species peony taxonomy. It’s amazing to me now just how long it took me to remember the scientific names of each of the species.)

The most rewarding part of my search has been the friends that I have made who also love species peonies. Out of the many people that I have written to there have been four or five people without whose help I would have never been successful in obtaining the plants that I now have growing in my garden. For example, a gardener in Germany sent me 13 true species plants from my first letter to him. He didn’t even know me. These plants have now all bloomed and have been invaluable in helping me learn cultivation techniques for species and in learning the different characteristics for telling each species apart.

I think by now you have some idea of the difficulty in obtaining authentic species peony seeds and plants. What has made all the effort worthwhile for me has been learning that each species and sub species of wild peony, not just Paeonia mlokosewitschii, is extremely beautiful and that it is possible for me to grow all of the wild species and subspecies in my garden.

So you are probably wondering if I ever did obtain Paeonia mlokosewitschii? The answer is that I now have nearly 70 plants of “mloko,” and most amazing of all, I have 30 wild seedlings from seed collected in the Caucasus Mountains.

Footnotes:

  1. Burrell, Galen. “Obtaining species peonies.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, 1995, no 294, June, pp. 33-32.[]

Time to describe our ongoing quest for a perfect long term storage procedure for peonies. If you have read last year’s report, you will know that we were rather hopeful to see many good peonies several months after cutting them. Dry storage instead of wet storage (thus no placing them in water), cooling down fast and lowering the oxygen fast in combination with lots of drying silicagel to keep relative humidity in check should do the trick we thought. So, you may be curious as to whether this all materialised?

Well, the short of it: out of 9,000 stems stored this way, 6,000 had to be thrown away after lots and lots of grading during an already busy period in late Summer. To say we’re a bit disappointed would be quite an understatement. The average result for our ULO boxes is shown in the image below.

Not something to look forward to: good ones remaining on the table, bad ones on the floor ready to be composted

But I’m sure you’re interested in the long story, after all, even from failures something can always be learned, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Let’s first start with the season itself because it was an exceptional one. The main reason for this is that it was the coldest and wettest in decades. Temperatures remained far below longtime averages right up until flowering time, which was some 2-3 weeks later than what we are used to. Of course when that time finally arrived, a heat wave struck, complicating matters even more with everything flowering in a very short time span. This all resulted in very high disease pressure on the plants, with in the general market numerous complaints about botrytis on the foliage and flowerbuds. We ourselves had it more or less under control, although some peony rows that were hard to reach when spraying were also severely affected, but these were wisely not cut. Still, without a doubt, this year we had to start with peony stems that will have had some more latent infections of botrytis, which is not a good starting point, but there’s nothing to choose here. On the positive side however: the cultivar we use most, The Fawn, usually has ‘open’ buds which may be more sensitive to botrytis infection on the inner petals compared to Sarah Bernhard which has closed buds and where the outer petals better protect the inner ones. This year, probably due to the long cold spell, The Fawn also had perfectly closed buds, something we’ve never before experienced.

Unusually closed round buds of The Fawn

The Fawn peonies we used for our ULO storage boxes were cut halfway June, during dry weather, put in the boxes dry (thus no hydrating beforehand), cooled down and then the boxes were closed after some 24 hours with lots of silicagel in it. Into the boxes we also placed an average of 3 containers silicagel / month intended. Each could suck up some 500 ml of water and given that we aimed for 2 – 4 months, some 6 to 12 such containers were placed in the ULO boxes. The number of stems in it was between 700 and 1,100, always leaving free some 10 cm at least from the top cover of the box. The time of closing those boxes was June 12-14 and temperature was kept below 1°C. The advised number of stems in an ULO box is some 800, we also had some with those numbers. The 1,100 was because we could simply but so many in and it would not be surprising to find that other growers would want to do that as well for it obviously restults in a lower cost per stem. The 700 stems box was only half full, this was the very last one we filled, June 14 and it contained some smaller stems that had been laying in the cold storage for  over a week but hadn’t been prepared due to time constraints. Given that at that time wholesale prices were at a season’s low and we had one ULO box left but no other peonies to fill it with we simply decided to use them. Even though they were somewhat dried out and although we normally only use larger fresh ones.

As you may know, I’m not alone in this endeavour, because I get some help from a research project named Atmo-Flor which brings together industry stakeholders, Ghent University and the Ornamental Research Centre (PCS).  At the PCS, they also closed their ULO boxes at around the same time, with their own grown Sarah Bernhardt and my The Fawn, next to a very few stems I delivered of Amalia Olson, Don Richardson, Madame Claude Tain and Elsa Sass just to have some additional comparisons (not enough to run statistics on them). A difference with me is that they also placed cardboard paper on the sides of the box to suck up some of the excess humidity.

Cardboard paper at the sides in the ULO box at the PCS

As usual the PCS also placed some stems in a simple cardboard box with plastic in it where the oxygen level would not be decreased but remain at ambient levels. The plastic is rather important here as it means humidity also remains rather high.  To avoid excess humidity on the flowers in this plastic they were additionally wrapped into some normal paper as well within the plastic.

The ‘control’ treatments in cardboard paper boxes, with plastic inside and then paper inside again

Another difference from what I did was that they wanted to test a new fungicide that is often used for long term storage of fruits like apples and pears. In the results it is mentioned as Pr296, because it has no offical approvement for regular use in peonies, but fruit growers here will know it as ‘deccopyr’ by BASF (active ingredient pyrimethanil). This is a fungicide that has to be burned in a closed room; the smoke will then fill this room and cover the peonies which will protect against botrytis and other fungi. So, as they have two ULO boxes at the PCS, they filled both with all cultivars and the only difference between the two boxes was that the contents of one of them had been treated with this experimental fungicide. Mention also that all peonies had received preventive spraying in the field before cutting. My own peonies had been sprayed with the biological/organic fungicide Serenade (active ingredient bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain QST713) and a more conventional one Luna Sensation (fluopyram and trifloxystrobine). The PCS had sprayed them with Signum (boscalid and pyraclostrobin). Those are some of the most efficient fungicides nowadays available.

The stems put in were thus cut and stored dry before closing the boxes. At the PCS they also measured the moisture contents of the leaflets, stems and buds. Thanks to the dry weather at the time of cutting and the dry storage, moisture percentages were comparable to the previous year.

Moisture contents 2019 start 2020 start 2021 start 2021 after 10 weeks ULO box 2021 after 10 weeks cardboard box
Sarah Bernhardt 77% 73% 72% 73% 73%
The Fawn 78% 73% 73% 74% 75%

The moisture contents are calculated simply by weighing the fresh stems, drying them completely out in a special oven until stable of weight, weighing the dry stems; and the difference being the moisture content. The table above shows how they started at some 73% moisture content, both this year and last year, compared to 77% in 2019 when they were first placed in water to hydrate them. Within storage they kept their moisture level more or less, perhaps it even increased very slightly in the conditions they were placed in. In normal storage where they are really kept ‘dry’, thus neither an ULO box nor placed in plastic, they would further dry out (see later).

During the period that the peonies were in those boxes, regular measurements were taken of temperature, oxygen, CO2 and ethylene. As all lids were closed at once, oxygen levels went down very fast. So fast in fact that when I checked a week later, oxygen levels were below 1% in a few boxes. This I had not expected given the results of previous years and I thus opened a few lids to raise oxygen levels more towards 5%. At the same time CO2 reached higher levels, something which might also help deter botrytis, although these high CO2 levels quickly went down when one or more lids were opened. This shows that an O2/CO2 meter, although very expensive, is no wasted money when working with these boxes. At the research centre, measurements were better followed up and they never got this low in oxygen as can be seen from the following graph.

ULO box, oxygen and carbon dioxide air percentages over a period of 9 weeks

One remarkable find from all measurements were the ethylene levels. Previous years we had already noticed that high levels of ethylene during cold storage don’t seem to result in lower quality or damage, even though in literature levels as low as 10 ppb (parts per billion) have shown to inflict damage on plants. Probably the low temperature protects the peony flowers from this. In the cardboard box ethylene could not accumulate as there was free interchange with outside air and there was an average 32 ppb ethylene concentration there. In the untreated ULO box, the ethylene concentration went up to 1,136 ppb. From previous years there was a clear correlation between high ethylene levels and the presence of botrytis, probably because the latter produces ethylene as well. The researchers were quite happy then to find that in the other ULO box, where the peonies had been treated with pyrimethanil, ethylene levels did remain under control, only to 136 ppb. This raised hopes for suppression of botrytis given the correlation between them in earlier years.

Ethylene concentration in the different treatments at the PCS (green: cardboard paper boxes; red: ULO box; blue: pyrimethanil + ULO box)

Some 10 weeks later we started opening the ULO boxes. The PCS opened everything at once for comparisons, I spread it amongst the whole month of August. Now what did we see?

Despite all the silicagel that should have been enough to keep relative humidity in check, it turned out that not all seasons are equal when it comes to this. From the first box opened in the beginning of August it became already clear that the top cover was dripping wet when I opened it. This was surprising, especially so as the silicagel was not yet fully saturated. The first one I opened only had six containers of silicagel in it as it was meant to be opened after two months. As it turned out, the boxes intended for longer storage, which had 9-12 containers in them, were better (as were the boxes with fewer stems in them), even at the end of August, thus an extra month later. I can only guess to the failure this year, but to me it seems that not the amount of water that could be absorbed is the problem, them being not saturated yet, but rather the fact that it cannot take the water out of the air fast enough. With double the silicagel containers in the ULO boxes for even longer storage the capacity of taking water out of the air in any given time is obviously twice as large.

Long story short, boxes with only 6 silicagel containers were terrible and the peonies full of botrytis. The 12 container versions fared better, botrytis levels were far lower there. But there was another issue. A very large number of them had small transparent to white flecks on the petals. Whilst you had to look good to see this, especially as it often only showed a few petal rows further inside the flower bud, those inconspicuous white marks invariably turned into dead tissue and in turn of course developed botrytis, making them worthless. The PCS did not have this problem, so it may be a consequence of my extremely low oxygen levels the peonies experienced for a short time. On the other hand, not all boxes went so low and that kind of damage showed up in nearly all ULO boxes. The images show the problem pretty clear I think. With the best boxes I had to do careful checking of each and every stem. This was a lot of work and knowing what awaited me each time when I would open another ULO box was quite discouraging. But eventually a few thousand stems could be sold in August to make up for at least some of the losses.

Damage on the flower buds of The Fawn after ULO storage

Leading to dead tissue and eventually botrytis later on.

And at the PCS? More or less the same, the boxes were also wet on the inside, although the cardboard paper at the sided did protect the flowers somewhat. The most interesting ULO box was the one with the peonies treated with pyrimethanil. The difference in botrytis incidence was indeed remarkable, with far lower levels of it thanks to the special treatment. However… the fungicide itself did give damage to the leaves and sometimes flower buds. The images show this damage well. It tended to dry up completely when the peony stems were placed in a vase, but dried up foliage is not exactly appealing. The foliage you could of course remove completely, as the flower is the most important part of it and in a bouquet you could hide the naked stem. But sometimes some of the petals also had some of this damage, which is, well, another problem. And: it is no perfect solution to avoid botrytis, you still have to check all flowers individually and remove the infected ones. The grading scheme of botrytis damage on the flower buds is also shown below, but actually only grade 0 and 1 are good enough to be sold.  To be a really valuable tool the ULO boxes should offer mostly grade 0 damage quality. As can be seen, we are still a long way from that with ‘no damage’ flower buds constituting only a small sample of the total and buds to be thrown away (grade 3 and 4) being in the range of 10-20%, even after the pyrimethanil treatment. The control ULO treatment nearly had half of the stems thrown away as well. The control storage treatments in the cardboard boxes had even more botrytis.

Testing, testing, testing…

Vase life was also tested. Right after cutting, they open best obviously. After 10 weeks of storage they don’t open as wide anymore. There was no significant difference then between the ones treated with pyrimethanil or not. Averages of vase life are sometimes heavily influenced by a few flowerbuds that still developed botrytis, showing that not all infections had been seen.

Grading results after long term storage in ULO box and cardboard box, with and without pyrimethanil treatment


Grading of the stems according to botrytis damage


The Fawn after three days in water. Left immediately after cutting, middle after 10 weeks ULO, right after 10 weeks ULO + pyrimethanil treatment


Sarah Bernhardt after three days in water. Left immediately after cutting, middle after 10 weeks ULO, right after 10 weeks ULO + pyrimethanil treatment


Madame Claude Tain after three days in water. Left immediately after cutting, middle after 10 weeks ULO, right after 10 weeks ULO + pyrimethanil treatment


Don Richardson after three days in water. Left immediately after cutting, middle after 10 weeks ULO, right after 10 weeks ULO + pyrimethanil treatment


Amalia Olson after three days in water. Left immediately after cutting, middle after 10 weeks ULO, right after 10 weeks ULO + pyrimethanil treatment


Elsa Sass after three days in water. Left immediately after cutting, middle after 10 weeks ULO, right after 10 weeks ULO + pyrimethanil treatment

Fungicide treatment damage

 

Fungicide treatment damage

For comparisons with the regular storage practice, I had bought some Sarah Bernhardt stems at the auction August 12th. These showed the symptoms of long dry storage with some of the outer petals somewhat dried up and the flowers not opening to their full potential. But at least there was no obvious botrytis there. This however is more or less the longest storage period that you can have somewhat acceptable flowers. The ones I saw at the auction the following weeks were progressively worse-looking and more dried out.

Sarah Bernhardt, after long term industry standard storage (dry cold storage)

Sarah Bernhardt, after long term industry standard storage (dry cold storage)

All in all, not much to be happy with, but one small coincidence does shine a light at the end of the tunnel. The last filled ULO box, with the smaller dried out stems, was opened at the end of August and, although there was also some condensation in it, this box contained a far higher proportion of healthy stems. Remarkably, the peonies that went in for the most part dried up, came out all fresh again as if they were able to rehydrate thanks to the higher relative humidity. And with hardly any botrytis or any of those ‘small white flecks’. The stems at the bottom had to be thrown away because there was standing water there from condensation, but the ones above them did look great. What’s more, when these were placed in a vase, they tended to open very well with, as far as I could see, no real difference with freshly cut ones. I think you’d agree with me that the following two images of peonies stored for so long are quite heartening.

A glimmer of hope, 10 weeks ULO storage

Shine a light, 10 weeks of ULO storage

Now what could be the reason for this coincidental success? They had been laying in cold storage for over a week, drying up, thus moisture content of the stems, buds and leaves must have been lower to begin with. I do suppose this is the key to solving the problems at hand, although it will take some extra tweaking to make it perfect. When I talked about this to the PCS, they gave me some further research results on moisture contents.

Stems were placed in water to reach maximum moisture contents. They were then taken out and left to dry for several days in cold storage (2-3°C). Moisture content measurements were taken immediately after hydration, after 4 days and after 11 days in cold storage. The results are shown in the table below and show that it is somewhat cultivar specific, with The Fawn after 11 days reaching 64% moisture content in the flower bud. When placing these last ones in water, they had dried out too much to be able to absorb any water, whereas all others still had the ability to do so. There is thus a minimum moisture content needed for them to be able to rehydrate again, which is probably around 68-70%. Many commercial long term stored peonies are stored in cold rooms that can control relative humidity and are thus able to delay too much drying out. ULO cold storage rooms with relative humidity control might also be able to do the trick, but of course these have the disadvantage that you cannot take out a small number of peony stems at a time, which is the main selling point of the ULO boxes.

Moisture contents Start after 4 days 2-3°C dry storage after 11 days 2-3°C dry storage
Sarah Bernhardt
flower bud 78% 74% 69%
leaf 73% 70% 67%
stem 76% 72% 67%
total 76% 72% 68%
The Fawn
flower bud 76% 70% 64%
leaf 77% 73% 66%
stem 77% 72% 66%
total 77% 72% 66%

 

To conclude we might say there are still possibilities despite all setbacks. Drying the stems out prior to closing the boxes is arguably the way to go in the future. How much, how long and how to keep relative humidity in the ULO boxes below 100% still has to be researched further. The extra pyrimethanil treatment might also work better with a lower dosage, perhaps still protecting (partly) against botrytis but without the residu damage. A lot left to research further. Let’s hope next year we won’t have to throw away another 6,000 stems.

As to other people’s results with the ULO boxes, the company that sells them, Janny MT, is regularly in touch with me as they really want to make progress. Unfortunately my colleagues that use them (in sometimes large numbers) have their lips sealed and no trustworthy stories can really be found.

Now, if  you would have any ideas to share about long term storage, you are free to do so in the comments below, it would be quite nice to know we aren’t merely writing all this for ourself ;-)

Download the following reports if you like even more info:
The PCS Research Report ULO storage 2021.
The PCS Research report moisture contents peonies
Both are in dutch language, but you can translate the documents.

Most of the peony species bloom before the regular cultivars of lactiflora and its’ hybrids. By planting some of these it is possible to enjoy a much longer peony season and there are many attractive species amongst them with both interesting foliage and pretty flowers. The bloom dates are usually compared to the widely grown hybrid cultivar Red Charm and the number of days before or after are then used to give an indication of its earliness or lateness. This way seasonal and geographic differences are less important and more observations make the data more reliable. Unfortunately the species are not too widely grown and thus observations of the blooming dates are not too common. There is a ‘bloom date project’ at the American Peony Society where you can see these dates for many cultivars, including several of the species. However, when it comes to the species, most are based on a single observation, thus reliability is not too high. Next to that, many of the species grown are not true-to-name but so-called garden hybrids, as different species grown together often give hybrid seeds, thus dates given may not always be for the true species. Last, many species are absent from the list, reflecting the fact that many are nearly impossible to get or to grow.

Paeonia caucasica (P. daurica ssp coriifolia) and P. wittmanniana (P. daurica ssp wittmanniana) growing together in nature in the Caucasus. Image by Igor Uspensky

The list of the American Peony Society gives the following results for some species:

Species/cultivar name Remark Number of observations Days before Red Charm
Anika Probably P. x lagodechiana (P. mlokosewitchii x P. caucasica) 3 -37
P. caucasica Official name nowadays P. daurica ssp coriifolia 4 -34
P. mollis A form of P. officinalis 1 -30
P. kavachensis A form of P. caucasica 3 -28
Sydney Very early triple hybrid 2 -27
P. caucasica ex Tbilisi 1 -24
P. mascula 1 -23
P. villosa A form of P. officinalis 13 -22
P. broteri Twice in the list 1 -21
P. cambessedesii 1 -21
P. daurica 1 -21
P. obovata ssp willmottiae 1 -21
P. tenuifolia 57 -20
P. veitchii 18 -16
P. mlokosewitschii P. daurica ssp mlokosewitschii 6 -15
P. anomala 22 -13
P. peregrina 4 -13
P. broterii 3 -11
P. triternata P. daurica ssp daurica 2 -9

A second listing was published by an enthusiastic peony species collector named Galen Burrell1

Species/cultivar name Remark Blooming Date ’95
Paeonia ruprechtiana A form of P. caucasica March 31
Paeonia x lagodechiana P. mlokosewitschii x P. caucasica April 1
Paeonia “Anika” idem April 2
Paeonia coriacea April 4
Paeonia officinalis banatica April 18
Paeonia delavayi April 20
Paeonia obovata alba April 21
Paeonia japonica April 22
Paeonia tenuifolia rosea April 23
Paeonia mlokosewitschii April 23
Paeonia wittmanniana macrophylla Paeonia daurica ssp macrophylla April 23
Paeonia officinalis villosa April 24
Paeonia officinalis officinalis April 27
Paeonia cambessedesii April 28
“Rock’s Tree Peony” Paeonia rockii “Rockii” April 29
Paeonia mascula arietina “Northern Glory” Paeonia arietina “Northern Glory” April 30
Paeonia lutea Yellow flowered form of P. delavayi May 2
Paeonia mascula arietina Paeonia arietina May 2
Paeonia brownii May 2
Paeonia potanini trollioides Another form of P. delavayi May 3
Paeonia mascula triternata Paeonia daurica ssp daurica May 5
“Mai Fleuri” P. lactiflora x P. wittmanniana May 6
Paeonia veitchii May 12
Tree peony “Boreas” P. delavayi hybrid cultivar May 13
Paeonia veitchii beresowskii May 16
“Coral Charm” Hybrid cultivar May 19
Paeonia peregrina May 20
“Seashell” P. lactiflora cultivar May 27
Copyright Liberto Dario. Paeonia peregrina on Lefkada island (Greece). Full sun and limestone scree for this redder than red species that also appears on the mainland and in less harsh conditions."
Copyright Liberto Dario. Paeonia peregrina on Lefkada island (Greece). Full sun and limestone scree for this redder than red species that also appears on the mainland and in less harsh conditions."

The two lists are rather in agreement and could well be made into one list probably. “Coral Charm”, another widely grown cultivar, in the second list is in the first list stated as flowering 7 days after Red Charm so the number of days those species flower before Red Charm could be calculated as well. The number of days is obviously only a guideline that will differ from year to year, but the sequence of flowering should be more or less stable. Paeonia caucasica is nearly always given as the first one to flower, an observation I’ve also made myself. As paeonia caucasica is one of the easiest species to grow, it surely holds some more promise as a good garden subject. After the caucasica-related species/hybrids there is some gap with the others, therefore it would be nice to have data on more species not yet included to see if that peony-void can be filled. At the end of the season come P. peregrina and the ubiquitous P. lactiflora. Some species are rather variable in blooming dates, probably due to the larger territories they occupy giving more variation (P. delavayi, P. mascula, P. officinalis, P. anomala come to mind here).

It would be interesting to have a more reliable and comprehensive list probably, but the two lists above are the only ones I’m aware of. As I grow quite a few species myself I hope to add some more blooming dates of peony species. This may take a few years time as it is best to wait a few years until the plants are settled and have accustomed to the local conditions. If you grow at least two peony species, you are most welcome to add the blooming dates as well, this will make the list more reliable still. Just post them in the comments section below and we’ll see what we can do with them.

Footnotes:
  1. Burrell, G. “Species peony bloom sequence, 1995.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, nr 295, September 1995, p. 40.[]

Paeonia species – my growing experiences

I started growing peony species in 1999, by having sent seeds to me from Josef Halda in the Czech Republic. I also did make it possible for others to buy them as I also sold some of the seeds, the main buyers being Danish and a few from sweden. I planted them out in the garden in 2000 – but could already see they were very different each one from another – even from the same species…

Then I contacted Will McLewin in England, who did have students collecting them in situ where they lived naturally. He also told me that many people had informed him that Halda was selling seeds from botanic gardens, so the seeds had obviously crossbred in those gardens.  I no longer have pictures of Halda’s seedlings, but I began to take photos of the peony species I did grow from Will’s seeds. I then bought, and also distributed, seeds to my members in some years. Next to that he also sold me some mature plants. But the problem was – they were not very suited for my garden, so even though I tried hard, many of them died.

I moved my garden in 2011 – and took the surviving peonies with me, by then I only had paeonia anomala and some tree peonies. The tree peonies that did grow were the tree peonies that Halda called P. Handel-Mazzettii – and more names in this category – they where a cross between P. delavayi yellow x P. potanini, of which most did not sprout but they have a trait to spread by stolons… What I did not know at that time was that it made a big deep root down in the soil… up to 1,5 meter – so when I moved this one that was dark red a few years later it died and also the 3 stolon siblings of it died.

I kept contact with Will, and some years ago I contacted him for more seeds. At that time he was nursing his Chinese wife, he was alone and I told him to get help, as I knew from my own work it’s too hard to cope with this alone. He did send me all his seeds, and told me they where old so maybe they would not sprout. A box with a huge amount of seeds was sent to me, I bought them all, but he was right, most did not sprout, though some survived. Some P. tenuifolia and some of what he called the true species P. officinalis, also a few tree peonies did survive and last year they where still alive… I moved some of the tree peonies to my old garden, they are somewhat orange-colored, to hybridize with my 2 big tree peonies growing there. One is a seedling, I think from Bill Seidl, the other is a tree peony from New Zealand, striped yellow and orange. I can show pictures later on, when I know how to put them here, or perhaps I’ll upload them in the hybridizer’s corner.

I have seedlings of these 2 tree peonies in several stages now and have not sold any, as I found they are not frost hardy in their first years. I can post later how many will have survived – as we had a frost of -15°C here and 2 pots had not been dug into the soil – so I’ll have to wait until Spring to see if they have survived.

Some documentaries about tree peonies have recently appeared on youtube by CGTN Documentary. English spoken and made in China, a welcome addition for those wanting to know more about them.

Launched on Jan. 1, 2011, CGTN Documentary is the only Chinese TV channel to broadcast documentaries in English 24/7. The channel broadcasts over 1,000 episodes of new programs each year, including top quality documentaries such as “A Bite of China”, “Wild Wonders”, and the 100-episode “A History of China”.
CGTN Documentary is an ideal platform for people around the world to learn about China’s past and present, and is dedicated to promoting the best of Chinese documentaries.
Source: Youtube

 

Although the peony is China’s undoubted “King of Flowers”, little is known about how it came to acquire its popularity and status. Archaeologist Cai Yunzhang believes the cultural significance of the flower can be traced back to the ancient Chinese capital of Luoyang. Could historical records and artefacts cast light on how and why it attained its iconic status?

Indeed, Luoyang peonies still enjoy special status – one reason why Taiwan residents like Xu Baorong eagerly anticipate the arrival of 8,000 Luoyang peonies. Will they impress him like they did when he last saw them 60 years earlier? Whether they live up to his expectations or not, the peony is a symbol whose flamboyant beauty lights up lives and symbolizes the hope of an entire nation.

Strange as it may seem, the peony was once more highly prized for its medicinal value than its beauty, and though the flower still retains its medicinal role in some places – in Tongling, for example, peony root bark is still used to relieve rheumatic pain – the fact is that the flower long ago left the pharmacy to pursue a more cosmetic and aesthetic vocation. This can be seen in places like the Yubaba Shrine in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, famous for its peony-patterned brickwork. What can the cutting-edge botanical researches carried out at the world’s largest peony gene database, reveal about the role of man and nature in shaping the peony and its place in Chinese culture?

This episode reveals the secret life of the peony. Wei Zhuxin is a renowned nurseryman from Tuqiao, Luoyang. By grafting new stems from different types of peony onto a single root stock, he is creating what is known in Chinese as “the assorted peony”. But does he have the skill to make sure that all the different grafts can be made to bloom at the same time in a glorious riot of color?

Meanwhile, Zhang Shuling, one of Luoyang’s most experienced horticulturalists, finally gets her hands on a coveted Wei’s Purple Peony. But will an ideal specimen – a 1000-petal Purple Peony – continue to elude her? Whatever the answer, these stories show that, thanks to human intervention, the peony has come a long way from the single ring of white petals of its ancient ancestor!

In this episode, we look at the wider influence of China’s iconic flower. In Taipei’s oldest fabric market, for example, Huang Jiaxiang, a fashion designer, is looking to repeat his 2009 success when a traditional Taiwan peony print cotton earned him a top design award. Will the peony win him plaudits for a second time?

But the peony has also made inroads further afield. In the late 18th century, peonies were introduced to Europe, where, as Monsieur Riviere’s peonies in France demonstrate, they remain popular to this day. But time doesn’t stand still. In Yuzhong County, Gansu Province, Chen Dezhong, a horticultural engineer, dreams of cultivating a stable variety of pure yellow peony. Wherever you go, it seems, the peony means so much, in so many ways, to so many different people, from all walks of life.

Growing Species Peonies

From: Burrell, G. “Growing species peonies.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, 2001, nr 317, pp. 19-22.

From Seed to Seedling

There are a great many ways to germinate peony seeds. Read the APS Bulletin over a few years or read some of the APS publications and you will encounter a myriad of techniques for germinating peony seeds. Just recently I received a letter from a fellow-peony grower that said she knew someone who hung peony seeds in a mesh bag in the reservoir of a toilet. Supposedly the filling and refilling of the tank helped the seeds to germinate. During the past seven years I have found three techniques that work for me. All are techniques that I have read about in the APS Bulletin but each technique has been modified through trial and error. If species peony seeds are reserved in Winter, which so often is the case, store the seeds until late Spring or early Summer. Then soak the seeds in water for 4-7 days. Each day the water needs to be changed. Some of the seeds will get soft – throw those seeds away! Then sow the seeds in 1-5 gallon (4-20 l) pots that contain organic potting soil which has been mixed with a little sand. For some species that need excellent drainage, i.e. P. brownii and P. californica. I put gravel in the bottom of the pots. After watering the pots, they are put on the north side of a fence in the dense shade of a tree in a hole that has been dug which is about two feet deep. (It’s really just a cold frame that is dug into the ground). The hole helps to moderate extreme Summer and Winter temperatures. I’m convinced that if species peony seeds get too hot in the Summer they will not germinate. Keep the pots moist until it starts to rain in the Fall. If it gets too cold [below 20°F (-7°C)], cover the cold frame. Using this method, P. clusii rhodia and P. mascula hellenica are the first to come up, in late January. The last to come up are P. obovata. P. veitchii. and P. brownii. As soon as the seedlings come up then move the pots to a sunny, south-facing location. When the weather becomes warmer, move the pots under a shade cloth where the seedlings will stay until they are planted out in early Fall. Peony seeds do not always wait until the following Spring to come up in the pots. P. californica seedlings will often show their leaves above the potting soil a month or two after sowing. I have also had seeds of P mollis and P. obovata start growing leaves in late Summer after being sown in pots in late Spring.

Paeonia mascula ssp bodurii

Paeonia mascula ssp bodurii

Species peony seeds do not need to be cold stratified before they will root germinate. In fact, placing peony seeds in a refrigerator before sowing is a waste of time. Some species like P. brownii and P. tenuifolia need fairly cool temperatures to germinate, but do not need to be cold stratified.

The second germination technique I use is the simplest and I’m sure the one most commonly used. Instead of putting all the peony seeds in pots, sow them in a raised bed that is in at least half shade (seeds planted in at least partial shade seem to germinate better than those in full sun). Plant seeds 3-4 inches (7-10 cm) apart. There are two advantages to this technique. One is that the seedlings do not need to be transplanted like those in pots, which means they grow a little faster. Second, a raised bed does not need to be watered as frequently as a pot.

The best time to plant seeds in a raised bed is late Spring, or at the same time they are sown in pots. Species peony seeds sown at this time will often have close to 100% germination.

I also use this technique in Fall (as late as October) for seeds of P. californica and P. brownii. Seeds of these two species planted in the Fall will come up in the Spring. For me, seedlings of our two native peonies grow better in raised beds than they do in pots.

I also plant species peony seeds that have been freshly collected from my garden in a raised bed. Some of these seeds will come up the first year after planting and some will come up the second year. Germination of freshly collected peony seed varies greatly by species. I have had 100% germination with P. japonica seeds the first Spring and 0% germination of P. obovata ‘alba’ seeds the first Spring.

Species peony seeds are often received in October or November. This is too late in the Fall to use any of the outdoor techniques. So I soak them in water for 3-4 days and put them in quart bags (15*23 cm) filled half full with vermiculite. The trick is: don’t put too much water in the vermiculite. If you do, when the roots start to grow they will begin to rot. Then I put the bags in a basement room that has a constant temperature of 70°F (21°C). Leave the bags at 70°F for 30 days. Some species and hybrid seeds will germinate at this temperature. In fact, I have had Paeonia broteroi seeds germinate in as little as 15 days at 70°F. Hybrid seeds of Paeonia suffruticosa will also sometimes germinate in less than 30 days at this temperature.

After 30 days I put the bags of seeds in an attic room with a temperature that fluctuates between 55 and 60°F (13 and 15°C). Some species seed will begin to germinate in just a few days at this temperature. Other seeds will take up to 2 months to germinate. The only species whose seed I have never gotten to germinate at these temperatures is Paeonia obovata. Generally there are a few seeds in each bag that will not germinate in two months so I save these seeds and use them in outdoor germination techniques. When the seeds have grown a root which is 1-2 inches (3-5 cm) long I put the bags of vermiculite in a refrigerator. Some roots will grow faster than others so you might have to have two bags for each group of seeds, one at 55-60°F, and one in the refrigerator. The seeds at 55-60°F should be checked weekly and moved to the bags in the refrigerator when their roots have grown long enough.

Within 2-5 months the first leaf will start to grow on the root germinated seeds in the refrigerator. Before the leaf starts to open and generally when the shoot is 1/2-2 inches (1-5 cm) long, depending on the species, I plant the seedlings 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) apart in a 1-2 gallon (4-8 liter) pot. Then, put the pot in a shady location outdoors until the leaf appears above the potting soil. Once that occurs, move the pots to a sunnier location. If all goes as planned, the seedlings are being put outside during the warm days of Spring. One common misconception about peony seed germination is that peony seed won’t germinate the first year if it is dry. This year I received seed of a species of wild tree peony from two sources. One batch of seed was sent to me moist in a little bag of vermiculite and the other was sent to me dry. I used the vermiculite technique on both batches of seed and I had better germination with the dry seeds than with the moist seeds. For some species peonies it appears that drying, might actually enhance germination.

I’ve also planted dry P. veitchii seed the same day that I collected it. This was in early August. Surprisingly, most of the seeds came up the following Spring but a few did not come up until the second year. Which of the three species peony seed germination techniques I use is generally dictated by when I receive the seeds. If I, however, only have a small number of extremely rare peony seeds, I will often try to germinate them by using two different techniques. Hopefully, my chances of germinating at least a few of the seeds is much better.

So far, I have only received one packet of species peony seeds that has refused to germinate using all three techniques. It’s been two years, but I still have not given up hope that at least one of the seeds will germinate. I think here lies the key to species peony seed germination: PATIENCE!!

From Seedling to Flowering

There are nearly 70 species, subspecies and varieties of wild peonies. They grow in a wide range of habitats, from the alpine in Turkey to nearly sea level in Cyprus and Crete, from the Kola Peninsula in Northern Finland to the basaltic cliffs of Majorca, and from the canyons of Los Angeles to the Tsangpo River Gorge in Tibet.

Because wild peonies grow in such a wide range of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere it makes sense that it would be nearly impossible to use only one method to grow all wild peonies. In my garden, which is 16 miles (25 km) north of Portland, Oregon, I have, through trial and error, found cultivation techniques which work for most of the wild peonies. These exact same techniques may not work in your own garden due to differences in soil, climate, etc., but they should give you a good starting point for growing these graceful and beautiful plants.

In late August or September, I remove the seedlings from the pots they have been growing in all Summer, and transplant them to raised beds. The raised beds are constructed so that the seedlings will have very good drainage and will be protected from moles, cats, children, birds, and any number of other potential hazards. Seedlings planted in the open garden do not survive as well as those planted in raised beds. They also do not grow as fast as those in raised beds.

Inevitably a few seedlings will not survive the first Winter. The primary reason they do not survive is frost-heaving. Seedling roots are easily pushed out of the ground by this heaving action. If they are not quickly planted back into the ground they won’t survive.

Once wild peonies are two or three years old, I move them to their final home in my garden. Most species peonies transplant best at this young age. As they get older and their root systems grow larger they become fairly intolerant of root disturbance. For example, older plants of Paeonia cambessedesii can sometimes take three years to recover from transplanting, while young plants transplant without any noticeable check in their growth.

The least demanding wild peonies for me to grow are Paeonia delavayi, Paeonia lutea, Paeonia potanini, Paeonia potanini var. trollioides, and Paeonia lutea subsp. ludlowii. I simply dig a hole in some of my better clay-loam soil and plant them like any other shrub, making sure to spread the roots out over a mound made in the bottom of the hole. Then fill the hole with soil and water. I do not amend the soil or worry terribly about drainage. Their only requirement is that the planting hole be dug in partial shade, since they do not like full sun or a warm position on the south side of my house.

Paeonia anomala, Paeonia mascula subsp. triternata, Paeonia lactiflora, Paeonia officinalis subsp. villosa, Paeonia mlokosewitschii, and Paeonia mascula subsp. arietina can be grown just like “lactifloras” and hybrids. A hole is dug in a sunny place in my garden. Then I discard the heavy clay soil that was dug from the bottom of the hole. In the bottom of the hole put 2-3 inches of well-composted steer manure. Next, mix the soil from the top of the hole with commercial topsoil (compost if I have it), sand, and a handful of bone meal and fill the hole with this mixture.

The peony root is planted at least a couple of weeks later on a mound (a mound will help with drainage) in the center of the hole. Some species can be grown in the above manner with one major difference – they must have shade from hot afternoon sun. These species include: Paeonia obovata, Paeonia obovata ‘alba’, Paeonia veitchii and its varieties, Paeonia ruprechtii, Paeonia lagodechiana, Paeonia japonica, Paeonia wittmanniana, Paeonia mascula, and Paeonia peregrina. In the wild, these species grow in the shade of shrubs or under an open canopy of deciduous trees.

Most of the Mediterranean species including Paeonia cambessedesii, Paeonia mascula subsp. russoi and Paeonia clusii, and one of our native peony species, Paeonia californica, need a warm position and excellent drainage. They also need some shade from the hot afternoon sun. I plant these species on the south side of my house in the shade of two crape myrtle trees. They are planted in raised beds that have been filled with equal parts compost, sand, and commercial topsoil. I also add some turkey grit to improve drainage and a handful or two of bone meal. It is important that the raised beds be at least two feet deep so the peony roots will have room to grow.

Paeonia cambessedesii also does well in other locations in my garden as long as it has very good drainage.

The large-flowered tree peony species such as Paeonia rockii, Paeonia ostii, and Paeonia jishanensis need very good drainage. If the soil they are planted in retains too much water they will succumb quickly to fungal diseases. So I grow these tree peonies in either raised beds (without clay soil) or on a steep slope in planting holes that contain my own compost, sand, grit, commercial topsoil, and some of my best clay-loam soil. I also add a little bone meal and lime to the planting hole.

Probably the most difficult species peony for me to grow well is Paeonia brownii, one of our native peonies. After a great deal of trial and error I now use two methods for growing Paeonia brownii in a raised bed or on a mound. Both methods require that absolutely no clay soil is even in sight of the planting mixture. The raised bed is made of large flat rocks (the rocks probably add warmth to the soil) and is filled with compost, peat moss, sand, commercial topsoil and some grit. Although the bed is in full sun it receives afternoon shade from a small shrub. The mound is 8-10 inches (20-25 cm) high and is made up of the same planting mixture used in the raised bed. It has a western exposure with no afternoon shade. I have had plants of Paeonia brownii that were grown from seed bloom on the mound and in the raised bed.

These two methods also work well for growing Paeonia tenuifolia, as long as it receives afternoon shade.

Paeonia hybrida is the only species that I have found to be nearly impossible to grow in my garden. However, it grows extremely well in my parent’s garden in Iowa. Paeonia hybrida grows in the harsh steppe climate of Northern Mongolia, so quite possibly it needs colder Winter temperatures than can be found in my garden.

The key to growing any peony species well is to learn a little about where a particular species grows in the wild. Then use this information to experiment in your garden.

Species peonies are a bit more difficult to grow than “lactifloras” and hybrids, but their charm, elegance, and beauty more than make up for the extra care.

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Some Hybrid Peonies1
by A. P. SAUNDERS
In: American Peony Society Bulletin, 1941

When Mr. Christman asked me to give some account of my work in hybridizing peonies I consented, thinking that I could easily cover all of it in an article that would not be too long for publication. I changed my mind after I had begun to sketch out the material, for I found that there was altogether too much to be compressed into one article, even a very long one.

I have therefore decided to include in the following chapter only those hybrid peonies which have a Chinese peony as one parent and some different species as the other parent.

Here then is a summary and table of contents for the present article, the material being arranged roughly by season:

Editor’s Note:
The peony species classification changes continually, thus some are now known otherwise:

P. albiflora, the ‘Chinese Peony’, is now known as P. lactiflora

P. macrophylla is now known as P. daurica ssp macrophylla

P. wittmanniana is now known as P. daurica ssp wittmanniana (but more likely than not, Saunders got P. daurica ssp tomentosa instead)

P. cretica is usually P. clusii but here it is a synonym for P. arietina

P. decora is now known as P. peregrina

P. mlokosewitschii is now known as P. daurica ssp mlokosewitschii

P. paradoxa is nown know as P. officinalis (perhaps ssp microcarpa)

Some of the officinalis forms are also known as P. peregrina: Otto Froebel, Fire King, Lobata

Mentioned in the text is also P. triternata, which is now P. daurica ssp daurica

1. albiflora x macrophylla (tomentosa)

2.“ x Wittmanniana

3.“ x tenuifolia

4.“ x anomala

Veitchi
Woodwardi
Beresowskyi

5.x x Emodi

6.“ x arietina

7.“ x Cretica

8.“ x decora decora alba

9.“ x coriacea

10.“ x Mlokosewitschi

11.“ x paradoxa

12.“ x officinalis

single crimson
double crimson
double pink
double white
single white
Lize van Veen
Charmer
Ceres
The Sultan
Ophia
Sabini
Otto Froebel
Fire King
lobata
vermilion form
crimson form

13.Hybrids of more complicated parentage, i. e.,

(a) those in which three or more species are combined, and

(b) those involving back-crosses using the fertile pollen of second generation plants.

  1. Albiflora x macrophylla (tomentosa)

This is a cross on which I began to work about 1918 and I have produced in all about 400-500 hybrid plants of this parentage.

Macrophylla is one of the earliest of all peonies; it comes into bloom in my garden usually during the first days of May while the Chinese peonies do not come in until June 5-10. This race of hybrids then gets a strong tendency to earliness from the macrophylla parent. They start to bloom about a week after macrophylla itself and then come scattering along until about the first of June. They are pleasant enough plants, but the blooms are too uniform in character to make the race a very exciting one. The flowers are almost always white or pale pink, single, and very moderate in size; also the plants are mostly quite dwarf, growing only two to two and a half feet high.

Out of all the seedlings I have had I have propagated only about half a dozen, the most distinctive being the variety to which I have given the name Chalice. This bears white flowers 8-10 inches across with a mass of long silky stamens which add greatly to the beauty of the flower. Another good one I have named Seraphim (formerly Seraph). It is not quite so large as Chalice but it is a great bloomer and when at its best it is a striking plant. Another, called Seashell2, is a pink single of very good quality. My preference in this race has been for the taller plants, the run of them being rather too dwarf.

Many years ago I made this cross using pollen of macrophylla on the Chinese peony James Kelway. Out of eight plants so produced three were double or semi-double. I lost one of these in transplanting, but the remaining two I have propagated and named, one of them, a pale pink being called Audrey (formerly Rosalind) and the other with some yellow in it, along with pink, Celia. They are for their season very nice plants, and when well established they yield blooms that are almost fully double.

I have repeated the cross on James Kelway a number of times since, hoping to get more doubles, but I have never again had as good success as with the first crossing. However, in a recent group I have had one double that promises to be very good, perhaps the best of the lot.

I would recommend hybridists who want to get doubleness into their hybrid plants, and who are using Chinese peonies for one parent to make use of James Kelway or Lady Alexandra Duff for I have several examples of the tendency of these two plants to throw doubleness into their hybrid offspring.

The Chinese parent of Chalice was Primevère, which I have used in a great many crossings, and with much satisfaction.

The cross using macrophylla pollen on Chinese peonies is not a difficult one; almost every bloom that is worked on will yield some seeds, provided the variety is itself a good seed-setter.

Most strains of hybrid peonies are sterile during the earlier years of their growth, and this strain follows the usual rule. However, after the plants have attained to full maturity they begin to set an occasional seed. I cannot tell how these seeds have been fertilized. It could be by the pollen of the bloom itself; or it could be by wind-borne pollen either from another plant of the same parentage or from anything else in the garden that was in bloom at the time. However that may be, these hybrids do acquire in time the habit of setting a few seeds, though never very many; and these seeds being viable we get from them plants which are the second generation from the original cross.

In these second generation plants there is a surprising change, for they have regained complete fertility. They have very strong pollen and are regular and fairly abundant seed-setters. Furthermore, the plants themselves are taller than the first generation plants and altogether more finished and with much more style. It would be interesting to raise a large batch of third generation plants, and I am sure they would yield some fine things though the few that I have grown were not conspicuously better than those of the second generation. Limitations of space prevent me from growing such things in the quantity I would like, but anyone who wants to have the fun of growing an authentic strain of hybrid peonies without engaging in the rather exacting business of making his own crosses would, I am sure, be rewarded if he planted some of this second generation seed. Mr. Rex Pearce the seedsman, of Moorestown, New Jersey, now carries this strain of seed of mine, so it is available for anyone who wants it.

Among the hybrids of albiflora with macrophylla there have appeared a few rather amusing sports. Some are miniatures in every way with small flowers only two or three inches across, and with very small intensely glistening foliage; these plants are also very dwarf, being only about a foot high. Another curious form which appears occasionally is one in which the petals are strap-shaped, only about half an inch wide, and in which the foliage appears curled and blistered.

When the reciprocal cross is made, i.e. with pollen of Chinese peonies used on macrophylla, there seems to be a strong tendency to doubleness. This cross takes badly and I have never had more than a few plants from it, but all of them have been double or semi-double. Another peculiarity of this group is their odor. They all smell of spices. Some of my visitors say nutmeg, some cloves, but all agree that the odor is very marked, very agreeable and very spicy. Now since macrophylla itself is without a very noticeable odor and the Chinese peonies, whatever odor they may have, do not smell of spices it is rather a problem where these hybrids get their odor from; all the more as the reciprocal strain in which albiflora is the seed parent never shows this character; nor do I possess any other peony that carries this odor except P. Mlokosewitschi which does indeed come from the same geographical region as macrophylla but which is certainly not closely related to that species botanically. I was interested to read recently a description of the white peony from the island of Crete. This plant is to be called P. Clusii (T. W. Stearn, in an unpublished article), and in the description the flower is said to possess the odor of cloves!

  1. Albiflora x Wittmanniana.

This is the cross which in the hands of the great Lemoine yielded those charming early peonies Le Printemps, Mai Fleuri, Avant Garde, and Messagere. The crossings that produced these varieties must have been made about 1890, and apparently from that time until about 1925 no further work was done with these two species.

Wittmanniana is a peony that does not do well under my conditions. The plant is I believe not offered for sale anywhere in America, and there must be very little of it in existence over here. I have imported it several times from Europe, and after setting a little bloom for two or three years it has always gradually faded away. Hence in the past twenty-five years I have only rarely had blooms and pollen of it to work with. When the opportunity has occurred I have used it for crosses mostly with the Chinese peonies, and the results are so good that I am sure it would richly repay some more experimentation.

The Lemoine hybrids, excepting Messagere, are pink, sometimes with some coffee-color or green mixed in (Le Printemps). Messagere itself is cream-colored. Now Wittmanniana is usually described as yellow, and it is true that the freshly-expanded flowers are rather yellow; but it is no such color as we find in Mlokosewitschi. Nevertheless I have found in my crossings with Wittmanniana that the progeny occasionally show a strong tendency towards yellow. There is one of quite a deep buff color which would be attractive if the flower were better in form. I have also a pale yellow or at least very creamy white double flower which came from a crossing of Wittmanniana using pollen from Lady Alexandra Duff. Another seedling which I have named Green Ivory contains an interesting combination of creamy white with green in it.

Peony Elizabeth Cahn

Peony Elizabeth Cahn – P. lactiflora x P. wittmanniana. Instagram image from Sirkka Lukkari on finnishpeonistssociety

The Wittmanniana hybrids show a very considerable variation in their color range and are almost always distinctive. I have several which bear flowers not unlike magnolia blooms, the color being a mixture of brown and pink. Two of these I have thought worthy of names and am calling them Magnolia and Mulan, the latter being named for the charming Chinese girl in that delightful novel Moment in Peking. I believe that Mulan in Chinese means Magnolia.

I earnestly recommend that some young enthusiast should set about the production of albiflora x Wittmanniana hybrids in quantity. I don’t know where he would get pollen of Wittmanniana; but perhaps from me, as I have some young plants which I believe to be true and some of them should be of blooming age by the spring of 1942 or at the latest 1943.

I have had seed under the name Wittmanniana from Thompson and Morgan in England, but the seed is not true. However, it yields beautiful and interesting plants which are fertile and could no doubt be crossed with the Chinese peonies. Such crosses should give interesting hybrids for the flowers of this strain of Wittmanniana, so-called, have a good deal of yellow in them. My suspicion is that the strain is hybrid in character and it may possibly be triternata x Mlokosewitschi as these two species intercross very easily and give fertile offspring.

  1. Albiflora x tenuifolia.

I made this cross mainly for the purpose of testing the authenticity of the current variety Smouthi. This peony came into commerce about 1845 as a hybrid between albiflora and tenuifolia; but in our day the plant is commonly offered as a variety of anomala or even as that species itself; thus you may see in catalogues sometimes the item P. anomala (Smouthi). There was the possibility that our plants of Smouthi were not the same as the original hybrid but were perhaps actually derived in some way from the species anomala and later named Smouthi through a confusion of labels. It seemed worthwhile therefore to repeat the cross and see what came of it. I did this about the year 1928 and have now a few mature hybrid plants. They all have very much the same character as the commercial Smouthi, varying a little in color but all possessing the same distinctive and agreeable odor which characterizes Smouthi itself. They also, like Smouthi, have many lateral buds. Hence I think we may consider it as established that that early fragrant crimson single is truly a hybrid between albiflora and tenuifolia and should not be referred to anomala, with which it has no connection whatever.

  1. Albiflora x anomala (Veitchi, Woodwardi, Beresowskyi).

It seems that these are only varieties of the species anomala itself, but the hybridist has to remember that distinct varieties may give very different results even when botanically they are to be considered as merely forms of the same species.

Crosses between Chinese peonies and any of the above-named group yield hybrids which show violent polycarpy; that is, the carpels (seed-pods) instead of being 3, 4, or 5 as is usual in peonies are multiplied up to 50 or 100 small carpel-like structures, generally with no seeds in them, and the flowers are usually without stamens. This description fits the terminals, but the lateral buds behave more normally and occasionally set seeds, from which I have now a few second generation plants which so far seem to be singularly devoid of interest or abnormality.

I should make it clear that the species anomala, of which I speak here, is the true wild plant, and not the hybrid Smouthi. There is no true stock of anomala in commerce so far as I know. My plants are mostly from seed obtained from the Botanical Garden of Leningrad in Russia. If you are in doubt about your plants of anomala, I would say this much: if the flowers are bright crimson and fragrant, and if the plant possesses laterals as well as terminal buds, then it is almost certainly Smouthi; but if the flowers are of a rather muddy purple, scentless, and borne one on a stem, then it may be the true anomala.

  1. Albiflora x Emodi.

Paeonia Emodi is the Himalayan peony. It occurs only in that region and I understand no other species is found there. The plant is like anomala in some of its characters and it is probably close to it botanically; but whereas anomala is an unattractive species, Emodi is one of the best. It is very tall, from four to four and a half feet high, bears nodding creamy white flowers which have usually only one carpel. It crosses unwillingly with the Chinese peonies. I have from a good many attempts only two or three hybrid plants. These give flowers which sometimes show polycarpy, only the abortive carpels in this case are bright green. This makes a rather curious looking flower not without beauty – a rather large single white with a conspicuous green center and no stamens. I have a few seeds gathered from the lateral blooms, but it is too soon to say anything about second generation plants yet.

Peony White Innocence

Peony White Innocence – P. lactiflora x P. emodi – Instagram image by Nick Maycher

  1. Albiflora x arietina.

Arietina belongs to the South European group of peony species, and among these the lines of demarcation are very difficult to draw. The species being therefore difficult to identify I have not used them much in my crossings. I offer no guarantee that my arietina is true. Whatever it is, it crosses with the Chinese peonies without too much difficulty and gives hybrids which have flowers in various shades of mauvish pink, most of them with an agreeable and distinctive odor not at all like that of the fragrant Chinese peonies.

I doubt that this line of crossing is worth continuing. I have never had any thing from it that seemed good enough to propagate or of any special interest; though it is only fair to say that the number of hybrids I have raised is quite small.

  1. Albiflora x Cretica.

The plants I have under the name Cretica flower very early and have blooms of a pretty, very light pink. My plants are not identical with that other species which has been called Cretica but which is now to be known as Clusii and which has white flowers. My Cretica is probably a form of arietina. Anyway it crosses with the Chinese peonies and has given me a very few hybrid plants possessing pink flowers, a very tall stature, and not much else to recommend them.

  1. Albiflora x decora, and decora alba.

I have several plants under the name decora. The best of them is a tallish plant which bears flowers of a deep blood-red color. This crosses with the Chinese peonies and gives hybrids which bear flowers in shades of red. One of them is a flower of a very intense dark purple maroon, one of the darkest peonies I know. There is an indication here that it might be worthwhile to do some more work on this cross.

I am not sure that my plants of decora alba are correctly named but I hope they are. They cross fairly well with the Chinese peonies and give a race of hybrids of great beauty. They are singles and are almost uniform in color – white, with a flush of peach pink towards the base of the petals. The petals have great substance. Some of the plants are rather dwarf but the others are tall, vigorous and conspicuously handsome. I have had just one plant of this strain which shows signs of doubling.

I do not seem ever to have made this cross using deeper colored Chinese peonies as female parents. It might be possible to get some pink or red hybrids by that means, and if they were produced they would probably be worth the labor.

  1. Albiflora x coriacea.

The species coriacea inhabits the Spanish peninsula and occurs also in the mountains of Morocco. The plant is, I think, not in commerce, and I doubt that authentic seeds can be had from any commercial source. I got some pollen in 1928 from a plant at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa, Canada, and with it made some crosses on albiflora varieties. The flowers of coriacea are not especially attractive, being of a rather purplish red color. It was therefore quite surprising to find that the hybrids all have lilac-colored flowers, and I mean a real lavender lilac color. Some of them are better than others and the best are really beautiful, especially as the flowers age and become lighter in tone.

This cross should be made on the variety James Kelway in the hope of producing doubles or semi-doubles for with this unusual coloring they would probably be very beautiful things. I would have made this cross long since but have not had pollen available. I have twice grown seedlings from seed gathered on the Ottawa plant, but all of the seedlings that have hitherto bloomed have had sterile pollen. The reason for this is certainly a mystery.

  1. Albiflora x Mlokosewitschi.

I mention this cross not because I have any plants derived from it but because it forms an interesting chapter in the history of peony hybridizing. Years ago I worked quite hard on it, but as I never got anything I eventually gave it up. The desirability of producing plants of this hybrid parentage is obvious. P. Mlokosewitschi is the only really yellow herbaceous peony. If hybrids could be produced between it and the Chinese peonies we might by that means come into the possession of a strain of yellow peonies in the herbaceous section as striking as we now have from P. lutea in the shrubby section.

At about the time when I was abandoning the cross as impossible, Dr. Earle B. White of Washington took it up with the determination to get the cross to take if it was possible to do so. I do not know how many thousands of times he repeated the cross, but it seemed at last that the immovable obstacle yielded to the irresistible force, for last year he was able to show to the members of the American Peony Society a bloom or two from his first hybrid plant; and the flowers are yellow. What Dr. White may have in store for us from his other hybrid plants of the same breeding, only time will show.

  1. Albiflora x paradoxa.

 I do not know whether my plant of paradoxa is true to name, but the few plants I have had by crossing it with Chinese peonies do not offer any great inducement to go on with the cross. It seems to produce purple-flowered offspring of no great charm. Still, someone else, with probably a different paradoxa, might have better luck.

  1. Albiflora x officinalis

I have no plant of the wild P. officinalis that I can be sure is true. All the forms of the species that I have used, and they are many, are the garden varieties, with the exception of one; this is a single of my own raising. My records on it are incomplete and I cannot be sure of its parentage, but it is obviously a form of officinalis and it bears good-sized flowers of a deep blood crimson. I began to use it for crossing nearly 25 years ago, and with good success. It is the father of all those varieties which are now brought together under the name ‘Challenger Strain’. This includes the named varieties Challenger, Defender, Buccaneer, Liberator (formerly called Commander), Man of War, and Erebus. Of these Challenger, Defender and Liberator, three of the best in the group, are all children of Primevère.

There is such a bewildering variety of hybrids between albiflora and the forms of officinalis that one hardly knows where to begin with them. It seems that each separate variety of officinalis imparts peculiar characters to its offspring. Thus the Challenger group is quite different from that in which the officinalis parent was the variety Sabini, and these in turn are quite distinct from that large and important group derived from lobata or lobata Sunbeam. Lobata itself is a variable plant. I have several times raised batches of seedlings of lobata, and they do not come at all uniform in color. The plants that I have done most work with came from Amos Perry in England and are said to have been found wild somewhere near Smyrna in Asia Minor. They are very nearly or quite identical with the plant which is in commerce under the name Sunbeam. This plant is not very well known in America, but in England it is much grown. Its rather small flowers are of a clear vermilion color and it blooms quite late for an officinalis variety. It has one peculiarity which should endear it to the heart of the hybridist. That is that its pollen takes on the Chinese peonies with incredible freedom. It is no uncommon experience to get ten or twenty seeds out of a single pod. When I made my first crosses using lobata pollen I was determined, if possible, to get a good number of seeds to start off the new strain. I had already made many crosses with other forms of officinalis on to the Chinese peonies and they had always taken rather poorly; so I assumed that lobata, being, as I believe, a form of officinalis, would do likewise and that in order to get a reasonable amount of hybrid seed in the autumn I must make a campaign. Which I did. The result was that in September I gathered about 3000 cross-bred seeds, which yielded me later something like 1200 hybrid plants. I am inclined to think that this strain is the most important that has yet come out of the labors of peony hybridists. Mr. Glasscock has worked on it for years and I understand that many of his finest things are of this parentage.

It seems to make a lot of difference what form of lobata one has to work with. The plants from Amos Perry gave progeny the flowers of which vary from a pale salmon pink to crimson, but mostly in salmon, cherry and coral pink – a most lovely range of colors. But I have also a crimson form of lobata and when I used that on the Chinese peonies I got a group of plants which are all crimsons, varying in depth of color, but without one pink in the whole group. These lobata hybrids are mostly singles but I have a number of semi-doubles, and a few that are fully double; and I imagine that the other breeders who have worked on this cross will have had similar results.

The impressive beauty of the hybrids of the Challenger strain suggested that one might get something interesting by crossing a single white officinalis with the albifloras. I had in my imagination a race of tall whites analogous to the Challenger strain which might come out of such a cross. I got a single white officinalis from Barr and Sons in London and proceeded to use its pollen on the Chinese peonies. I got a fair number of hybrid seeds the plants from which began to bloom a couple of years ago. To my surprise there have been no single whites among them. The color is almost uniform throughout the group – a pale pinkish lavender. All that have yet bloomed are single. The flowers are very large but so far the plants have nothing like the vigor and stature of the Challenger group. I think I was hostile to their color at first from my disappointment in getting no whites, but I have gradually come to think better of them and I now hope that there may be a few worthy of propagation.

A group that has greatly interested me is that derived from the variety Otto Froebel when crossed with the Chinese peonies. My original plant of Otto Froebel came from Barr in England many years ago. It bears flowers of a rosy salmon color and seems to be identical with what Barr now offers as Officinalis Charmer, whereas plants of Otto Froebel that have come from Barr in more recent years have flowers of a deeper shade than the old Otto Froebel. However that may be the cross between my Otto Froebel and the Chinese peonies has yielded many fine things, and they are especially good in the exhibition hall. The colors seem to lend themselves to artificial lighting. I always have the impression that the Otto Froebel hybrids look better in a show than they do in the garden whereas with the lobata hybrids the reverse is true. Among the best of my Otto Froebel hybrids I would name Birthday, Victoria Lincoln (formerly Victoria), Amity, Hope, Mercy (formerly Patience). (These changes in the names of some of my varieties have been made to avoid confusion with older names on other varieties; and since mine have already been disseminated it seems necessary in speaking of them to give both names.)

I do not know whether anyone else has worked with Otto Froebel. I doubt that other breeders possess that variety identical with mine. Those who have the darker type would quite surely get a different set of hybrids from it, and perhaps even better than those in my garden.

I do not think there is any object in considering here all the many hybrids that I have obtained from the different forms of officinalis. Fine things have come from rubra plena, rosea plena, Sabini, Lize van Veen, and in fact from all of those named in the beginning of this article, and the hybridist may be quite sure that whatever forms of officinalis he may have available they will all give interesting and beautiful things when crossed with the albiflora varieties.

  1. Hybrids of more complicated parentage, i.e.,

(a) those in which three or more species are combined, and

(b) those involving back-crosses, using the fertile pollen of second generation plants.

We come now to a group of hybrids many of which are still in the very early stages of their growth, and yet containing such interesting possibilities that I would like to speak of them here. These are the multiple hybrids, i.e., those in which three or more species are combined in the resulting plant.

Peony Athena

Peony Athena, a Quad hybrid of albiflora, officinalis, macrophylla and Mlokosewitschi. Instagram image copyright of Nick Maycher

One race of these is already well established and has yielded several fine things. Its history is as follows: the species macrophylla crosses rather easily with the forms of officinalis, and gives hybrids which are fertile even in the first generation. With their pollen we may fertilize albiflora varieties, and thus we get a strain of hybrids in which albiflora, officinalis and macrophylla are combined. It is an interesting and very varied group of plants. The best things that have come out of it so far are a variety which I have called Burgundy, with flowers of a blackish purple tone and possessing a good deal of style, and another which has as yet only a number (No. 8497) and which is a very upstanding white.

The union of these three species has also been brought about in the following way: I have said that the crosses between albiflora and macrophylla which are almost completely sterile, though not quite, do occasionally set seeds and that these seeds give second generation plants which are fertile. Such a second generation plant may be used for crossing with forms of officinalis, and the resulting plants will again represent a union of albiflora, officinalis and macrophylla. My variety named Pageant was produced by that mode of procedure.

Another group of multiple hybrids was produced in this way: P.macrophylla crosses though not too easily, with Mlokosewitschi. The hybrids bear yellow flowers, are extremely early, and their pollen is good. It is rather surprising to find strong pollen here for the two plants do not seem to be related botanically, and their chromosome numbers are different, Mlokosewitschi being diploid while macrophylla is tetraploid. These fertile yellow-flowered hybrids should be widely used on other species as they are likely to give some novel forms. I believe Dr. White has some such experiments under way. I have made some crosses with this pollen on albiflora varieties and have now out of a small group that have already flowered, two which are distinctly yellow. Here again the variety James Kelway should be brought into the picture for the chance of getting some offspring with double yellow flowers. These hybrids are a union of albiflora, macrophylla, and Mlokosewitschi. In them the objections which Mlokosewitschi shows to crossing with albiflora have been overcome by what might be called diplomacy.

A group in which one more complication is added, is the following: The fertile hybrid of macrophylla and Mlokosewitschi was crossed with several different forms of officinalis. The cross takes fairly well and produces fertile plants. Pollen from these was then used on albiflora varieties. The resulting hybrids represent a combination of albiflora, officinalis, macrophylla and Mlokosewitschi. The various crosses used here all take fairly well and I have now several large groups of young plants of this complicated parentage; but it will still be two or more years before any of them come to blooming age.

Another group worth mentioning in that involving hybrids between Mlokosewitschi and tenuifolia. These two species cross rather easily and give sterile hybrids; these, following the usual rule, give in time a few seeds, and from these, second generation plants are produced which show restored fertility; hence their pollen may be used on anything you please. I have now a number of plants in which albiflora, Mlokosewitschi and tenuifolia are combined. They are still too young to bloom but it will be interesting to see what they produce when they come to blooming age.

A different line of attack is that in which fertile second generation plants, for example of albiflora x macrophylla, are used to breed back again on to one of the ancestral lines. Where the first generation hybrid gives pollen of some vitality the back-cross may be from it. Thus the variety which I now call Garden Peace is the result of using pollen of Chalice (albiflora x macrophylla) on an albiflora variety.

This story could be continued almost indefinitely, but I have the feeling that I have already said perhaps too much. The multiple hybrids are the things that now interest me most because they seem to contain the possibility of new breaks. I hope they will justify my faith in them.

In the earlier years of this adventure it looked as if there might be a time when it would come to a natural ending. When each species had been crossed with every other species and the progeny of all the successful crossings brought to maturity, that would be the completion of the survey of the genus and a rounding-off of the study. But long before this is completed we find on our hands some fertile hybrids of the first generation and many more second generation hybrids of restored fertility; and with every one of these there is a new beginning to be made and a vast new series of crosses to be initiated; so that instead of narrowing in as we get farther along, the field continually widens out, and what has been done is only a beginning. The breeding of successive generations of peonies is a work involving such a long series of years that the continuation of the story must be left to younger hands. I have indicated some of the lines that seem to me to offer the greatest prospect of success and interest.

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Footnotes:
  1. Saunders, A.P. “Some Hybrid Peonies.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, 1941, September, pp. 3-12[]
  2. The name Seashell will have to be changed, as it is, I learn, already in use[]

The year 2021 is nearing its end. The last peonies shall be planted soon whilst only a few plants remain with green foliage. So, after some years, it might be an idea to look back onto the previous peony season.

Let’s start with some of the results of our own limited hybridizing program with peonies. We have two lines that we are following. The first is adding more genetic diversity through the use of some wild species. That is where progress is most difficult due to several reasons and although I spend as much time working on this project as on the second one I can only report, after a decade’s work, that a very few seedlings with P. parnassica survived and are at least growing well. I expect the first ones to bloom next season so I’ll report on them then.

The second line of hybridizing is a more usual one: crossing some hybrids amongst themselves. Here we have several hundred seedlings currently growing. We started with some of the usual suspects some 10 years ago: Salmon Dream, Pastelegance, Blushing Princess, Pink Vanguard, The Little Corporal, Vanilla Schnapps and so on. These were crossed with some lesser-known varieties like Lavender Baby, Buoy Master and Grand Massive amongst others. Any hybridizer will know that most seedlings end up on the compost pile but out of all seedlings that we’ve produced in these years a few stand out. This year the very best ‘new’ one is a second generation seedling from the cross Pink Vanguard x Buoy Master, which is currently going under the designation “PVBM F2 003”. It’s a pale pink double flower with very large well closed buds on a nice upright plant of average height. If it remains good the following years it will be a prime candidate to be named for my daughter Kato. Here are some pictures of it and its possible namesake:

One picture, two treasures

The season of peonies itself this year was a very challenging one. We had one of the coldest Springs/Summers in memory and also one of the wettest ones. This resulted in a constant threat of botrytis infections unlike other years. We did manage it quite well but if you would go round asking florists what they would think of the season I’m sure “poor average quality this year” would be a common answer.

In our polytunnels we also had high relative humidity due to this and this resulted in quite a few lost stems, no matter how much we sprayed and vented them. Spraying this year was done with some new “green” products. We tried Bacillus amyloliquefaciens as a fungicide (commercialized here as ‘Serenade’ and ‘Toreda’). Together with Trichoderma harzianum spores (“Triaphos”, “Trianum”) and Beauveria bassiana fungi (“Botanigard”) to control pests. We did rotate with the common fungicide/nematicide fluopyram (“Luna”) because resistance to these green products is unfortunately also quite common and thus those ‘green’ products on their own would eventually fail. Botrytis infection remained manageable this way, although less good than previous years where we used only common chemicals, but that may also be due to the unusually bad weather. We’ll see if next year gives better results.

Due to the cold and wet weather peonies flowered two weeks later than previous years and this resulted in sky-high prices early in the season. May clearly set an average price record for cut peony flowers. June on the other hand had a short spell of warm weather and, as would be expected, everything flowered at the same time, resulting in lower than average prices later in the season, with prices not recovering during Summer as they usually do. Taken together this resulted in an average season, but one does see that ‘averages’ can hide ‘extremes’.

The Ultra Low Oxygen (ULO) stored peonies were quite a disaster this year. It being the third season we tried this we thought we had all ingredients to make a success out of it. But in fact, out of the 8,000-9,000 stems we stored this way, we had to throw away some 7,000 stems in August due to botrytis. It’s not stretching the truth to say I was rather disappointed. I’ll report on this in another article when I have all results from the research centre available as well (they didn’t fare much better).

So far for our cut flower overview. Perhaps I should mention that our friendly neighbor did make a short movie with his drone flying over (part of) our fields. It might be interesting to have a look:

Were there any interesting cultivars this year? We were impressed by Nancy, a single pink flower but with enormous leaflets and standing straight up on incredible stout stems. It’s a lesser known advanced hybrid with P. macrophylla clearly showing its influence.

Nancy

Nancy

Our own Rozella mutation “Pale Rozella” (to be renamed) was also impressive. The qualities of Rozella are well-known: sturdy stems and large flowers late in the season. The mutation is also characterized by these but has a more attractive color (at least in my opinion). The mutation seems stable by now, so we can finally start propagating it.

Rozella mutation

To end we might show a plant that holds much promise for further hybridizing. This is B-3, from the cross Bartzella x Lemon Chiffon, thus an intersectional backcross. Not my cross, but the hybridizer, preferring to remain anonymous for now, sent me a plant to work with. The intersectionals are quite resistant to botrytis, but their flowers are not particularly useful as cut flowers due to their very short vase life (caused by their stocky stems). It is hoped that we can go further developing peony varieties that have the same disease resistance, but with better vase life.

B-3

And so we come to the end of this article. For those interested in hybridizing peonies, I could advise joining the ‘hybridizer’s corner’ of this website. If you would like to review and share your own peony season, feel free to do so.

Few people have influenced the development of a group of flowering plants as much as Professor Arthur Saunders. Born in 1869, Saunders made a unique contribution to the development of peonies as garden plants. He trained as a chemist and received his Doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. In 1900 he became Professor of Chemistry at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and continued in this profession until he retired in 1939. A passionate gardener, he worked with peonies until his death in 1953.1

A.P. Saunders
(Photo from: APS Bulletin March 1930)

The totally revamped website of the American Peony Society features a members-only section of which access to all historical Bulletins is but one of the many benefits. The article below is taken from one of these (June 1926), it is written by Professor Saunders and describes his work with hybridizing peonies.

The peony species classification has changed several times since the article was written, therefore in between brackets the current species name has been added every first time an older synonym is mentioned by Saunders.

The article doesn’t mention any named cultivars by Saunders, they were only registered the following years. At the end of the article some recent instagram posts are shown, featuring some of his introductions. There is also a website dedicated to all peonies Saunders has introduced, showing a great many of them. For this just go to www.saunderspeonies.com

Some new hybrid peonies.2

It is now about ten years since I began to work on the production of hybrids between different species of peonies. I suppose it is the experience of most of those who have undertaken such an adventure that they hopefully attempt in the beginning to make those crosses which they would like to make, and come resignedly later to making those they can. So it was with me at any rate I began by attempting crosses between the Chinese peonies [Paeonia lactiflora, ed.] and tree peonies, and between Chinese peonies and Paeonia lutea [now considered Paeonia delavayi ssp delavayi, ed.]. All these proved complete failures, and I was convinced as time went on that there was very little prospect of ever having any success along those lines. At the very best, crosses between different species give but a small percentage of success. One must take failure and disappointment as being the order of the day, and regard a successful cross as a gift of the gods. No one should undertake such work unless he feels within himself an unfathomable well of patience, and a strong wall of persistence against which he may put his back when discouragement threatens to get the better of him. My records are mostly a list of failures; and while these may have a scientific value for the botanist they can have very little interest for the practical plant grower, and I shall therefore pass briefly over the countless crosses that led to nothing and shall restrict myself mainly to the few lines of work that were productive and from which I have now some plants that I think will prove of permanent value. Before going further I shall describe briefly the various species which I have used either as pollen parents or seed parents.

In the group of shrubby species I have in the first place a large collection of tree peonies. I have also a number of plants of Paeonia lutea, most of these being seedlings which I have raised myself. During the last couple of years I have also had some plants of P. delavayi which I obtained from Vilmorin and Company of Paris. In the herbaceous group I have a large collection of named varieties of Chinese peonies, as well as many seedlings of the same race. I have six or eight of the named varieties of Paeonia officinalis as well as a few seedlings of the same strain. A plant which I have used very largely is the beautiful variety known as Otto Froebel. My original plant of this variety came from Barr and Sons, of London. When I was in England in 1923 I saw at the Chelsea Show a great many blooms of a plant that is very popular in England under the name Paeonia lobata [=Paeonia peregrina, ed.]. The resemblance between lobata and my Otto Froebel is so close that I am sure they are related forms. Just exactly what lobata is, seems to be still open to some doubt. It is considered by some botanists to be a variety of officinalis, and the character of the foliage certainly supports this view; it has, I understand, been referred by others to the species peregrina. I presume that its exact relationships cannot at present be definitely settled. The variety Otto Froebel has fairly large single blooms of a vivid clear rose color; a color that is not found in the Chinese peonies. I have raised seedlings of Otto Froebel, self-fertilized, and they run fairly close to the characters of the parent, varying a little in depth of color and in texture of petals.

I have made a very great many crosses using pollen from a species which I believe to be P. macrophylla [Paeonia daurica ssp macrophylla, ed.]. There seems to be some confusion between this and the species wittmanniana [P. daurica ssp wittmanniana, ed.]; and it is difficult from the original descriptions of the two to be quite sure to which of them a given plant should be referred. I have obtained my stock of both of these plants from C. G. Van Tubergen in Haarlem, Holland. If I am right about these species, P. macrophylla is what one would expect from its name, a species with large and coarse foliage. The leaflets are broader and heavier than in any other peony that I know. The flowers are fairly large and, in spite of all statements to the contrary in dealers’ catalogues, are white, and not yellow.

It is a misfortune that so many of our botanical descriptions are made not from living plants but from dried specimens; for this plant has a characteristic which I believe makes it very easily identified, and that is the odor of the leaves. They give off, especially in the sunlight, a peculiar rather bitter aroma, often noticeable eight or ten feet away. The plant ought therefore to be easily recognizable even in the dark; but of course the dried leaves would have lost the odor, and no mention of any such peculiarity is made in the original description. The plant which I consider to be the true wittmanniana is a yellow-flowered species. Its foliage is entirely different from that of macrophylla, being thinner in texture, lighter in color, and altogether more delicate; besides which it is, so far as I have observed, quite free from the odor of macrophylla. The yellow color of the flowers of wittmanniana is by no means so deep as it is in P. lutea. The latter has blooms of a bright buttercup yellow, whereas those of wittmanniana are pale yellow; but they are not white, nor creamy white, nor yellowish white; they are a clear and distinct light yellow. I make this point because the original descriptions are ambiguous in the matter of color. Thus, the original description of macrophylla gives the flowers as “white, scarcely yellowish,” while that of wittmanniana gives its flowers as “white, or very pale yellowish, or greenish.” That is just the sort of thing that would happen where one was making up a description from dried blooms, and it leads to the conclusion that the color of the flowers could not be used to distinguish the two from each other. Now, I must admit that I am not quite sure about the constancy of color in wittmanniana, for I have not raised any seedlings from it; but I do know about it in macrophylla, because I have a considerable number of plants of it and have grown a batch of seedlings, all of which have shown a complete uniformity in this respect.

There is another yellow-flowered herbaceous peony, bearing the somewhat cumbrous name of P. mlokosewitschi [P. daurica ssp mlokosewitschii, ed.]. The flowers in this species are similar in color to those of wittmanniana. But the form of the flower is quite different, the petals in mlokosewitschi being more rounded, and very much incurved. The foliage is even more distinct. The stems are red, the leaflets very much rounded, and of a peculiar glaucous green. Of this plant I have a considerable stock, including a number of seedlings which have always so far shown a complete constancy of characters. I consider this species a very beautiful garden plant, and one which deserves to be far more widely grown than it is at present.

There is another species which I have used to a certain extent, but which I have not yet identified to my satisfaction. I bought it from one of our large dealers as P. lobata. It is very evidently not that plant, and I suspect that it may be either corallina [P. mascula ssp mascula, ed.] or one of the forms of P. arietina.

Other species which I have used include the single form of P. tenuifolia, also P. microcarpa [P. officinalis ssp. microcarpa, ed.], P. veitchi, P. woodwardi [P. anomala, ed.], and several others ; but crosses on these are of very recent date, and it is too soon to say anything about them.

Coming now to the practical results, I may repeat here what I have already indicated before, that in general the chances of successful crossing between peony species are very small. On the other hand there are certain species between which there is a more or less complete compatibility, as the botanist calls it.

Thus, I am pretty well satisfied that I have never had any successes in crossing the various forms of shrubby peonies with any of the herbaceous species. It might seem an easy matter to be quite positive about the success or failure of a given cross, but it is not so easy as it looks. Of course if a cross is made and no seed is obtained it is plain enough that the cross has failed. But if the seed pod enlarges and in the autumn yields seed, it is by no means certain that the cross has been a success. For one must remember that the anthers of the peony very often burst before the bloom has opened, and consequently there is always a danger that a bloom may have fertilized itself, even though the petals and all the stamens may have been removed while the flower was still in bud. When such fertilization has occurred it may be quite impossible to detect pollen grains on the stigma, and so one may apply foreign pollen to such a bloom and obtain fertile seed in the autumn when nothing whatever has taken place except self-fertilization. When such an uncertainty arises it takes years before any positive conclusions regarding it can be reached ; for when such seed is planted one must wait at least four or five years to see bloom on the resulting plants, and even if these plants and their flowers show the characters of the original female parent the case for self-fertilization is still not established beyond doubt because, as I shall later show, in some cases undoubted crosses between peony species have given plants possessing almost completely the characters of one parent to the exclusion of the other. The only final and incontrovertible proof that our original bloom had fertilized itself would be by raising a batch of seedlings of the second generation ; then if these showed no tendency to sport into the original male line one could indeed be sure that the case was one of self-fertilization. But this means about ten years of waiting.

And there is another difficulty with peony crosses. This arises from the fact that a cross will show every sign of having been successful when as a matter of fact no real seed has been formed. The pods swell up, and are evidently filled with seeds ; in due time the pods open, and the seed has every appearance of being normal and healthy ; and yet such seed when pressed firmly between the fingers will burst and be found to consist of nothing but a glossy skin without any contents whatever. P. lutea and P. tenuifolia are particularly clever in producing seed of this kind.

These things I mention in order that it may be realized that crosses which are apparently successful may be in fact complete failures, while in other cases which to judge from the progeny might appear to have been failures, may really have been successful. However, a true cross usually gives progeny sufficiently different both from the male and female parent to be easily recognized as hybrid in character; and I have generally assumed that wherever I found an alleged cross giving a group of plants in the first generation which showed entirely the character of the female parent, I had a case of self-fertilization and not a successful cross. In my earlier years of experimentation I had a good many apparent successes in crossing tree peonies and P. lutea on Chinese peonies. All of these plants have now come to the blooming age, and never in any case has one of them shown the slightest indication of either tree peony blood or P. lutea blood. Most of these plants have been thrown away without waiting to raise seedlings of a second generation on the remote chance that the original cross was successful. It may further be said that in almost all cases true hybrids are sterile. Hence when an apparently successful cross gives seedlings which have fully the character of the female parent and are in addition strong seed-setters, there is very good ground for the assumption that they are not true crosses at all.

The largest group of my hybrids were made by using the pollen of P. macrophylla on Chinese analogous to that which was used by Lemoine in the production of his wittmanniana hybrids Mai Fleuri, Avant Garde, etc. M. Lemoine reports regarding his crosses that he has never had any results from using the pollen of Chinese peonies on blooms of wittmanniana, but that his named varieties all came from crosses made in the opposite direction, using pollen of wittmanniana on blooms of Chinese peonies. I have had somewhat the same experience with my hybrids between macrophylla and sinensis [P. lactiflora, ed.]. The cross takes fairly well when macrophylla pollen is used on Chinese peonies, but the reverse cross very rarely gives anything at all. I have, I think, from many crosses of the latter sort only two or three plants, none of which are yet of blooming age.

A peculiarity of the crosses made with macrophylla pollen on sinensis blooms is that although the seed is nurtured and matured on a Chinese peony, the blooms of the progeny almost always follow the pattern of the male parent. The characters that govern the form of the flower are evidently highly dominant in macrophylla. The color shows a little greater variation, for although the majority of the hybrids are white-flowered, some of them go into shades of pink. The white-flowered sorts are near enough to the species macrophylla so that most of them would not strike a casual observer as possessing any foreign blood.

It is a different matter with the foliage. Some of the hybrid plants have the green stems and broad light green leaves of macrophylla, while at the other end of the scale there are plants with small deep purple red leaves, shining as if they were varnished, and in between are all sorts of intermediate forms, some few with bronzy purple foliage in which each leaflet has a green tip. Those with purple or red leaves are not so vigorous in growth as arc the green ones, and few of them have yet bloomed. But as I write many are standing in full bud awaiting a few days of warmth to come into bloom.

Whether anything of value will come out of this group of hybrids it is too soon to say. The best of the white-flowered kinds are very much better plants than the species macrophylla, with larger flowers, running up to nearly eight inches in diameter. I imagine they may be something like Lemoine’s hybrid Messagere. That plant I do not possess and so have had no means of comparing it with my own seedlings.

The season of bloom for these hybrids is from one to two weeks earlier than the earliest Chinese peonies.

The Lemoine wittmanniana hybrids, according to the statement of M. Lemoine himself, are sterile; and my own experience confirms that; for I have never been able to get any results from them, either as pollen parents or seed parents. The same holds true for most of my macrophylla hybrids, although here and there I occasionally find one seed on a plant. From the occasional seeds thus gathered in 1924 I have a couple of germinations this spring, showing at least that the seeds have vitality.

There is a tendency in this group of hybrids to produce flowers of what I might call, for lack of a better name, a cactus type. They are characterized by narrow, somewhat twisted petals. I do not think that they represent a desirable novelty among peonies, but they are at least curious. Among all the progeny of this cross which had bloomed up to last year there had been nothing but single flowered sorts, good, bad and indifferent. But last May in a small group of seedlings that came from a cross of macrophylla on James Kelway, there were three which were semi-double, one of them almost fully double, and looking a good deal like a delicate little camellia. These little flowers are very attractive and were quite a surprise, coming at that season, about a week earlier than the earliest Chinese sorts.

Another cross that has given some good plants was made by using the pollen of macrophylla on varieties of P. officinalis. These plants have a somewhat intermediate character, but resemble officinalis rather than macrophylla. The hybrids on officinalis rubra plena are mostly crimson singles. They also are usually sterile, but one plant last year gave thirty seeds, from which some interesting progeny may be looked for. I have also a few crosses of macrophylla on Otto Froebel. One of these bloomed for the first time last year. It was in general appearance not unlike the Lemoine hybrid Avant Garde, but was a week earlier in season.

My main purpose in all this work of cross fertilization has been to strike out if possible into new lines that would produce early flowering types in greater variety and beauty than we have heretofore had. It is still much too soon to pronounce judgment on these plants ; many of them bloomed for the first time last year, and very many more have not yet bloomed at all. But the results up to the present have shown at least a few beautiful new forms, and there is I think a promise that some of these may be of permanent value for our gardens.

I now come to the crosses which have been made or at tempted, using the species mlokosewitschi. This yellow flowered plant seemed to offer interesting possibilities if it could be crossed on Chinese or other peonies. I have attempted during the past few years many such crosses, both on named varieties of Chinese peonies, and on a good many of the species in my garden as well as most of the officinalis varieties I possess. My belief is that up to the present time I have never succeeded in effecting a cross either with pollen from P. mlokosewitschi, or by using pollen of other varieties upon that species. It is true I have a good many seeds that have been produced by the blooms so worked over, but in every case where seed has been set I have a very definite suspicion that it was merely by self-fertilization. I have a few young plants that have come up from such seed, and in every case they show the characters of the female parent. The only ones that have come to the blooming age are some in which pollen of P. mlokosewitschi was used on Chinese peonies. I have had perhaps a dozen of such plants, and all of them have been, as far as I could see, absolutely sinensis in character. The inducement in making this cross lies in the possibility of producing an early flowering race of yellow peonies. That is a possibility to stir the heart of any peony hybridist. I still keep hoping that I may find some species or variety which will yield true crosses with mlokosewitschi. It would be strange if this species should prove incompatible with all other peonies, and it may be that within a few years I shall be able to report success in this direction. This is to my mind the most interesting of the lines that I have touched upon, and it is tantalizing that it seems to be the one which most obstinately refuses to give any results.

Of course crosses of Chinese peonies on P. lutea would probably produce a wonderful race of yellow flowered peonies. But successful crosses between herbaceous and shrubby plants in the same genus are rare, and I was never very hopeful of success in using P. Lutea with Chinese peonies. In any case, my friend Mr. Winthrop Thurlow has been working on this cross for a number of years, and I am sure that his chances of success with it would be at least as good as mine, if not better. I think for the future that I shall leave to him the task of producing hybrids between lutea and sinensis, while I endeavor to find among the many peony species some that will yield hybrids with the beautiful P. mlokosewitschi. The extremes to which a hybridist will go to obtain the results he wants are illustrated by a case recently reported to me in which an experimenter in the hope of producing yellow peonies used pollen of the yellow primrose on Chinese peonies. I have not heard that he had any success.

We come now to a group of hybrids which seem to promise better practical results than any other. These are the hybrids between sinensis and officinalis. I was able to stage a small exhibit of these at the peony show in Philadelphia last year, but that exhibit did not do anything like justice to the plants as they developed later in the garden. I gladly pay tribute here to my friend Mr. Lyman D. Glasscock of Joliet, Ill., who I understand staged a bloom of similar parentage at the peony show in Des Moines a year earlier. I am sorry that I was not at that exhibition in order to see the first results of his cross-fertilization between these two groups on which he also has been working for some years past.

A curious fact regarding these hybrids is that they carry a great deal of the officinalis character regardless of the direction in which the cross is made. I have four plants, the results of a cross of a single officinalis variety on the single white albiflora [P. lactiflora, ed.] the Bride. These plants are worth describing. Their blooms are all of a most brilliant crimson color, approximately that of officinalis rubra plena, though in some a shade darker in tone. They are very large, running up to seven inches in diameter, and look like enormous single officinalis blooms. The foliage is also very large, and of the character of officinalis. But stature and habit show the influence of the Chinese blood. The plants do not have the dwarf, sprawling habit of the officinalis varieties, but are tall, erect, and up-standing. The blooms are unusually durable for single flowers. These plants were divided last autumn for the first time, and the root growth seemed to be intermediate between that of officinalis and sinensis. It may therefore turn out that the plants will divide better than the officinalis varieties usually do. If it should be so, and if the plants maintain the quality they have so far shown they should be welcome additions to the meagre list of really fine early flowering peonies. I have several other groups of similar parentage already at or near the blooming age, and some of them have already shown good promise. Crosses made with sinensis pollen on officinalis rubra plena show similar characteristics, but have a tendency towards the production of double flowered hybrids, one of which among the few that have so far bloomed is of a very brilliant scarlet crimson, and may be a good plant. I do not like to say too much about these plants. It seems like boasting about one’s children before they are yet in their teens. It will be some years before they will have established their character to such an extent that one can feel confident about them.

Another group that shows promise has resulted from crosses made between Otto Froebel and Chinese varieties. These, like the above, are all in the season of officinalis, lapping over into the time of the earliest Chinese peonies. The blooms that have appeared on these crosses so far are either of a bright clear rose color, like Otto Froebel itself, or of a lighter rose pink. Two or three of them seem to me to have great beauty. Here too most of the characteristics of the Chinese parent are as the botanists say, recessive, the dominant characters being those of Otto Froebel both in foliage and habit.

I have a number of other crosses made between species mentioned at the beginning of this article, but they are of more recent date, and it will be some years before anything can be said as to results. I made some hybrids last spring between P. lutea and P. delavayi. This is a cross that takes readily; so readily in fact that it has led me to suspect that delavayi may itself be only a form of lutea. As delavayi is but little known, I may say a word about it. It is of course shrubby; or rather in this climate bears the intermediate character which P. lutea itself has. In our severe winters these plants usually kill back to the ground every year, and the new growth is formed from the crown or from the base of the old branches. Both of them bloom very well, however, and they do not seem to suffer very much from their severe winter-killing. The foliage of P. delavayi has almost exactly the same fern-like character as that of P. lutea. The blooms of lutea are uniformly bright yellow. Those of delavayi which I saw at Vilmorin’s were a sort of mahogany brown, but in form like those of lutea. My plants of delavayi, which came from Vilmorin were I understand seedlings. They have blooms the petals of which are mahogany brown at the base, fading to yellow at the edges. The plant is very handsome in foliage but unsatisfactory in flower, the blooms being smaller and duller than those of lutea, while they share with that species the modest habit of hiding themselves among the foliage. I am not very sanguine of obtaining anything of value from this cross, but in this case as in most others of work along such lines, one’s expectations are likely to be disappointed, and where success is least expected something good may turn up in the end.

Quite different from any of the groups of hybrids discussed above are those which have been derived by crossing Chinese peonies on the doubtful species which I have mentioned above as being perhaps P. corallina or possibly arietina. This is an easy cross to make and one which gives in the first generation progeny which shows an extreme variability. The foliage is usually like neither parent, and no two seedlings resemble each other. One would think that plants showing such strong variation would be likely to produce now and then varieties of distinct desirability ; but unfortunately when these hybrids come into bloom all one’s hopes are blasted. The flowers are large but in almost every case of a very ugly purple magenta color. Some are agreeable in odor but none so far seem to me tolerable in color, and I have no thought that any of them will be worth propagating. They are curiosities and nothing more. I may mention that they have always been sterile; which, considering their character is perhaps not a misfortune.

I feel that in presenting an account of this work at the present time I am making only what could be called an ad interim report. I should not have undertaken to give any account at all of my results thus far were it not that the exhibit which I staged in Philadelphia seemed to interest a good many peony growers who saw those blooms, and among them Mr. Christman, who has urged me to say something in the Bulletin regarding the progress of the work. It is also perhaps not a bad idea in the interest of such work itself to take stock at the end of ten years, if only to become clearer in one’s own mind as to the lines along which further experiments should be made.

At the time of writing the above article Professor Saunders had only been hybridizing for about a decade. He was to continue for quite some time and his introductions are still very popular as can be seen from the following posts on Instagram.

Republished under a Creative Commons Licence:
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Footnotes:
  1. M. Page. “The Gardener’s Peony.” Timber Press: Portland (USA), 2005, p. 226.[]
  2. A.P. Saunders, “Some new hybrid peonies.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, nr 27, June 1926, pp. 2-10.[]

During my experiments with long term storage in ultra-low oxygen conditions one of the findings was that ethylene concentrations sometimes reached extremely high levels. As can be seen from the figures below, in 2019 the concentration of ethylene in the boxes went above 1,000 ppb. In 2020 we decreased both temperature and oxygen levels faster and this resulted in somewhat lower concentrations of up to 400. Box 1 was opened after 5-6 weeks, box 2 was only opened after 9 weeks. The ‘doos’ is the cardboard box with no lowered oxygen and thus ‘normal’ cold storage where ethylene levels remained low as the ethylene produced by the peonies themselves could ‘escape’ here contrary to the situation in the ULO-boxes.


When discussing this at one of the ‘working group meetings’ a professor in plant biology remarked that these numbers were extremely high as it is known that damage can already occur at levels as low as only 20 ppb. We ourselves are obviously not used to working with ethylene concentrations but “according to Dr. George Staby, founder at Chain of Life Network and president at Perishables Research Organization in Phoenix, less than 40 parts per billion is the level to maintain in order to avoid damage to sensitive varieties of cut flowers and plants.”1 If you search for it in on the internet, you may find 10 ppb, 20 ppb and others as levels that can give damage. Whatever it may be, we clearly went far above this threshold.

It is well-known that different flowers have different thresholds for damage from ethylene. Nearly all cut flowers are sensitive to some level of ethylene. But then within each flower group, there are still differences between cultivars, one being very sensitive to it, whilst another nearly immune. You may thus find on some websites the argument that peonies are insensitive to ethylene whilst other warn strongly against it. Generally the damage is not done from the ethylene that the flowers themselves produce, but rather from fruit that is ripening in close proximity to it. It is thus recommended to place your cut flowers away from that fruit basket. Sometimes cut flowers are treated with some chemicals that can block the sensitivity of the cut flowers to ethylene. 1-MethylCycloPropene (1-MCP, sold as EthylBloc in the USA) can help during storage and SilverThioSulphate (STS) is another. Unfortunately where I live (Belgium), 1-MCP is ridiculously expensive and STS is forbidden, whilst in our flower-friendly neighbor country The Netherlands it is still allowed and even obligated to use (the European Union is not really a ‘union’ in all circumstances). But in peonies 1-MCP may not be the best chemical to use as it has been reported to even decrease vase life of peonies.2 And STS is known to be environmentally hazardous. Nano-silver may be a solution for the future, but we’ll keep our results with still ongoing testing that for another post.

The enormous levels of ethylene in our storage experiments did however not seem to induce any adverse effects that we could see. So at the research centre (PCS Ornamental Plant Research) they set up some small experiments to see what ethylene can do to cut peony flowers. They had two cultivars available, Sarah Bernhardt and The Fawn, both are lactiflora varieties and the former is the most widely grown cut flower variety. To reproduce high levels of ethylene, they placed some fruit together with the peonies in cold storage for 24 hours. Then they were placed in a vase and left to flower and compare with some control flowers that had not been placed with some ripening fruit. As you can see from the following images: higher ethylene concentrations during cold storage do not result in lower quality flowers.

Sarah Bernhardt (above) and The Fawn (below) after cold storage without fruit (left) and with ripening fruit and thus higher ethylene levels (right).

Now that is was shown that the high ethylene levels are not detrimental during cold storage, another experiment was set up. Here some flowers were placed with (or ‘without’ as control of course) some fruit (1 banana, 1 pear) for 24 hours at normal ‘house’ temperatures. They were placed inside a sealed container so that the ethylene couldn’t escape and would reach rather high levels, albeit only for that one day of course. Here the results clearly showed peony cut flowers to be sensitive to ethylene. The ethylene treated peonies wilted far earlier, didn’t open as well and had far more botrytis damage in the end. The images below are quite convincing I would think:

Vase life with ripening fruit. Left images show the ‘fruit’ sample and the control without fruit. On the right the end results with Sarah Bernhardt above and The Fawn below. Left the ‘fruit’ treated ones, right the control flowers that had no fruit around it.

Peony The fawn, left the ones that were placed together with ripening fruit at house temperatures, on the right the control that received the exact same treatment except for the fruit which was absent there.

So, what do we learn from all of this? As a cut flower grower it is not really so much of a problem to have peonies in conditions of higher ethylene concentrations when they are stored at low temperatures. The damage does however occur at higher temperatures, so in a retail store where temperatures are not as low and where they are placed together with fruits, you may expect a disappointed customer. For the end customer clearly it is advisable to keep them away from ripening fruits. One small remark of course is at what combination of temperature and ethylene concentration the damage starts to occur. Our experiments were either at very low temperatures (0-2°C or 32-35°F) but with sometimes extremely high concentrations of ethylene, or rather high ‘house’ temperatures of some 20°C (68°F). Intermediate temperatures or ethylene levels will probably give less conspicuous damage, but as we all want to enjoy our peony flowers as long as possible it’s at the very least a good idea to inform the end customers. Peonies and fruit together won’t take peony cut flowers to full fruition.

Footnotes:
  1. G. Smith. “Ethylene — silent but deadly.” https://theproducenews.com/ethylene-silent-deadly , Oct 2017.[]
  2. Hoffman, G.D., Mattinson, D.S. and Fellman, J.K. (2010). 1-MCP SHORTENS PEONY VASE LIFE. Acta Hortic. 857, 169-178.[]

This year we tried forcing some peony flowers into earlier flowering so we would have more of them before Mother’s Day (they usually start flowering outside after that date). We bought some new hoop houses to this end and placed them over some of our peonies. We combined this with the use of GA3 (Gibberellic Acid) as this is the standard procedure in Israel to get very early flowering peonies in March and April. Now we had used this before but the results had been mixed. One year they were about one week earlier, other years there wasn’t any difference. Next to that, not all cultivars reacted in the same way, with some of those years that it did work, still having some cultivars where all the hard word was done in vain. As GA3 isn’t particularly cheap and we don’t like working for nothing, we never did that extensively these last years. But after years of trial and error, we got to be more confident and thus this time we treated far more plants than before. So here’s how we went about it:

  • We used 250 cc of water at 100 ppm GA3 per plant (take a bucket of 10 l, add a tablet with 1 g active ingredient (a.i.) of GA3 (which is pretty standard) and you have it, that will then suffice for some 40 plants more or less). The goal is to ‘wet’ the ‘eyes’, not the roots.
  • We treated our plants mid December (17-18-19), not in January or February before they come out of the ground. We have found that treating them too late doesn’t add any extra earliness. The whole point of adding GA3 to the buds is decreasing their cold requirement, but if you add it when the buds have already received enough cold, then nothing happens.
  • Then (also halfway December) we already placed plastic over the hoophouses, which is far earlier than usually done, but this way they could already start growing on sunnier days when temperatures rose higher than outside.

Now that all worked fine as can be seen from the image below:

The beginning of the two rows on the right didn’t receive any GA3 treatment and didn’t sprout until a few weeks later. There are two rows of Old Faithful on the left and four of The Fawn on the right. Image taken March 17th.

The row at the back shows Mme Claude Tain on Feb 28th. The three plants on the right didn’t receive any GA3.

‘Great’, you might say. There was however a small problem (as there always is) because humidity in the hoop houses was very high during January and especially February when the treated plants were already growing strong. Normally you’d leave the front and back of the hoophouse open so the wind can blow through it, or roll up the plastic on the sides, so that the wind can remove the excess water on the plants. Unfortunately this year there were several very very windy days where we simply couldn’t do that as otherwise the plastic would simply be torn. So the foliage and buds remained wet for several days or even weeks. We all know what this results in and we thus lost over half the stems to botrytis with the remainder often having leaflets partly damaged by the fungus as well. We did spray with fungicides, but it didn’t help enough to be honest. The graphs below show the relative humidity measured inside the hoophouse and outside. The RH inside was usually higher, and over time as Spring advanced RH lowered both inside and outside. April 8th was the warmest day during the four months up to May and the other graph shows the evolution over the day. Again inside the RH was most of the time higher. Next year we’ll either roll up the sides earlier or place some fans inside.

Relative Humidity (%) hoophouse, inside & outside, Jan through Apr 2020

Relative Humidity (%) hoophouse inside & outside, April 8th, a very hot and sunny day

Old Faithful on March 12th, showing botrytis damage from being constantly ‘wet’ due to the high relative humidity

Now not all was lost and when did they flower you might ask? Mother’s Day here was May 10th, so early May was the goal. Well, the plants treated with GA3 could all be cut in the second half of April and by the end of that month as good as all of them were gone, except for those ‘eyes’ that hadn’t received any GA3 and which flowered somewhat later. At least that is the case with the lactiflora varieties The Fawn and Mme Claude Tain. Lactiflora varieties react well to GA3 treatment, which is much less the case for hybrids like Coral Charm or Coral Sunset, which we had tried the years before. Old Faithful does react to the GA3 but it flowered somewhat later, beginning of May. Although it is late flowering for a hybrid, outside it doesn’t usually flower after those lactiflora varieties. Which is something we’ve noticed before: the hybrids don’t react in the same manner to early forcing so the natural flowering sequence of different varieties may differ somewhat when grown inside a hoop house. Some plants of The Fawn had not received any GA3 so we would be able to compare. Those did flower early May, just in time for Mother’s Day. As they had only started growing several weeks later the weather was far less stormy then and thus we could let the wind blow through it, resulting in no botrytis at all. The final result there was that we had double the flowers compared to the GA3-treated ones and it being the week just before Mother’s Day they sold for the same price as the earlier ones, so financially the whole experiment wasn’t the best exactly, but not all years will be as hot as this year.

The Fawn in the hoophouse flowered some 4 weeks before the ones grown outside. Mainly due to the higher temperatures in the hoophouse of course. The following two graphs demonstrate this. The graph from April 8th again shows the warmest day and the difference between the hoophouse and outside. Temperature within the hoophouse that day was extremely high and we then rolled up the sides of it as well to have comparable temperatures as outside. The difference thereafter was smaller of course.

Temperature in the hoophouse and outside

Temperature difference in the hoophouse and outside on April 8th, the warmest day this season.

The GA3 treatment is different from what most growers with hoophouses do. So they’ll usually cover their hoophouse much later, when the plants have received enough cold, which will be somewhere at the end of January or February here in Belgium. After flowering the plastic is removed from the hoophouses so that they receive natural rain. During the growing season some drip line irrigation was used to avoid wetting the leaflets as they don’t dry as easily as outside. Mention also that it will be easier to grow peonies in a larger hoophouse compared to a small hoophouse. There’s much more cubic metres of air inside a large greenhouse relative to the surface of plastic, thus the same surface must heat much more air and temperatures will thus rise far slower and vice versa, resulting in a far more stable climate which is also far less prone to botrytis. Say we have a hoophouse some 6 metres wide and 10 m long. This will result in some 90 m² plastic surface ((6*3.14*10)/2) and some 140 m³ of air ((3*3*3.14*10)/2). But if the hoophouse is 12 metres wide? The plastic surface will simply double to 180 m² ((12*3.14*10)/2)) whereas the content of air is an exponential curve ((6*6*3.14*10)/2), resulting in 565 m³. In other words, in the small hoophouse 1 m² must heat up 1.5 m³, whereas in the large hoophouse this 1 m² must heat up 3 m³. We have both small and large hoophouses and the differences in botrytis damage can be large.

The GA3 treatment can also be applied outside. When done early enough, it will result in peonies flowering about 1 week to 10 days earlier (depending on the weather of course). We also applied some GA3 to peonies growing outside, at the same date, Dec 18th, and we thus had The Fawn ready for cutting at four different times this year:

End of April in the hoop house, treated with GA3
Beginning of May, untreated in the hoop house
Mid May outside, treated with GA3
End of May, naturally flowering without any help from us

Only between the untreated ones in the hoophouse and the treated ones outside did we have a short period where we could not cut any, but some short cold storage can easily solve this minor issue. All in all, forcing peonies this way is a welcome addition to growing them the ‘natural’ way as we all know that results in a ‘peak’ bloom time, very pretty, but also very short.

Miss America, some plants treated with GA3 on Dec 17th, growing strong on March 12th whilst the untreated ones on the left and right of it are not sprouting yet.

The end result, April 27th, ready for auction

Last year we had a trial with long term storage of cut peonies under Ultra Low Oxygen (ULO) conditions. It might be interesting to read it again, but the conclusion was that there was room for improvement. After two months, there was too much botrytis on the flowers and the foliage due to the high relative humidity (RH) within the boxes. We therefore concluded the experiment last year with the following main recommendations:

  1. Don’t place the peonies in water before putting them in the ULO boxes
  2. Keep temperatures close to and just above freezing
  3. Put some dehydrating solution inside the boxes
At the research centre the ULO experiment was again executed with 'dry' peonies this time and some cardboard paper at the bottom to lower the humidity. The Fawn and Sarah Bernhardt were the varieties here, the same ones as last year. The picture shows The Fawn in the flowering test room after two months of storage.

As it turned out, this year would be one to remember. First there was, and still is, the Covid-19 virus, which also distracted flower markets. Second, it was a very dry and hot year. During the cutting season it never rained, thus we refrained from spraying against botrytis as that usually only occurs during humid weather. That may have been a mistake as it might have helped keep botrytis longer away in those ULO boxes. Demand was high for peonies and although we do have 12 ULO boxes, we were only able to fill about three, not even completely full, because clients kept asking for peonies during the season itself. The research centre also filled two boxes (half Sarah Bernhardt, half The Fawn). July 4th we filled our boxes. One box with part ‘dry’ peonies (cut and put in the boxes immediately) and ‘wet’ peonies (cut, placed in water, taken out to dry, then put into the boxes). Another box only ‘dry’ ones, the last one ‘wet’ ones. As we had a shortage of flowers during the season, it turned out that we had to use the only cultivar left at the end of the season, which was Elsa Sass.

Differences with last year?

  • This time we closed all lids (6 of them) of the boxes from the beginning so the oxygen contents would decrease more rapidly compared to last year
  • Temperature was kept lower, closer to zero degree Celsius (32°F) so the buds would change less
  • Six 500 gr silicagel boxes were placed into the box to keep humidity below saturation (100%) and avoid condensation
  • Peonies were cut and placed directly into an ULO box, thus they were not placed in water beforehand (‘dry’ storage)
  • Only one cultivar available this year, the late double white Elsa Sass
  • No spraying with fungicides was done during the harvesting season as it was a very dry year
The 'wet' peonies box showing botrytis damage to some buds after 3 months of storage, remark also the silica gel boxes on top

The silicagel boxes shown here can contain up to 500 ml of water each. These are from the box with the ‘wet’ peonies after 3 months. Four of them are fully saturated, two still have some spare silicagel (the two uppermost ones). In the box with the ‘dry’ peonies, all silicagel boxes were saturated after this time, but there were somewhat more stems in that box.

Peonies were stored for two months (the ‘mixed’ box) or three months (‘dry’ and ‘wet’). The mixed box at two months already showed that the ‘wet’ peony box would only contain even more botrytis infected ones, but we kept it closed anyway for comparison. The ‘dry’ peonies after two months looked fine, but there were some ‘grey’ petals underneath the outer petals (see further).

The graph illustrates how the temperature, O2 and CO2 changed over time in the ‘dry’ peony box. As can be seen, temperature was kept quite low and constant. Halfway the experiment we needed our cooling facilities for our other flowers and we had to raise it slightly. If we’d put it full of peony boxes, we could keep it lower of course.

Oxygen decreased rapidly in the ‘dry’ peony box with all lids closed, but strangely it never went below 5%, thus we never opened a lid.

The ‘wet’ peony box did go below 5% oxygen and there we opened 2 lids, after which O2 rose again above 5% and we decided upon closing 1 lid again. After that it remained constant around 4%.

CO2 rose very high in the ‘dry’ peony box, to just below 18%. This is not recommended by Janny MT, who supplied the boxes, but a higher CO2 level is used to protect ULO grapes against botrytis with good effect. Thus we considered it worthwhile exploring this as well for peonies. The ‘wet’ peony box also experienced such high CO2 levels, but when the lids were opened CO2 decreased rapidly to some 8% again.

Temperature (blue), oxygen (yellow) and carbondioxide CO2 (red) over time in the ULO box with the 'dry' peonies.

The ‘raw’ data for the ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ peony ULO storage boxes can be downloaded here as excel files:

Dry ULO box

Wet ULO box

What about the Relative Humidity (RH)? As it turned out, the silicagel boxes did what they were supposed to do. The graph shows the ‘dry’ peony ULO box. It remained more or less constant around 95%, whereas last year it quickly rose to 100%. The ‘wet’ peony box showed the same results.

After three months, the six silicagel boxes in the ‘dry’ peony box were fully saturated. The ones in the ‘wet’ peony box not yet, though not far from it. The ‘dry’ peony box had some more peonies in it, which can explain the difference.

There was nearly no condensation on the peonies or the inside of the box this time, which was a huge difference compared to last year.

Relative Humidity (RH) within the 'dry' peony ULO box

What can we deduct from these results?

  • The ‘dry‘ peonies use up less oxygen, as although there were more of them in the box (600 to 450), the oxygen levels never went below 5%. The ‘wet’ peony box easily went below, although it had less stems.
  • How much silicagel is needed? Each silicagel box of 500 gr can contain up to 500 ml of water when fully saturated. The numbers are more or less: 600 stems, 3 months, 6 silicagel boxes saturated, thus 3 liters of water. A full box can contain some 800 stems, thus for three months we would need some 8 silicagel boxes. For ‘safety’ we might suggest 9. Thus keeping it simple: 3 silicagel boxes for each month of storage should do the trick…
  • The high CO2 levels were not detrimental to peonies, but it is unsure whether the different botrytis effects are due to this or the ‘dry-wet’ difference of the storage.

What about the flowers themselves?

Well, visually it was clear that the ‘dry’ peonies were perfectly marketable after two months. The ‘wet’ peonies weren’t all, too much botrytis. After three months the results were the same, though more extreme. For the ‘dry’ peonies some of the outer petals were somewhat dried out and were slightly brown in addition. Those outer petals, when not good enough, could easily be pulled off, making them look good again. The ‘wet’ peonies could only be thrown away, unless one would want to go through a lot of sorting out the remaining good ones. Another find is that the ‘wet’ peony buds had evolved more than the ‘dry’ ones. The latter went out as they had gone in, whereas the former were more open.

But there was another, unexpected, issue. Elsa Sass seems to be a peony that can give a peculiar problem. Some of the inner petals can have greyish brown spots even though the outer petals are perfectly fine. It can almost never be seen beforehand, thus good looking buds may show the symptoms after a few petals have unfurled. Those spots will invariably rot after a few days thereby attracking botrytis and destroying the whole flower. Not all buds have this, but as beforehand it cannot be said which ones are good or not, this issue results in all stems being worthless in fact. We thus threw away nearly all of them, except for a few ones which we gave to several florists to try them out. All with the same results: some flowers were good, others had those greyish brown spots and succumbed to botrytis.

Afterwards I’ve heard from several colleagues growing Elsa Sass that it can give this problem even during the harvest itself. It is not botrytis (one colleague sent some to a laboratory), but really a problem specific to this cultivar. Some years it happens, other years not. Not unexpectedly complaints from customer are common in bad years. I myself had never experienced this problem during the harvest thus I did not expect this. I should have known it however as last year there were some Elsa Sass in those boxes as well, as ‘test cultivars’ and they showed the same problem, but I had forgotten about it (remark: the article about ULO storage from last year shows an image of it, although I originally mixed up Mme Claude Tain with Elsa Sass).

An image can be better than a thousand words to describe something, so here are some images to illustrate it (click on them to enlarge and read the description):

I had also taken some samples of Elsa Sass to the research centre (PCS) after two months (not three) so they could measure and compare the differences. Their conclusions were as follows:

  • ‘Wet’ stored peonies were more open at the beginning
  • Both treatments did have some damage at the outer petals, although clearly more for the ‘wet’ peonies
  • ‘Dry’ peonies did have slightly dried out foliage, after recutting and placing on water they became fully turgescent again
  • ‘Dry’ peonies opened more fully and prettier than ‘wet’ peonies
  • ‘Wet’ peonies developed more botrytis than ‘dry’ peonies (15 flowers out of 50 for the ‘wet’ peonies developed botrytis at the end of the vase life but only 8/50 for the ‘dry’ peonies)

The research centre also did a trial themselves with those ULO boxes, their detailed results I haven’t obtained yet. They could compare their results with last year as they used the same number of stems and same cultivars. Only difference with them was that they placed some cardboard paper on the bottom to soak up the excess water and they also cut and stored directly (‘dry’ storage) instead of placing them on water first.

  • Sarah Bernhardt had 17% of the stems that had to be thrown away immediately after storage (meaning more than merely the outer petals affected), last year it was 50%, thus a marked improvement, though far from perfect
  • As last year The Fawn performed best, 73% had no damage at the outer petals from the onset, 25% only at the outer petals and a mere 2% had to be thrown away because of more damage. That 2% compares to 21% in the previous year.
  • The cardboard paper kept the buds dry this year, but humidity was still 100%

When we have the detailed results, we’ll update this article. I’ve seen those peonies in the research centre, but I must say that many, really many, have been thrown away as they developed botrytis later on. I’m pretty much convinced that silicagel is far superior to using cardboard paper.

To conclude:

Unfortunately we are not there yet :-( Fortunately we have made major progress :-) Other people are also using those ULO boxes and they are usually quite secretive about it, thus it might be that I’m the only fool struggling to get it right. But as the research centre had some phone calls from people in Holland trying the same and confronting the same difficulties, this probably isn’t the case. I do think I have a decent chance of success next year if I keep the following extra recommendations in mind:

  • Spraying during the season against botrytis, this may prevent botrytis in the ULO boxes, no matter how dry the season may be.
  • Not using Elsa Sass again. We’ll be trying several different cultivars next year, although we have already gotten rid of hundreds of cultivars, we still have many to try.

A minor remark is also that it’s not exactly easy to ‘dry’ the used silicagel again for use the next season. Supposedly you can place it in the oven after which the water will evaporate. The large silicagel boxes are not particularly suited for this as they are partly made of plastic. They deformed and started to leak in my oven when the heat went up. So I’ll have to throw all used ones away. An alternative may be clay, it cannot contain as much water as silicagel, but at least it’s environmentally clean and by using somewhat more of it, the same results should be attainable.

Feel free to place your remarks below this article, it sure would be nice to hear your opinion!

Most people are more than happy to simply grow some peony plants in their garden and enjoy them. There are many cultivars to choose from, different in many ways: flower form, color, height, stem strength, blooming time, health, number of stems, fragrance, leaf form, and so on. The impressive number of available cultivars has been built up over hundreds of years and it is still increasing as hybridizers all over the world are working with peonies. Nate Bremer (interviewed here on Southern Peony), from Solaris Farms (Wisconsin, USA), is such an active hybridizer with many recent introductions by his hand. You can check the peony registry at the American Peony Society (APS) to see a list of his introductions. He has written an excellent introduction to hybridizing with peonies and if you’re only slightly interested in trying to grow your own cultivar one day this might be the last nudge you need to go about it :-)

Nate Bremer’s nursery, click to visit.

If you start with it, you might as well join the APS as they have lots of information about peonies and hybridizing. Most hybridizers are part of it anyway and next to that they are the official registration authority for new cultivars. There are also some facebook groups that bring together peony hybridizers, although we can only recommend them half-heartedly. And last, though not least, you can also join the ‘hybridizer’s corner’ group on this site, where there are several active hybridizers.

You can click on any image to enlarge it and from there on you can easily click the arrows to go to the next slide.

Many thanks to Nate Bremer for allowing us to publish this here.

If you’d like to download a pdf-file of this: Peonies From Seed – Nate Bremer PDF

“There’s so much more to be discovered in peonies”1

Borst Flower Bulbs in Obdam has tulips in its genes. Three years ago a new crop was added: peonies. Apparently a totally different crop, yet peonies fit the workload perfectly and it offers so much more genetic possibilities. Hybridizer Paul Bijman and salesperson Menno Boots see a lot of perspective in the future.

With self-evident precision an employee of Borst Flower Bulbs picks a few sepals from the harvested peonies ‘Coral Sunset’, which have just been placed in auction flower buckets. “That’s because recently we had several days of hefty winds and the flower buds then hit one another, which sometimes results in brown edges and we don’t want to deliver such products,” explains Borst Flower Bulbs’ hybridizer Paul Bijman.


At the end of May it’s no longer tulip time but peony time instead at Borst Flower Bulbs in Obdam. Although the grading machines are sorting the tulip bulbs from the Southern Hemisphere, the focus is on peonies which daily leave the company in auction buckets and cardboard boxes. It is a new branch for Borst, but well thought through.”Our harvesting seasons of tulips ends more or less at the end of April. The deadheading of tulips in the fields also finishes at around the same time. Then a period of less work begins, until we start harvesting tulip bulbs in June. To spread the workload more evenly we were looking for an additional crop. Peonies were chosen, we already have everything we needed for it: cooling facilities, processing lines and also sales channels. We’re a Decorum member thanks to our tulips and we can now also sell our peonies through Decorum. In the flower trade the tulip resellers are usually also the peony resellers. What also brings tulips and peonies together is that both are seasonal flowers,” says Menno Boots, who is, together with Gijs Hoedjes, responsible for the flower trade.

The start was three years ago, this year is the first harvest, with some 300,000 stems finding their way to customers. As it is with tulips, Borst also chooses higher quality, meaning uniform, more open and heavy quality. Boots: “Our buyers recognize us for that, with peonies we want to follow suit.”

Paul Bijman between his flowering seedlings
Gijs Hoedjes (left) and Menno Boots are responsible for the sale of the peony cut flowers

Hybridization

Paul Bijman has been hybridizing tulips more than ten years. Five years ago Paul, Borst Flowers and Borst Flower Bulbs have started a company: Peony Breeding. It sounds strange at first. Hybridizing in a crop that already has such a wide assortment. What to look for then? “Profuse flowering, excellent bud presentation, preferably doubles, good vase life and upstanding foliage which results in easier processing.” According to Bijman those are the aspects where progress can be made. “For a long time hybridizing with peonies was done by amateur gardeners looking for a pretty peony. Specific qualities for them as cut flowers were not really considered.” He doesn’t share the wonderment over the wide assortment. “Take the tulip for example to see what what new shapes and colors are being added. With peonies there’s also so much more that can be found than has happened up to now.”

Last year the first seedlings have been selected and propagated, now it’s another three-year-wait to judge them again. Bijman likes what he sees. “Look, this seedling has 40 stems a plant after three years. And that’s a color not yet seen. We’re still looking for more doubles at the beginning of the season, so there’s plenty of work.”

Borst Flowers Obdam (Netherlands)

Just after the Second World War the young Jan Borst started growing tulips in Obdam. Through the years the company grew to become an important player in the introduction of new tulips. Borst had a keen eye for good seedlings, which he bought and propagated until there were enough of them to trade with. In 2010 his son Jos started the tulip cut flower business. The company distinguishes itself through a broad, mostly new assortment. Next to the main production of tulips in The Netherlands, it also grows tulips in Chili and New Zealand. Since 2016 Borst Flower Bulbs also grows peonies.

First harvest

Three years ago the first peonies were planted. Those who start with peonies, must not want to earn a quick buck. The flower harvest only starts the third year, which is this year. Till now the season has been going well. Temperatures have been stable, warmer extremes towards 30°C (86°F) as seen these last years have not occurred this time. There is another factor influencing trade this year however: Coronavirus. Notwithstanding this Menno Boots is satisfied. “We can easily sell our peony flowers. Exclusive markets like the United States and the Middle East are absent this year, but Germany buys and we’re happy with that. The Russian market has also recovered. Prices are only marginally below those of last year.”

Follow the market

Throughout the years Borst Flower Bulbs has become a large company with some 165 hectares (407 acres) of tulips. Such size is not the goal with peonies. “We never aimed to have such acreage with tulips, but we aimed to follow a certain market. That’s what your acreage is based upon,” says Boon. Because the harvest season of peonies is much shorter, the acreage is much more limited. “Of course you want repeat sales from the flower trade, but it must be manageable, so you need to fit the acreage to that.”

What the company does do in line with tulips is trying to lengthen the season through growing part of the peonies in the Southern Hemisphere. These flowers come to the Netherlands at the end of the year.

Old and new

How to start a new crop, what assortment to choose? Borst Flower Bulbs chose a combination of classics like ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ and ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ and new cultivars like ‘Pillow Talk’, ‘Class Act’, ‘Christmas Velvet’ and ‘Dynasty’. The last one is very promising, Bijman thinks. “Borst has bought this one at an auction and the hybridizer is unknown. ‘Dynasty’ is a very pretty, very double pink to white cultivar. Middle to late flowering and has clean, large flat buds. Those qualities, in combination with its profuse flowering, makes it an outstanding accession. The unique bud presentation makes a fine impression in the auction bucket and they are well paid for at the auction. We’re the only one growing it. By also investing in hybridization we aim for a more exclusive assortment.”

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Footnotes:
  1. Dwarswaard, A. & R. Faas. “Er valt nog zoveel meer uit de pioen te halen.” In: Greenity, June 5, 2020, pp. 12-15.[]

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Alaska is known more for its oil, fisheries, and tourism industries rather than horticulture. Our tiny population of 740,000 people scattered over nearly 172 million ha of land, yields a patchwork of small farms, market gardens and greenhouses whose markets are mostly local sales, farmers markets, and limited sales to grocery stores and restaurants. However, since 2004, Alaskans have joined the ranks of horticultural exporters based on a most unlikely crop for a subarctic climate – peonies as fresh cut flowers! Here is our story.

The industry

Peonies have been grown as a garden flower in Alaska since the early 1900s after the Klondike and Alaska Gold Rush brought thousands of people North to seek their fortunes. Peonies were planted occasionally in home gardens, but the roots were difficult to keep alive during transport to Alaska. Once planted, they often were killed by lack of snow cover, severe cold, winter freeze-thaw cycles, and soils that sometimes remained permanently frozen year-round.

Not until the 1970s were formal ornamental research trials conducted at the Fairbanks Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (University of Alaska Fairbanks [UAF]) to identify hardy species and cultivars as home landscape plants. Paeonia tenuifolia, P. anomala and cultivars mostly in the Lactiflora Group were found to be hardy, at least with snow cover. The early trials showed that species peonies bloomed in late May and early June, but many of the Lactiflora and Herbaceous hybrids did not bloom until July and August. In cool southern coastal regions, bloom season extended into late September.

Because Alaska had no horticultural exports of any kind, growers were unaware of the unique bloom time of peonies and how it might be used to support an industry. Only after Oregon peony grower and cut flower exporter, Mr Paul Sansone, visited Alaska in the mid 1990s did we learn of this unique, potentially rich niche market for Alaska growers. In 2001, our first research plots were planted at the UAF Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station to learn if peonies could be grown as cut flowers, discover how to grow them, explore potential markets, and help develop the infrastructure for Alaska’s first horticultural export crop.

Early field studies were promising, so much so that orders for peony stems began to arrive even before there were farmers to fill them. One buyer in London offered to purchase 100,000 stems per week for the entire summer season, only to find out peonies existed solely in research plots at UAF. Alaskan growers were skeptical about trying peonies, because no one had experience in an export flower market, and startup costs to establish a peony farm in Alaska were substantial (root prices alone averaged $3.00 per plant with desirable cultivars listed at $10 – $25 wholesale). Growers and researchers alike needed to learn how to grow peonies as cut flowers, identify locations in the state where they might grow, and which environmental and economic parameters might challenge the success of this industry.

In 2004, four growers planted the first trial gardens. Based upon their success, interest expanded, and new growers organized the Alaska Peony Growers Association to share successes and failures. Early communication among researchers and growers provided a critical link to success especially considering the size of the State and the distances between farms. The number of farms steadily grew, and currently, there are 136 peony farms in Alaska. They range in size from 0.10 ha to 6 ha.

Farm Locations

Farms are located primarily in three regions: Fairbanks (64.8378N, -147.7164oW) and vicinity in the Interior Region; the South Central Region near Palmer (61.5997oN, -149.1128W); and the Kenai Peninsula Region with the southernmost farms located in Homer (59.6425N, -151.5483W). The major population centers of Anchorage and Fairbanks occur within these regions, and are the center for ground, air and rail transportation. They are connected to the third largest air transport hub in the world through Anchorage which provides easy access to world markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Regional map of peony growers by Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Agriculture

Regional map of peony growers by Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Agriculture

Cut flower production ranges from 100 to 70,000 harvestable stems per farm. Growers must wait 2-5 years after planting before harvesting their first crop, and many growers are still in the early stages of field establishment. Other farms are expanding slowly after early successes. In 2018, 350,000 fresh cut stems were sold. In 4 years, predicted sales will approach 2 million stems. Although tiny compared to well established agricultural regions of the U.S., Alaska is poised to become a major player in the multi-billion-dollar fresh cut flower industry. The industry has overcome major obstacles in growing a commercial crop where none had existed previously. Progress has been slow and steady as growers identify field management practices appropriate for Alaska, work to identify disease, weed and insect pest pressures, develop marketing plans and educate buyers of this new availability. Alaska already has earned a reputation for high quality, huge flower buds with a superior vase life.

Production

Climate and Weather

The three peony producing regions are composed of distinct climate zones. The Interior Region is continental: warm and dry in summer with long, cold winters (average temp 12.7oC, May – Sept, -10.7oC in winter). Summer high temperatures often reach into the 20o to 30oC range, while winter temperatures occasionally drop into the – 40o to – 50oC range. Peony production is possible only with ample snow cover (average annual snowfall, 1.65 m) or other winter protection such as straw mulch. In the past 40 years, 100 percent of peony roots were killed twice at UAF due to a combined lack of snow and very cold temperatures. Growing seasons are dry (average annual precipitation, 276.8 mm with 180.3 mm summer rainfall) necessitating season-long irrigation.

Far North Flowers, Fairbanks, Alaska photoby Pat Holloway

Far North Flowers, Fairbanks, Alaska photo by Pat Holloway

The Kenai Peninsula Region is a maritime climate: cool in summer and moderately cold in winter (average temp 9.6oC, May – Sept, -1.7oC in winter) Summer high temperatures reach into the 15o to 25oC range in Homer. Snowfall can be heavy (average annual snowfall, 1.2 m) but also periods of freezing and thawing in winter that can cause problems with peony production especially if the soils are too wet. Site selection in this region is critical to prevent winter kill from root rot. Soils often freeze, but a mid-winter warm spell can cause surface soils to thaw with saturated soils above a layer of ice. Roots in the upper layers will rot in winter. Repeated freeze-thaw actions also cause frost heaving of roots. Most precipitation occurs during the winter months (average annual precipitation, 645 mm with 233 mm average rainfall in summer). Like other regions, all fields are irrigated.

Frosty Acres Peonies, Homer, Alaska

Frosty Acres Peonies, Homer, Alaska

The South Central Region has a cold, temperate climate, warmer in summer than the Kenai Peninsula, but cooler than the Interior region (average temp 10.9oC, May – Sept, -5.5oC in winter). Some areas have deep winter snows (average annual snowfall, 1.4 m), whereas others have very strong winds that remove snow cover and desiccate the fields. The same freeze-thaw problems and frost heaving that occur on the Kenai Peninsula are common. Average annual precipitation is 406.6 mm; 286 mm in rainfall in summer. Like the other regions, nearly all peony fields are irrigated at least for the first part of the summer. This region also hosts Alaska’s major commercial vegetable production.

Wasilla Lights Farm, Wasilla, Alaska

Wasilla Lights Farm, Wasilla, Alaska

The greatest number of peony farms is in the Interior Region, in part because of the availability of farmland. The Kenai Peninsula Region has the oldest peony farm, but appropriate land for peony farming is limited, and they tend to be quite small in size. In the early years, cut flower harvest began in the warm Interior Region (late June – mid July) followed by South Central Region (early July – mid August) and the Kenai Peninsula (mid July – September) with slight overlap among the regions. More recently, summer conditions have been unpredictable with the Kenai Peninsula showing warmer, drier conditions and a greater overlap with Interior cutting seasons.

Alaska Perfect Peony, Homer, Alaska

Alaska Perfect Peony, Homer, Alaska

Production Systems

Most peony roots are imported from the Netherlands or from distributors, growers and breeders in the contiguous United States. Some root suppliers in the U.S. purchase starter roots from the Netherlands, grow them two years, the re-sell them to meet the 3 to 5-eye standard for bud quantity.

Crates of roots arriving at North Pole Peonies, North Pole, Alaska

Crates of roots arriving at North Pole Peonies, North Pole, Alaska

‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is the most frequently planted cultivar followed by ‘Duchesse de Nemours’, ‘Festiva Maxima’, and “Felix Crousse’. ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is one of the few peonies requested by name by florists and other direct consumer outlets. ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ is a standard white cultivar, but it has a very short harvest window once buds begin to soften. They also continue to open easily in cold storage if low temperatures are not maintained. Many other cultivars, particularly full double, semi-double, bomb and Japanese cultivars are sold in smaller quantities as experiments. Most Intersectional (ITOH) hybrids have a very short vase life and are not grown as cut flowers. Single petaled peonies release copious quantities of pollen in late bloom and are not as desirable as flowers with fewer anthers. Originally, growers believed that the double and semi-double cultivars would have a longer vase life than Japanese or singles, but vase life is more related to cultivar rather than type.

Pioneer Peonies, Wasilla, Alaska

Pioneer Peonies, Wasilla, Alaska

Summer sales volume ranked by color include: white, ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ pink, red, blush pink, bright pink (fuchsia), cream and coral. Coral-colored peonies would rank higher by volume, but they are susceptible to winterkill in many parts of the State and are grown only in certain geographic locations. Demand for corals far exceeds supply.

Field Planting

Peonies are planted in single or double rows with a minimum spacing between plants of 60 cm. Between-row spacings depend on the harvest method. All harvesting is by hand, and growers use everything from garden carts to tractor-pulled trailers to move flowers from the field to cold storage. Growers strive to allow no more than one hour between cutting and placement of flowers into cold storage.

Funny River Peonies, Kenai, Alaska

Funny River Peonies, Kenai, Alaska

Growers use flat or raised beds (15 – 25 cm) with sufficient spacing between rows to allow picking from two rows at once. Rows spaced 2 m apart or closer often are trellised to allow easier harvesting especially for the robust ‘Sarah Bernhardt’. In large producing regions, rows can be hundreds of meters in length with runners employed to transport hand-held bundles of flowers to waiting trailers and trucks. On small Alaska farms where labor is in short supply, rows often are shortened to 8- 10 m sections with aisles bisecting the rows. A single harvester can cut and hold a bundle of flowers the length of these short rows, then place the flowers in carts at the end of the short rows, thus eliminating runners.

Many organic farms use woven or spun-bonded landscape fabric to cover rows for weed control. Irrigation is accomplished with trickle tape placed beneath the fabric or larger emitters spaced at each planting hole. The tapes can last for years, but can be destroyed by vole chewing the tapes or moose stepping on them any time of year. Plants up to five years of age do not often show water stress except in very dry years or on sandy soils. As the plants mature and increase in size, water deficiencies in the form of stunted stem growth and curled leaves (lengthwise with the midrib) become common especially in the Interior Region. Summer irrigation significantly increases stem length, but has no effect on eventual vase life.

Soils in all regions vary significantly in pH and many require additions of agricultural lime before planting and occasionally thereafter. Fields are fertilized once in early summer and again only if the plants show deficiency symptoms. Most Alaska soils are infertile and require complete fertilizers for optimum production. Dr. Mingchu Zhang, (University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK) has developed tissue diagnostic tests for evaluating the health of peony plants.

Growth and Harvesting

Peony growth is quite rapid depending on the air and soil temperatures. In the Interior Region, flowers reach harvest date approximately 30 days after buds emerge from the soil. The season is longer in coastal areas with a cooler climate. Besides hand or chemical weeding, the first important labor demand is disbudding. Many cultivars of peonies produce a single large terminal bud, but the majority of cultivars also produce two or more lateral buds. Some growers are experimenting with leaving the side buds in place, but most side buds are removed as soon as they can be reached and before they leave an unsightly stub.

Peonies are harvested by hand using knives or clippers. With a few exceptions, stems exceed 60 cm in length at harvest. Depending on the vigor of the plant, up to two-thirds of the stems with buds are cut from each plant. Removing too many stems, especially on cultivars that produce fewer than 10 stems per plant, can lead to a reduction in yield in subsequent years.

The most challenging part of harvesting peonies is learning the correct stage for each cultivar. Most references describe cutting at the “marshmallow” stage which is not a very helpful description. Two things determine proper cutting stage: cultivar and market. Harvest flowers too early when sepals completely cover the petals, and the flower will not open. Wait until the petals have begun to separate, and buds may blow open in cold storage, and vase life may be shortened. Growers identify stages based upon environmental conditions at their farm as well as the cultivar, then test the stages by performing vase live evaluations to make sure they cut at the optimum stage. Red cultivars usually have softer buds than pink or white cultivars. Some cultivars such as ‘Ann Cousins’ are notorious for being difficult to harvest, relying on slight color changes and softening of the petals.

In general, when sepals separate, peony petals show true color, and the buds begin to soften. harvest begins. In the North, where daylight can reach nearly 24 hours, harvesting occurs nonstop for 12 – 14 hours per day. If the markets are wholesale distributors or if they require long distance transport, buds are harvested tighter than if sold to local farmers markets. Peonies should never be sold in full bloom even for local markets because vase life will be very short.

Diseases, insects and other challenges

In other parts of the world, peony fields remain productive for ten or more years. The oldest fields at the University of Alaska are 18 years old and continue to yield well. As fields become established, several pests and diseases emerge even in areas where agricultural crops have never been grown before. The most significant problem is Botrytis gray mold diseases that impact young emerging shoots, maturing foliage and flower buds, as well as cut flowers in cold storage. Early assessments identified B. paeoniae, B. cinerea, and B. pseudocinerea as common disease-causing species, but recent research by Drs. Gary Chastagner and Andrea Garfinkel (Washington State University Department of Plant Pathology, Puyallup, WA) revealed an amazing genetic diversity including up to 16 phylogenetic species in the Pacific Northwest alone. The pathogenicity of these species as well as the efficacy of current control measures are being studied.

Botrytis on bud. Photo by Pat Holloway

Botrytis on bud. Photo by Pat Holloway

Botrytis on foliage. Photo by Pat Holloway

Botrytis on foliage. Photo by Pat Holloway

Control measures include fungicides, wide plant spacings to promote air circulation and reduce leaf wetness, and field sanitation. One often overlooked method of transmission of Botrytis in a field is during petal fall. If old flowers are not removed, petals landing on leaves can provide food for germinating spores that can, in turn, infect the leaves. Fields also are cleaned of all foliage and stems at the end of the season, and stubble is often burned to prevent disease resting structures from persisting in the field over winter.

Botrytis infection on leaves from petals stuck to the leaf. Photo by Pat Holloway

Botrytis infection on leaves from petals stuck to the leaf. Photo by Pat Holloway

Tobacco rattle virus (TRV), also known as peony ringspot or peony mosaic, appeared early in Alaska peony fields – imported on infected rootstock. The brilliant yellow rings, spots and chevron-type patterns that show up on the leaves usually appear seasonally after cutting. Depending on the air temperature, they can appear early and significantly impact cut flower quality. Cooler air temperatures promote the symptoms. Plants are not inspected for TRV, and there is no existing quarantine. In some commercial fields, up to 50% of the roots imported to Alaska have shown TRV depending on the root supplier. Some TRV isolates are transmitted by nematodes that are not known to survive in Alaska. However, TRV persists in the plant. Besides striking color patterns in the leaves, nothing is known about TRV effects on yield or plant longevity. Dr. Chastagner found that TRV did not affect vase life of ‘Sara Bernhardt’ peonies. The only management is to rogue out the affected plants.

Tobacco rattle virus Photo by Pat Holloway

Tobacco rattle virus Photo by Pat Holloway

Three other fungal pathogens were found by Drs. Chastagner and Garfinkel in Alaska, but they are not as common or as widespread as Botrytis and TRV: red spot or licorice spot disease, Mycocentrospora acerina, white mold or leaf spot, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and Phoma sp. Very little information is available regarding the biology, spread, and management of these pathogen on peonies. They are managed with fungicides and sanitation.

Peonies and nectar flow

Approximately two weeks before anthesis, nectar flow begins on peony buds. There are no well-defined extra-floral nectaries on peonies, but the sugary exudate oozes from the red edges of the sepals. The nectar beads up along the edges of the sepals, spills out over the buds, covering all surfaces and collects at the base of the sepals. In seasons with no rainfall, the buds can become so sticky, they make harvesting very difficult. Even walking through the closely-spaced field can be a challenge. The nectar also attracts a variety of insects including ants, honey bees, bumble bees, wasps, hornets and aphids. Most do no harm to the peonies but can be a nuisance for workers.

Nectar oozing from edges of sepals about 2 weeks before flowering. Photo by Pat Holloway

Nectar oozing from edges of sepals about 2 weeks before flowering. Photo by Pat Holloway

In humid and rainy parts of Alaska, a black, sooty mold fungus grows on the nectar, especially the quantities that collect at the base of the flower bud. The buds must be pre-treated with a fungicide or individually washed after harvest to remove this mold before sale. Some growers include honey bee hives in their peony fields, and they are very efficient at collecting the nectar and minimizing the mold problem. Sooty mold is a problem in the South Central and Kenai Peninsula Regions, but not Interior Region.

Occasionally, aphids will appear on peonies but mostly in fields surrounded by birch trees (Betula alaskana). Two significant insect pests are thrips and lygus bugs. Thrips cause bud distortion, bud abortion, flower drop and bruising on petals. Up to 12 species of thrips have been identified including western flower thrips that can cause flowers to be rejected during inspections for foreign shipments. Dr. Beverly Gerdeman, (Washington State University, Mt Vernon, WA) has shown that thrips migrate from weedy areas at the edges of the fields beginning in mid May when plants are only 7 – 10 cm tall. Thrips first settle between the bracts and sepals or between sepals and petals of early stage buds. From these protected locations, thrips lay eggs and progressively move further into the bud as the bud slowly opens. Damage is early in the life of the flower and internal making control very difficult. Although the damage to peonies is most visible on white-flowered cultivars because of the bruising and scarring caused on petals, thrips do not discriminate based on color.

Thrips crawling all over peony in full bloom. Photo by Pat Holloway

Thrips crawling all over peony in full bloom. Photo by Pat Holloway

Lygus bugs appear in early May but the greatest infestations begin in June. They have piercing, sucking mouth parts that can cause bud deformities and bud abortion. Both thrips and lygus bugs are managed with insecticides, weed control, use of fabric weed barriers and field sanitation.

Lygus bug eggs on bottom of flower bud Photo by Dr Beverly Gerdeman, Washington State University, Mount Vernon

Lygus bug eggs on bottom of flower bud Photo by Dr Beverly Gerdeman, Washington State University, Mount Vernon

Other losses to fresh cut peonies may be caused by hail especially during end-stage bud development, crooked stems due to weak or rapid shoot elongation; and a physiological disorder called cabbage heads where the guard petals are shorter than normal and flowers are flattened. The cause of cabbage heads is unknown, although cultivars vary in susceptibility.

Storage and Post-harvest Handling

Peonies are harvested and immediately placed into cool rooms (approximately 10oC) to remove field heat. As soon as possible, stems are cut to length depending on the buyer (~60 cm) and graded according to bud size (AAA: ~60mm, AA: 40 mm, A: 35mm)The lower two or three leaves are removed. Stems are stored dry in buckets or crates or stacked on shelves in cold rooms (0.5 – 1.0 °C; >80% relative humidity). Cut stems stored in water will continue to open in the cold room. Herbaceous peonies do not release large quantities of ethylene, and chemical preservatives such as sucrose, citric acid, do not extend vase life.

Cold storage at Arctic Sun Peonies, North Pole, Alaska

Cold storage at Arctic Sun Peonies, North Pole, Alaska

Storage at Fox Hollow Peonies, Nenana, Alaska

Storage at Fox Hollow Peonies, Nenana, Alaska

They can be stored up to four weeks without losing flower quality although leaves will dehydrate even at high humidity. Research with controlled atmosphere storage is occurring in France, Netherlands and the United States to learn if longer term storage is possible.

Prior to shipment, stems are re-hydrated in warm water for 15 – 30 minutes. Stems may be bundled into sets of 5 or held in large upright bundles for transport depending on market demand. Flowers are packed into boxes lined with newsprint or dacron® sheets. Ice packs are often included, but temperature effects only last a maximum of 10 hours in transit.

Boxed peonies, Pioneer Peonies, Wasilla Alaska

Boxed peonies, Pioneer Peonies, Wasilla Alaska

Peony Markets

Fresh cut peonies in Alaska sell for $1.00 to $7.00 per stem depending on the market. The highest dollar value is for coral colored peonies. Alaska growers either work independently or sell as part of a pack house or cooperative. Pack houses have a single owner who may or may not be a grower. The owner buys directly from nearby farms to increase volume, but sales are from the owner’s company. Cooperatives are collectively owned by member farms, and they work together to sell, pack and distribute flowers. There are six pack houses/cooperatives in Alaska with five to 12 participants in each.

The markets are diverse and include farmers markets, direct sales to consumers, florists and funeral planners, bulk sales through grocery stores, regional wholesale houses, floral distributors, and event planners. Some growers work with a single buyer, however most work with a mixture of buyers such as local farmers markets, floral distributors and florists. Although an export is most commonly considered a foreign market, Alaska distinguishes foreign and domestic exports to other regions of the United States since the distribution and handling often are similar. With the exception of California, Alaska peonies move freely among States with no inspection or permit requirements. Like many cut flower growers worldwide, a major concern is maintaining a cold chain from field to buyer. Shipping peonies during the hottest part of the summer with carriers that don’t always respect the perishability of cut flowers, is always a challenge.

Alaska Grown brand managed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture. Photo by Pioneer Peonies

Alaska Grown brand managed by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Agriculture. Photo by Pioneer Peonies

Both domestic and foreign exports are critical to the continued growth of this industry because Alaska’s population and local markets are very small. Presently all domestic and foreign exports are carried by air transport. As the volume of flowers increases, growers will employ barge shipments with refrigerated vans from Anchorage as well as refrigerated truck shipments through Canada. The grower’s biggest challenge is educating domestic and world markets that field grown, fresh cut peonies from Alaska truly are available in July, August and September. Dutch sales in 2018 exceeded 78 million peony stems, and Alaska sales have not reached one million. There is definitely room to grow!

About the author: Patricia Holloway is Professor Emerita of Horticulture at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She conducted horticultural research in Fairbanks for more than 30 years on a diversity of crops, especially Alaska wild berries. Her research with peonies was instrumental in providing the foundation for the cut flower industry in Alaska. Presently, she is a horticultural consultant for the peony industry and book publisher through her company, A.F. Farmer, LLC.

The Peony Society wishes to thank Patricia Holloway for granting us permission to republish this article which first appeared in Chronica Horticulturae. We also thank the publisher of that magazine, ISHS, for that permission.

Peonies In Alaska – Chronica Horticulturae 2019

About a year ago, an article was published in a Dutch trade journal, Greenity, about long term Ultra Low Oxygen (ULO) storage of peonies. It stated that a few cut flower growers had been successful keeping peony flowers for several months without losing (too much) quality. We were very interested in this from a commercial point of view as it seemed our own efforts of keeping them for a longer time always failed miserably. A few weeks never was a problem, but after two to three weeks the omnipresent fungus botrytis always appeared rendering the flowers useless. Some other growers are definitely better at keeping them in storage than we do, but some four weeks after the main season, the peonies I could see at the flower auction were not particularly impressive. There’s good reason why fresh peonies from Alaska are such a growing business as they are that late in the season simply far superior in quality to longer stored ones. They will open better, have a longer vase life and will be less infected with botrytis.

But apart from growing peonies in regions far north (the Baltic states (Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia) or some Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland)) would keeping them in ULO not be a viable option we thought? So we have bought a dozen ULO-storage boxes from Janny MT. In one of those boxes there’s room for some 700-800 stems and it is theoretically possible to keep them for several months. Dreams of selling peony flowers at Halloween come to mind, but we’d be glad if we got them until August or early September.

The boxes arrived here in April. Nothing special about them, they are plastic boxes of the standard pallet size, about one metre high. A special cover is placed over them which closes them from the outside air. There are several membranes that let the CO2 (carbon dioxide) out and less O2 (oxygen) in. Flowers in the dark use up O2 and change it into CO2, so the O2 decreases naturally within the boxes. The membranes can be individually closed with some caps so that the speed and depth of the ULO-process can be managed. There’s an instrument to measure the oxygen content within the boxes as well.

There’s little point in keeping the flowers from greenhouses for later storage as the early ones are usually the most expensive ones, but we still did try with some Coral Charm because at least we had a chance to try it once before the main season was in full swing. So the first ones were placed in the box around April 20th, and taken out of them May 5th, some two weeks later just before Mother’s Day. They had been harvested, placed in water, then taken out and left for a few hours to dry before being placed into them. They looked perfectly fine afterwards, but of course two weeks isn’t a real challenge to be honest. There was some frost damage which we didn’t expect. Apparently during the cooling down process the cold wind froze some of the foliage (anyone will surely know the phenomenon that the same cold temperature feels a lot more chilling when the wind blows). There was some condensation, but not too much and we were able to sell them all to a few local florists who told us they were perfectly fine. We hadn’t reached O2 contents below 5% however, which is the stated goal. That resulted from our faulty understanding of how the membranes work. We left five of the six membranes open, because we thought that would make the oxygen contents decrease fastest. Wrong, the more membranes you close, the faster O2 decreases. When fully closed O2 decreases very fast, but at the end no oxygen will remain and all living things in it shall die. That’s why the membranes are there, to let some O2 in, but only very little.

Measuring the oxygen content
frost damage

At the beginning of June we filled all the boxes. This time they were placed in a cold room where we also placed an air-dryer to get a low Relative Humidity (RH) below 70% to start with (the log results from the first trial with Coral Charm showed that we started at around 85% RH, which seemed rather high). They were harvested, sorted, bunched, placed in water for a few hours, taken out, left to dry for several hours in a cold room and then placed into the boxes. They were cooled down to some 5-7°C after which the boxes were closed and placed into a cold room that was kept at around 2°C for the rest of the time. Caps were placed on them and this time we got the O2 below 5%. So all we had to do then was wait…

I must also add that there’s a project, Atmo-flor, running at a local research centre in cooperation with the university of Ghent. Some (very) large growers of other ornamental crops and one small one (me) are part of this and the project will run for 4 years. You can read more about it in the green box, but they are also testing the same ULO-boxes with peonies as part of the project. They have provided me with loggers to log temperature and humidity within the boxes and have visited several times to take air samples and analyse both gas contents and ethylene levels. The have used their own Sarah Bernhardt plants for the test, but I’ve also provided them with The Fawn so there would be more than one variety.

Their results have been more or less the same as mine. It’s an ongoing project, thus there’s still room for improvement the following years. The results are still to be discussed within the team and some minor remarks may still be made, but I’ve received the results in a handy presentation where I’ve simply changed the Dutch language into some English and I think it’s easy to simply show it to you with some personal remarks next to it.

“ATMO-FLOR: Preservation technologies for maintaining quality throughout the ornamental plant production chain”

Suboptimal preservation and transport conditions of plantlets, cuttings, flowers and whole plants in the ornamental production chain leads to big annual losses for several growers. To avoid as much losses as possible, both transport and preservation time is kept as short as possible to guarantee high quality products. However, for a better production spreading and to reach a larger export area, longer preservation and transport is necessary.

Plants or plant parts are alive. This means that they respire and transpire. Both respiration and transpiration rate have an important influence on the quality and regrowth after preservation and transport because they affect the energy and water reserves of the plants and plant parts. When one or both of these parameters increases, the quality of the material will decrease.

The aim of my research is to prolong the preservation and transport time without additional loss of quality. To reach this goal, I will look into the current preservation and transport conditions in the sector together with the PCS. Next to this, I will study the respiration of several plant species and in close cooperation with the UGent Department of Food Technology, Safety and Health, I will examine the potential of the application of equilibrium modified atmosphere packaging.
This research is funded by VLAIO-LA.

Source: Ghent University

As has been said before, the aim is to have peony flowers available over a longer period without loss of quality.

Here’s an image of one of those ULO boxes with a close-up of a membrane and next to it showing that it releases CO2 but only lets in a small amount of O2.

At the research centre, they have proceeded the same way we suggested. Harvesting, placing into water, drying, into the box, cooling, closing. They also placed some in a cardboard box with some plastic inside to compare with. With the plastic inside it was assumed they would not dry out. The only difference was assumed to be the oxygen level then.

With the benefit of hindsight (see the results further down) we should never have placed the peonies in water beforehand. A short while ago a scientific paper was published where it was clearly demonstrated that dry storage is far superior to wet storage. But at the time of the experiment I hadn’t read it. My reasoning was that when cutting during hot weather the petals are easily dried up and damaged. Thus I assumed some rehydration and than drying again would mean there was sufficient water in the stems whilst the flowers and foliage would be dry. Besides, one cannot always cut during dry weather, it does rain from time to time…

As mentioned before, two cultivars were used. The ubiquitous Sarah Bernhardt and my favorite pink The Fawn. Sarah Bernhardt is the most widely available thus results for this would be interesting for every grower. The peony plot at the research station is more or less organically grown, that is they don’t spray any fungicides nor insecticides. Herbicides hadn’t been used either as there was an experiment with different mulches to see which one best kept weeds at bay. On the other hand, I was convinced that my peonies needed spraying as I didn’t want any problems with botrytis. I used some of the best and newest fungicides available nowadays (‘signum’ which has boscalid and pyraclostrobin as active ingredients). The Fawn was cut at a fairly soft bud stage, which I usually do because I want them to open well. At that stage The Fawn has an open ‘rose’ bud, unlike Sarah Bernhardt which has closed buds. A closed bud will probably keep better in storage and the inner petals are better protected of course.

These are the measurements from the boxes at the research station. They are comparable to mine. My ‘tiempo tester’ which measure the O2 and CO2 gave the same results as theirs, so at the very least we know it’s a reliable instrument. In the cardboard box the oxygen levels remained at normal levels. Within the ULO box the oxygen decreased to below 5%. CO2 levels first went up in the ULO box, but then stabilized, whereas in the cardboard box nothing changed. What you see is that ethylene levels rose dramatically within the ULO box. That is a dangerous thing is assumed, but in fact no detrimental effects have been noticed afterwards.

After 6 weeks the first ULO box was opened, the second one after 10 weeks. As you can see from the image, after six weeks the results were more or less ok. After 10 weeks however there was a lot of botrytis. The foliage was ‘fresh’ as were the flowers, but there was a lot of condensation inside the box and nearly all of the flowers were wet to some degree. The constant wetness was obviously the root of all problems here. The loggers all showed the same thing, although Relative Humidity started around 70%, it gradually rose to 100%.  Temperatures however had remained fairly constant, around 1,5-2°C with no spikes at all (the loggers recorded data every five minutes).

And here’s the cardboard box. At 6 weeks it was manageable, at 10 weeks all could be thrown away.

Here’s an important result: all flowers were graded according to botrytis damage. 0 being none and 3 being fully rotted. Peonies graded 1 could be used if you carefully peeled of one outer petal. Grade 2 would be too much as the botrytis would continue destroying the flower. Ideally we should only see grade 0, but we all know the world isn’t perfect.

At 6 weeks some 80-90% of Sarah Bernhardt was still fit to be sold. But only some 15% was totally free from botrytis. Clearly ULO storage is not fit for organically grown peonies. At 10 weeks, results were even poorer, with half of them ready to be composted.

The Fawn did better, some 90% showed zero botrytis at 6 weeks, with the remainder some slight infections. At 10 weeks however the situation was different, a quarter had to be thrown away.

Mention also that the cardboard box at 6 weeks wasn’t too bad either. Results were more or less comparable. At 10 weeks however the ULO boxes are clearly the better option.

Botrytis isn’t the only quality issue. Important for the end user of course is whether they will open well and how long they will remain fresh in a vase. Thus we’ve also measured that.

So here are some more quality measurements. As you can see keeping peonies in storage does decrease vase life, although the results aren’t too bad. When placed in a vase right after cutting you can see a customer has a long time to enjoy them. It must be said that Sarah Bernhardt has such a long vase life because they were cut at an earlier stage and they took several days before starting to open, whilst The Fawn opened much faster.

After 6 and 10 weeks The Fawn had a better vase life than Sarah Bernhardt, suggesting some cultivars will be better fit for ULO treatment than others. I’ve trialled several other varieties and concluded the same.

As you can see Sarah Bernhardt which is reputed for being a difficult opener had a large part not getting past flowering stage 3 and 4. The Fawn was a better opener as nearly all of them opened completely. At 10 weeks for both cultivars it can be seen that opening quality decreased, although I’d say that buyers of The Fawn wouldn’t be disappointed.

All in all, the results are thus mixed. 6 weeks seems to be ok, at 10 weeks we have some more experimenting to do. It is obvious that spraying against botrytis is necessary. And next year they’ll be placed directly into the ULO boxes without placing them in water first. We’ll also put some silica-gel into the boxes to get some moisture out of the air. According to the supplier of the boxes we should keep temperature fluctuations very very low (although the loggers didn’t log much difference). We’ll also cool them down much deeper before closing the boxes and we’ll try to get the temperature closer to zero. We’ll see next year with these changes if we have more success.

Some other growers had good results with the boxes, others not so, so there’s still some work to be done.

If it all works well, in a few years time peonies should be available over a longer period of time. But then the question remains whether it’s all worthwhile? From the prices growers fetched this year there’s little to support doing it large-scale. Look at the chart showing the numbers sold and prices fetched of peonies at the auctions of Royal Flora Holland. The blue bars show the numbers this year, clearly the numbers are still rising, at peak time some 4 million stems are sold weekly at the auctions (without the ‘direct sale’ of flowers that don’t pass before a ‘clock’). The blue line shows the prices this year, and the red one last year in the same weeks. As can be seen, growers didn’t receive a premium for keeping them in storage and would have been better of selling them during the peak season itself. If quality rises, then a market can be formed, but we might assume it’s an uphill struggle.

The Fawn with water droplets on them
Madame Claude Tain was also tested, the outer petals were fine but inside several petals were also infected
The stems didn't dry out in the ULO boxes whereas dry storage did result in dehydration, here's Coral Charm from ULO (left) and dry storage (right)

The last few issues of the Paeonia newsletter have been sent to us recently and the collection is now complete for all to download and read. Bill Seidl, the late American hybridizer, was a regular contributor to it, but not all his writings have been published. This is one of these, as a reply to an article: “Lessons in genetics I: unreduced gametes in interspecific hybrids and their implications for the origin of new polyploid species” by Don Smith. Thanks to Theresa De Jager for typing and mailing me Bill’s handwritten letter. Note: when Bill talks about ‘moutan’ he refers to the shrubby suffruticosa hybrids, be they the Chinese or Japanese ones. So now: enjoy one his peony writings:

In vol 27, #1, Winter 1996, don Smith says (p4) the inevitable transition to the tetraploid level – already a fact in the herbaceous hybrids – “is also well underway in the shrub peony hybrids.”

This may seem suprising to many readers who have little or no experience in this area, but it rang true with me. Since the ’70’s, when I germinated about a dozen seeds from Golden Era (GE) x Chinese Dragon (and reverse). I have found increasing fertility between these seedlings crossed with each other, with seedlings of other crosses, and with other named varieties: Age of Gold, Boreas, etc. I was at first astounded to find 10 or 11 firm seeds (“sinkers” when freshly harvested) in a single carpelhead, then climbing to higher counts. 18 was a record for several years, then 23 appeared last season in a cross of #35 x #97 (Mystic Mood). SH (Shrub Hybrid) #35 is from GE x Chinese Dragon, and this particular carpel head had seven carpels instead of the usual five.

Frankly, however, during all this time, I did not really attribute the increasing fertility to tetraploidy. I thought they were diploids which, because of their increasingly advanced generations (some are F6s or F7s beginning with the F1s that gave rise to Saunders F2A and F2B), were becoming a true-breeding diploid “species” or population. I thought they all were 50% moutan and 50% delavayi/lutea in genetic makeup, being derived equally from those two species ancestors. One reason for that thinking was that all had some of the “lutea hook” – even if it was only a slight bend in the flower stem just below the flower. If any had a preponderance of moutan genes, say 5/8 moutan and 3/8 delavayi-lutea, I figured the “lutea hook” would disappear. To resolve the problem, some backcrosses to moutan were made. All failed except SH13 (Anna Marie) x ‘Shintenchi’. This took fairly well and of four seedlings that have bloomed, all had the desired up-facing flowers – no lutea hook, but all were seed sterile. All have “naked” anthers – no pollen – (that, however, seems to be an inherited characteristic going back to ‘Anna Marie’ and her seed parent Reath’s A197). I assumed these four seedlings are therefore 75% moutan and 25% delavayi-lutea, still diploids, albeit sterile. One of them I named Fuchsia Ruffles.

See figure 1 (I’ve diagrammed their assumed genetic makeup in which I replace Don’s “n” (page 5) with “m” and “d” to represent the moutan & delavayi-lutea sets of chromosomes.)

The “lutea-hook”?

The yellow Paeonia lutea is now usually considered to be synonymous with Paeonia delavayi, but still different from the other yellow shrub peony P. ludlowii. Introducing this species into the modern shrubby hybrids has resulted in very pretty colors, but there is a drawback:

“Unlike Japanese P. suffruticosa cultivars, P. delavayi often imparts poor flower carriage to hybrid offspring, in the form of nodding blossoms. Many first generation hybrids (F1’s) have a curve in the flower stem, which causes a downward carriage, often referred to as the “lutea hook”, directly inherited from P. delavayi. This has been a major impediment to enjoying the large voluptuous flowers in many of the hybrids, as they face down, are hidden in the foliage or touch the ground. The cultivar ‘Souvenir du professeur Maxime Cornu’ has flowering habits that exemplify these characteristics, as do many others to an equal or lesser degree.”
Bramer, Nate.”Woody Paeonia. Part 4: The Lutea Hybrids.” In: The American Peony Society Bulletin, 2019, no 389, p. 28.

Figure 1

Anna Marie
Anna Marie

Figure 2

Thinking along the same lines (i.e.: increasing the moutan, can I push the moutan past the 50% barrier?), I looked for named hybrids to use in breeding that were already over the 50% line, Zephyrus (see figure 2) and Leda came to mind.

Leda seemed sterile both ways, Zephyrus appeared to be seed-sterile, but its pollen, though difficult to extract, turned out to be quite effective. (Under a microscope only 10% of the grains appeared plump/well formed, but that 10% is potent with other fertile shrub hybrids.) I reasoned that if Zephyrus was 75% moutan (it had quite good carriage although short stemmed), that my seedlings were 50% moutan and that if reduced gametes were the rule, crosses between the two would inherit half of 50% and half of 75%, thus resulting in 62.5% moutan genes, enough to provide moutan type carriage to the blossoms (see figure 3).

Figure 3

I harvested ample seeds (#35 produced up to 10 seeds per carpel head), but regrettably planted and germinated relatively few – less than a dozen. #35 x Zephyrus  yielded a fine-looking single of pure pink color (no yellow influences) later named Rosalind Elsie Franklin with upright blossoms, i.e. the petal “plane” is perpendicular to the stem. Outer stems may lean, but there is little or none of the lutea hook. It seems to be seed sterile, but it’s 10% pollen is potent. #11 x Zephyrus yielded three seedlings: one of them, #58, and very good carriage both ways.

So the results I was  observing sort of agreed with what I expected from my theorizing: the diploid state was the ploidy level of the shrub hybrids. If more seedlings were elevated to the 50% plus level, I expected they would be more compatible in backcrosses to 100% moutans and the way would be clear toward a moutan-like race of hybrids that would be 15/16 moutan, 1/16 delavayi-lutea, with the 1/16 carrying the yellow color influence and stoloniferous root. This was the goal stated for the Daphnis line of breeding which seemed quite sensible and proper.

When Don proposed that the shrub hybrids are reaching the tetraploid stage, it immediately seemed quite plausible to me. It explains their increasing inter-fertility and the sterility problems in backcrosses to diploid moutan.

My “philosophy” or “way of thinking” about peony breeding is guided by a number of principles and factors.

I think I have seen fairly strong evidence that peonies generally do better with outcrossing, i.e. the crossing of two different parents.  This is true of many plants but not necessarily all.  With two different chromosomes in heterozygosity, there is a much better chance of a “good” allele covering for a “poor” or mutant allele and hence the organism to retain health.  Of course, inbreeding, i.e. creating homozygosity, can exaggerate a characteristic whether good or bad.  However, in peonies, wherever I have noted self pollen on stigmata (sometimes flowers shed their pollen before opening) before going on to pollinate with a desired, different pollen, I have often noted a reduced yield of seed at harvest compared to the same cross where there was no self pollen.  Similarly, some varieties like Lemon Chiffon, seem to readily set seed without artificial help.  However, on a number of occasions, the hand-pollinated Lemon Chiffon, seemed to grow normal seedlings, whereas the unaided Lemon Chiffon would generally grow a batch of very stunted “poor do-er” seedlings.  My interpretation of this was that the unaided Lemon Chiffon was self-pollinating!

Because heterozygosity is generally healthier, I like to try and get as wide a diversity of seedlings as possible as I head toward a particular goal, i.e. I am trying to bring a population of seedlings along from widely varied sources.  This will help to maintain fertility and health from generation to generation.  I try not to get too fixated on a particular “magic” cross, which is like putting all your money on one particular horse race!  I have done this in my efforts to get an early white double.  It could have been a winner as there were desired characteristics in both parents, but in this case, just a disappointing number of mediocre seedlings!

The pod parent for the ‘Early White Double’ crosses, early and very white, but a slow grower

The pollen parent, even earlier, but too floppy

The result, a large number of mediocre seedlings

Another important consideration is that time is short (!), and that I will only achieve a few generations in my time.  For a number of reasons, I find deciding on the suitability of a new variety a slow process.  Firstly, I find peony flowers tend to alter over the first few years of flowering.  One incident that I remember vividly, was to rogue all the plants of a particular cross that produced a single-type flower in their first year, in a bid to be “efficient”.  However, despite lifting a lot of rejects, I failed to remove them all, due no doubt to some other call on my time, or perhaps laziness.  Imagine my surprise that all, everyone, of the plants noted as single in their first flowering, but unintentionally left to flower again, turned into doubles in the following year.


Secondly, seasons vary from year to year, giving different results.  One yellow double seedling I had, had a particularly good year.  The colour was strong, clear yellow, the double flower shape was very refined and symmetrical, and the bush was neat and strong.  I felt strongly that this was the plant that all my hybridizing efforts would be remembered by.  However, in the last three years since then, it has never looked particularly good.

So, because time is short, I tend to co-opt new seedlings into the breeding programme, even before I have made final decisions about their worth as a possible named variety.

When it comes to the actual crosses I make year by year, some are planned because of previous years’ results, but quite a lot is decided on the day as and when I see the flowers opening.  I have the overall goals, e.g. early white, late true red, in my mind, but I also have a mental check list of attributes that I am looking for in individual parent plants.  In approximate order of importance from most important to least is:

  1. Interesting colour, beautiful shape.  This is slightly vague because colour, and beauty, can jump around a lot from generation to generation.  For instance, crossing a pure white with blueish red (both herbaceous hybrids) may not sound particularly interesting with probably many doubtful pinks, but such a cross, I have found, can throw pure whites and true reds as well as all those unwanted shades.    Similarly, beautiful shape is serendipitous because many different elements make up beauty.
  2. Strong stems
  3. Sealed buds
  4. Reasonably productive (which I tend to correlate with healthiness – but not necessarily)
  5. Large size of flower (I tell myself that flower size is not especially important but there is a definite preponderance to larger flowers in what I choose! )

Ideally I want the parent plants to be strong in all features but of course they often aren’t.  My golden rule for deciding on a cross is that a weakness of one attribute in one parent must be matched by strength in the same attribute in the other parent.  In other words, I would never want to cross two parents that are both weak in, say, stem strength, i.e. both flop when open.  If I did, it would have to be for some other very compelling attribute.Regarding colour, I tend to think in a colour blending sort of way i.e. I tend to pick parents in a population of similar coloured flowers.  I guess I am hoping for additive effects in some of the offspring whereby each parent adds more than its 50% of the colour to bring about a stronger colour in the offspring.

Yellow herbaceous hybrids have a true but light shade of the colour.  If you cross them and look at enough offspring, hopefully a few will have stronger colour than either parent – which I have found to be the case.  As I illustrated above, though, crossing unrelated colours can produce a whole spectrum of results and I think this bias of mine to cross like with like colour has been somewhat unimaginative.

In my earlier years of hybridizing, I was interested in crossing lactifloras (diploid) with tetraploids, undoubtedly because of the quality of the lactiflora flowers.  The biggest effort I did was with Good Cheer pollen (tet) onto Mikado (lacti), a repeat of the cross that created Christmas Velvet.  I found it yielded one good seed per 7-10 pods pollinated.  Of the approximately 120 seedlings that I grew, about 5-6 (from memory) were double and worthy of further consideration.  In other words, useful yield was low.  All of the seedlings were sterile, i.e. I have never seen a seed produced, and are presumed to be triploid.  Other presumed triploids produced were from the use of Old Faithful  (tet) pollen and yellow tetraploids, including Lemon Chiffon.  Although pleasant, none of these latter crosses had any special virtue and I have now lost interest in triploids.  The main reason for this is that it is essentially a dead-end laneway.  I do not have a population of seedlings as I mentioned earlier, with which I can cross for another generation

One of the triploid seedlings from the ‘Christmas Velvet’ cross, still being assessed

A late and large true red, unfortunately with stems not strong enough to support the open flower

Similarly, after meeting Peter Waltz when he visited New Zealand on holiday, I have tried to use triploids as pod parents with tetraploid pollens.  Despite many efforts, involving large numbers of pods (100+ in any one year of, say, Etched Salmon) and trying out many different tetraploid pollens in a bid to find the more fertile tetraploid pollens, yield of viable seed was extremely low.  I only ever got one seedling off Etched Salmon (completely non-descript and unhealthy) and although I got about 15 seeds that looked good off Coral Sunset, none ever grew.  (I plant seeds in the ground.)  Obviously I was chasing colour in these crosses.  I have found it quite easy to get salmon colours but Coral Sunset has a vividness and inner glow, plus a wonderful change of colour in the cut flower as it ages, that has been hard to find in the tetraploid seedlings I have generated.

‘Eternal Love’, a peony registered by the author Paul Simmons, showing his weakness for ‘big flowers’, it opens up to about 20 cm (8″) in diameter on the bush.

With these experiences in mind, I stick to working with tetraploids.  I think there are plenty of suitable doubles to choose from, they are very fertile, and more vivid stronger colours are starting to appear.  Some shapes, such as the Red Charm type of bomb double, are not readily available in the tetraploids I have, but I have proved to myself that Rubra Plena is fertile with tetraploid pollens.

Well this has been a little lengthy, but I hope it conveys an idea of how I think about peony breeding.

Paul Simmons

Simmons Paeonies, New Zealand

Paul and Esther Simmons

Last year Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar was honored with the Gold Medal 2018 and thus became the 2019 peony of the year (this year the award went to Angel Emily). For me it was a bit unexpected as I would have chosen The Fawn, which has been around far longer and is thus probably more easily available. I only grow The Fawn, so I could not say much about the other one, only that it would have to be extremely good to be able to surpass The Fawn quality-wise. I had heard rumors that the two were one and the same in fact.

Now this year two separate events that happened concurrently have convinced me they aren’t. First there’s this post from a large peony wholesaler:

 

 

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Paeonia The Fawn is hot! The intense pink colour and the many dots on its petals are breathraking😍 #пионы #пион #цветок #blumen #blomster #floristik #fleurs #fiori #цветочныймагазин #флорист #kwiaciarz #piwonie #kwiaty #fiori #peonia #pfingstrosen #peonía #lasflores #flores #flores_do_casamento #flores_de_boda #свадебные_цветы #Hochzeitsblumen #pæoner #pioner #blomsterhandlare #bryllup_blomster #kukkia #fiori_da_sposa #牡丹

Een bericht gedeeld door My Peony Society (@mypeonysociety) op

What caught my eyes is that these ‘The Fawn’ are unlike mine. The sepals are much more red than mine and the foliage does look different too. Now I would have blamed it on the image itself (it’s not always easy to get the colors right), but then the second event made me change my mind. In a row of Elsa Sass peonies, it turned out I got one rogue pink plant that looked a lot like The Fawn, but surely wasn’t. In fact it looked exactly like the peonies in that instagram post. As it’s very unlikely there are many more such ‘sprayed twins’ around, this is without much doubt Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar. It’s a second year plant so I took some stems from second year The Fawn plants to compare and shot some images.

Now you’ll see that the differences are subtle and not always visible. Both are sturdy, although The Fawn is the sturdiest one here. The open flowers for example are quite alike, I didn’t see any conspicuous differences. But the buds do show some differences. On the left you see that Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar has a somewhat paler background on its petals and has more red in the sepals whereas on the right The Fawn has some greenish or beige cast to them.

The main difference are the leaflets however. Both have dark green foliage, but Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar’s is by far the darkest. And whilst The Fawn has slightly upturned foliage, the leaflets of Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar are much flatter and also somewhat less wide and more pointed at the top.

As for the open flowers, the differences are hard to be noticed anyway:

This by the way is how my ‘The Fawn’ peonies look like when ready to be sold to florists:

We’ll see next year how they compare when we have a third year Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar. I also have The Fawn of that age and they are much taller, sturdier and larger compared to second year plants, I do wonder whether Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar will improve that much as well.

Now I have done some experiments with The Fawn this season (earlier flowering and long term storage (I have them flowering indoors at this time of writing)) but I’ll keep that for another post.

If you happen to grow them both, I’d be glad to hear your opinion on this.

A nice website about peony research is HortAlaska. Maintained by Pat Holloway it follows all good (scientific) peony publications with some remarks and readers can comment and ask questions. Primarily aimed to help Alaskan peony growers, it is interesting for all peony addicts as well.

The latest blog posts from that site can be read below, but the site hosts much more than only those. If you’d like to discuss them, better visit the site itself: https://alaskapeony.wordpress.com/

Pat Holloway with her peonies in the Georgeson Botanical Garden at UAF. Photo by Cassie Galasso

Holloway’s peony variety trials began in 2001, after she learned that peonies bloomed in Alaska in July, at a time they did not bloom elsewhere  — and that international buyers were interested. In addition to conducting 15 years of variety trials, she provided growers information on what varieties grew best and how to manage pests. She also brought up specialists to advise peony growers and provide research.

Only two past hall of fame inductees were honored for agricultural innovations, and Holloway is pleased to be recognized in that area, but she feels that the peony growers themselves are the innovators because they deal directly with issues related to growing peonies in the northern climate.

In 2016, growers shipped more than 200,000 stems to local, state and international markets, including the U.S., Canada, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam and Singapore. The number of peonies planted was expected to increase from 200,000 plants in 2016 to 250,000 in 2017. Many plants are not producing yet.

“It’s really heartening to see what people are doing,” Holloway said.

Holloway retired from the university in 2014 but remains involved with the Alaska Peony Growers Association and with peony growers.

“I get lots of emails and I answer all of them,” she said. She also advises the association on research and grant-writing efforts. After retiring, she collaborated with Washington State University researchers on identifying the different types of botrytis, a gray mold that is the No. 1 disease that affects cut flowers. She said researchers have now identified 10 species in Alaska that afflict peonies in the field and post harvest.

Holloway wants to continue the research to develop control measures to prevent botrytis in flower boxes and in the field. She is also working with the Division of Agriculture to identify barriers to export markets, and she continues to survey research on cut flowers and posts good articles that could be helpful to peony growers on her HortAlaska Peonies blog.

From http://snrenews.blogspot.com/2018/02/pat-holloway-named-to-alaska-innovators.html

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Today I saw some nice peony images in an Instagram post from Saaremaa Puukool, which is apparently a nursery in Estonia. They are from one particular favorite of mine, which is a double white lactiflora peony named Amalia Olson. As it happens I grow this one as a cut flower in quite large numbers. It may have pale pink buds, which is a small drawback when you want to sell it as ‘white’, but there are so many good qualities to it that it’s hard not to love it.

 

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Valge aed on iga aedniku unistus. Siin see on, valge aia kuninganna Saaremaa Puukooli pojeng AMALIA OLSON (Paeonia lactiflora). Aretaja: C. Olson/Nelson, USA. Registreeritud 1959.a. Auhinnad: Home Achievement Medal National Show in North Dakota 1959. APS Gold Medal 2011. Peony of the Year 2012. Eestis saadaval ainult Saaremaa Puukoolis! #saaremaapojengid #pojeng #saaremaapuukool #pojengid #peony #peonies #peonie #peonyflower #peonygarden #maarmastanpojenge #peon #amaliaolson #kenalugu #amaliaolsonpeony #saaremaa #visitaaaremaa #saaremaasuvi #kasvatatudsaaremaal #ehtnesaaremaatoode #saaremaaisland #saaremaal #saaremaanature #kuressaare #pojengiaeg #pojengiaed #gardenpeony #peonias

Een bericht gedeeld door Saaremaa Puukool (@saaremaapojengid) op

Now this is a peony that has sturdy stems, dark green leaflets and very large flowers that are truly well formed when open. The color when open is snow-white and it is extremely pretty. But added to that it is one of the most fragrant peonies I know and it is truly a heavenly fragrance. I simply cannot resist putting my nose in such an open flower when I pass them. It grows well, is very healthy and is surely in my top-10 list of best peonies. It has collected several awards as can be seen from the instagram post above. It hasn’t received an Award Of Landscape Merit (ALM) from the American Peony Society (APS) unfortunately. Perhaps because the flowers may fall to the ground eventually in very, very bad weather, but under normal circumstances they remain upright and the stems are more than adequate in my opinion.

A mature plant of Amalia Olson

Now this is also a peony with a ‘history’. In an APS-bulletin from long ago, December 1959 to be precise, the origin of this cultivar was described, probably by George Peyton, a man with an immense knowledge of peonies, peony varieties and peony growers at that time:

Amalia Olson

Click the image to enlarge this article about peony Amalia Olson

From all the above it is quite obvious that Amalia Olson is a peony we highly recommend. It is not too expensive as it has been introduced a long time ago and as it propagates well. It is available from several specialized peony nurseries, just have a look at your favorite nurseries’ catalogues and you’ll usually find it. In a few years’ time you may be walking around your garden and putting your nose in that perfectly formed white as well :-)

A recent article in Greenity, a Dutch trade journal, talked about peony growing. Quite interesting and as nearly all visitors to this site won’t be able to understand it as it’s written in Dutch, here’s our manual translation:

Growers’ cooperation. Drenthe, an important peony supplier.1

When talking about bulbs, Drenthe – a province in The Netherlands, has predominantly been associated with lilies, but many acres of peonies are also being grown there. Peony growing is done in an agricultural way, which isn’t surprising when you talk to the growers .


Once upon a time the centre of dry flower growing was in Smilde. During the nineties they were grown for local driers, but at the turn of the century demand for them had all but vanished. As that fashion, at its peak in the eighties, came to an end and growers had to look for alternatives. Eduard Daling from Smilde substituted his acreage and started growing summer flowers and peonies, thereby also inciting younger colleagues in the neighborhood. Daling still grows some flowers which he bunches himself.

Mid-May, whilst touring the peonies, he combines both the pleasant and the useful. There’s no cutting the peonies as yet, the buds are still too much closed. At nearly all plots the irrigation machinery is in full swing as the sandy, humus-rich soil is dry. He adjusts his sprinkler gun when he notices one corner of the plot is not receiving water. “Actually I wanted to grow lilies, just before I started with peonies,” the grower acknowledges. “ But I did not own enough land. Thus I chose peonies, in the beginning some 10 hectares (25 acres).”

Eduard Daling

No shortage of land.

Nowadays there are some 55 hectares (137 acres) of peonies around Daling’s two business locations, 20 ha (50) acres contracted with the remainder his own. He grows them both for their roots and for cutting. No longer is there any shortage of land, together with his son Martijn he owns some 157 hectares (390 acres) of land and they also rent some. “In total we have some 160 hectares (400 acres) of flowers and perennials, from ornamental cabbage to sunflowers and from delphinium to phlox.

“There’s nothing better than your own land,” Daling says. He was lucky obtaining the land as he was earlier than the lily growers and prices were still low then. “This makes it easy to rent land, because we have something to offer in return.” This is a necessity because, apart from some 30 hectares (75 acres), all his own plots have already been used for peonies and one cannot return to the same plot. As the grower cares properly for his rented land, he is well regarded in the region and can always find new fresh soil. And what about those 30 hectares? “That’s a nice plot of land which I’ll keep for days when I really need them.”

Both ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ and ‘Dr. Alexander Fleming’ are growing strong. These so-called bread-and-butter varieties fit the farmer well: “I’m not looking for riskier exclusive varieties, there isn’t always enough demand. I try to listen to the market, see what growers in France, Spain, Israel and the USA do and pick varieties that are in the top ten of best peonies. We’re very picky about our offer and we don’t merely look at how beautiful they are.”

Expanding more is currently not the intention of father and son, at least for now. “We do want to optimize our crop growing.” Thus Daling substituted animal manure for chemical fertilizer, so as to grow as sustainable as is possible. “A good story with your product is getting ever more important and the environment also matters a lot.” A row of ‘Coral Sunset’ clearly shows what fertilizing does. The one row that accidentally did not receive any of it with the machine he had built has plants on average some 15 cm (6 inches) shorter. Daling fertilizes with this own mix, which he inserts into the rows themselves. “Works like a charm, the machine we had built for this will repay itself in no time.” So really no expansion then? “Perhaps we’ll decrease our contract growing somewhat to increase our own. In fact we’re currently at the edge of what we can do.”



Peony growers here can reinforce one another.

Peony grower Albert Joling from Maatschap Joling in Dwingeloo grows some 40 hectares (100 acres) of peonies. Albert knows Martijn Daling well and through Daling he got his peonies. Joling also grows them agriculturally, as he does with lilies (100 ha (250 acres)), tulips (30 ha (75 acres)) and strawberry plants (30 ha (75 acres)). “As an intern with Daling I obviously noted the fact that money was to be made with this crop. My first peonies I grew under contract for Daling. We can reinforce one another as growers. You let each have its fair share and we share knowledge and staff for example.”

He also grows peonies in Hungary, close to the capital Budapest. Those he sells locally in supermarkets. Peony growing there is only in its early stages. “I’d like to broaden my view, especially internationally. I have studied agricultural business management, I think it’s important to talk to the banks and that business management may come in handy if ever I’d like to do something else. Although peony growing is a marvelous job.”

A short while ago Joling also obtained some 10 ha (25 acres) of organic land, where peonies are also growing. He cannot be very enthusiastic about them yet. “Especially demand, as there is none,” he complains, “only promises, nothing more.”

At this small organic plot a small corner seems to be doing poorly. The white labels on the short rows tell what treatment has been used to combat ‘peony replant disease’. “This is our test field, but so far we have not been lucky in finding a cure for peony replant disease. Yet we do need to search further because twenty years from now fresh land may be in short supply. We need to find something.”

Unlike Daling, Joling doesn’t bunch flowers himself. Of his 40 ha (100 acres) half is contracted and the other half is his own. Of the latter some 10 ha (25 acres) are being cut whilst the remainder is for roots. “Staff is the limiting factor in cutting, it’s not easy to automate peony growing.” As with most peony growers the employees are mostly busy cleaning weeds. “When the buds are soft enough, we’ll start cutting. You can easily keep the harvest in cold rooms for a while.”

One plot of ‘Dr. Fleming’ will not be cut, a hail storm passed by. Holes in the leaflets, damaged buds and as a result lots of bud botrytis. “Tremendously regrettable, but what can you do? Sometimes it just happens.”

Albert Joling

 

“Some more expansion should be possible.”

Dion Veninga from Veninga Hijken is some 10 km away from Daling, in Hijken. He has been in the company since 2010 and has been growing peonies since 2016. The company has some 30 hectares (75 acres) of peonies, 2 ha (5 acres) of which are for Dion himself. Next to that the company has 25 ha (62 acres) of tulips and 90 ha (225 acres) of lilies. “Our peonies are mostly contracted. This year we don’t do any cutting, last year we did. It’s all root growing now.”

It was Daling again who was the reason for growing peonies. During a meeting of grower consultants where Daling and Joling were also present, Veninga got interested in peonies. “We already work together with Joling for tulips and lilies. Peonies fit our labour needs well and, if it’s up to me, we’ll expand somewhat more.” As with his colleagues he’s able to recruit enough employees for the job.

Veninga goes at an easy pace and chooses mostly bread-and-butter varieties. “First we build up good stock, with some contract growing. It’s quite exciting, I can see the market growing, although I do fear oversupply is around the corner for the roots. Last year for example we couldn’t cut all our flowers and therefore we offered more roots than initially imagined.”

At a large plot some 2 km away from the company, a city bus is parked and cutting is being done with a harvesting line. The peonies are standing in neat, efficient blocks. Carefully the employees pick the soft buds, but not for Veninga himself. “The contractor has sold them.” If Veninga cuts peonies, they are sold in crates. An automated bunching machine is still too expensive.

“One can easily start here, in Drenthe,” Veninga concludes, “I think it’s the strong, humus-rich soil. There’s still lots of land where no peonies have grown and there are many large plots, we like that.”

Dion Veninga

Footnotes:
  1. Van der lee, Hans & Jan Anninga. “Samenwerking telers. Drenthe belangrijke pioenenleverancier. In: Greenity, nr 52, June 7, 2019, pp. 52-54.[]

The mutated pale pink Rozella. Fading slowly.

Two years ago we found a mutated plant in one row of Rozella plants.  Instead  of  the usual dark pink blooms, we found a plant with half of the stems delivering beautiful pale pink ones. Rozella being an excellent plant with her very sturdy stems and large flowers, we were quite happy with this of course. But we didn’t want to end up with another Mr. Ed (the mutated Monsieur Jules Elie, that tends to give flowers of both colours, sometimes in the same flower). So the mutated stems were carefully labeled and when dividing the plant, we made very small divisions close to the mutated stems to avoid any non-mutated root parts being part of the new plants. The plant before division had six stems of which three were pale pink. Two of the latter stood very close to one another, so that could only be made into one division. That way we only got two very small divisions we hoped would be pure pale pink. Now after two years they have grown well and did flower well, although these plants are surely not fully mature. As it turns out, one of the plants seems completely pure. The other still gave us one dark pink flower, so we’ll need another try at removing the non-mutated parts there. You can see the results below.

One stem of the original Rozella still on this division.

As those who grow Rozella will know, it’ a very fine cultivar and has won an Award of Landscape Merit (ALM) from the American Peony Society (APS) thanks to all its good qualities. And as this mutation resembles the colour of Sarah Bernhardt well, we think it might be a good replacement for it when there are more than only these two plants of course. It’s much sturdier, the flowers are at least as large and they open well indoors, thus tackling the two main flaws Sarah Bernhardt has as a cut flower. It flowers at approximately the same time, perhaps even a bit later, just as Rozella does.

The buds are pale pink, average of size and well closed. The flower itself has no fragrance at all, just as Rozella. Sarah Bernhardt does have some fragrance, but it is only a light fragrance and not especially nice, thus making it unlikely that people would prefer Sarah Bernhardt for this.

The two plants together (the one in the background got some special treatment to flower earlier, so is past its peak)

The new mutated colour.

Another flower

In bud

And yet another flower

A normal Rozella

A short time ago we posted an image of one of our polyethylene tunnels with peonies in. This was just to show how they were growing, but as it turned out some people showed some interest in it and wanted to know some more details about how we work with these. So here’s a small overview of why and how we do this.

The reason why peonies are grown in polyethylene tunnels is of course that they flower much earlier. Such a plastic hoop house will let them flower approximately one month earlier than outside. In general the earlier peony flowers are sold at a premium price compared to those flowering later in the season, so it makes perfect economic sense to use them. Here in Belgium the most widely grown variety Sarah Bernhardt flowers the first days of June in a normal year. With the hoop house over them, they can be cut at the beginning of May which is perfect for Mother’s Day (second Sunday of that month).

You can grow peonies in glass greenhouses that can be heated to have them even earlier. A problem there is of course that those greenhouses are the most expensive ones, but if you happen to have such a greenhouse that is no longer being used for anything else, it might be a good option to use them for growing peony cutflowers. The biggest problem is that it is often quite difficult to give the plants enough cold in Winter. As most people will know, peonies require a period of cold to break dormancy and start growing. That’s why you don’t see peonies in (sub-)tropical climates. When growing them in such conditions, somewhat comparable to growing them in warmer climates like Israel or Morocco or the deep south of the USA, there are a few options to keep them cold. Shading the plants and lots of ventilation in greenhouses. Shading can also be done in warmer climates and often they are grown at higher altitudes (the Golan Heights in Israel/Jordan, the Atlas Mountains in Morocco) where temps are lower. Another possibility is showering the plants, after some minimal cold period, with some 250 ml of water wherein there’s some 100 ppm of GA3, a plant hormone. This will make them sprout earlier and with more stems. And sometimes you’ll see that they are grown in pots that are placed in cold storage rooms and then removed when they have received enough cold.

See how peonies are grown in Israel.

But let us stick to what we do, the simple plastic hoop house. We have different sizes of them. The smallest ones we can take the plastic off completely, which makes it easy to give them enough cold. They are covered only at the end of Winter and will then grow fast. The larger ones we cannot remove the plastic so easily, but we leave the doors open when needed and there are several openings between the plastic covering as the plastic is placed over it not in one long piece from beginning to end of the tunnel but from left to right and thus each piece is only about 6 or 8 metres long. Our very largest one has the ability to simply roll the plastic upwards or downwards, thus it is very easy to (un)cover them.

The plastic itself also has different characteristics. The thickness first (usually 1.8 mm or 2.0 mm) but there are several coatings on it usually that will change the climate inside. Thermicity refers to how good the plastic keeps heat inside, diffusion tells you something about how the light gets in (diffuse light is more dispersed and is presumably better), the other characteristics speak for themselves.

When growing them in such tunnels the temperature rises quickly when the sun gets out, but at night temperatures are hardly above those outside. This makes it sometimes dangerous when you use them in areas prone to late frosts. A few degrees below zero outside and the tunnels will protect your plants, but if temperatures are lower you may find that your plants will experience some damage.

The first month or so after placing the plastic on it, temperatures may remain very high (30°C), both during daytime and night time. After that first month it is important that you keep daytime temperatures somewhere around 20-24°C instead and night temps lower still, otherwise developing buds may dry up.

How to space your plants? Depending on the size of your hoop house you may change it somewhat, but we keep some 75 cm between our rows and some 60 cm between our plants in the row. That way you can walk through them to cut and they will more or less cover all available space.

Not all varieties grow well in them we have found out. We are still experimenting but several hybrids have disappointed us. The Corals are a good choice, both Coral Sunset and Coral Charm as they are sturdy enough and can give lots of flowers that are in high demand (for the time being). Sarah Bernhardt is often grown, but we find it already somewhat floppy outside and in those hoop houses they are floppier still. The most expensive early peonies are always the white double but for now we cannot say which one is the best as we have too few experience growing such varieties under cover.

Duchesse de Nemours is a white double often grown, but is reputed for having foliage that will easily burn when temperatures or humidity in the tunnel changes fast. This will results in tip burn of the foliage which will in turn invite botrytis to destroy many of your plants. That fungus is another major concern when growing them. Growing peonies organically under hoop houses will surely be a challenge for some, but we would strongly recommend spraying them preventively with some fungicide that is authorised in your country.

Well, that is a short description of how we force earlier peonies. We do hope some readers may find it interesting and if you have further questions or remarks (or criticisms), please feel free to add your comments below ;-)

Some tips from a book on growing strawberries in polyethylene tunnels:

Sudden changes in climatic conditions from overcast weather with high relative humidity to sunny conditions with a large vapour-pressure deficit often aggravate the symptoms of tip burn. To pre-empt these abrupt climatical changes, roots have to be sufficiently developed and active. Prevent tip burn in young leaves by increasing relative humidity during the dark period and maintaining a large vapour-pressure deficit in the atmosphere during the day. Continous high relative humidity (due to insufficient ventilation), excessive misting and free water accumulation on the strawberry plants all reduce transpirational flow of calcium.

On cloudy days, stimulate transpiration by ventilation and minimize irrigation. On sunny days it is important to avoid large fluctuations in temperature and humidity. It is important to close vents and tunnels in the early evening to increase humidity at night and favour the buildup of root pressure.

Source: “Good agricultural practices for greenhouse vegetable production in the South East European countries.” FAO United Nations, 2018, p. 411

For most peonistas it will already be known, but in case you may have missed the latest major event in the peony world: what once used to be the Walhalla for any peony lover, but became a desolate place the last decade, the ‘Web Project Paeonia’ by Carsten Burkhardt, is again being updated.


The site, at www.paeon.de , features an extensive peony cultivar database which includes both registered and unregistered cultivars. Many descriptions are added from various sources (sometimes in other languages) and it also includes a lot of images. The species (and their myriad synonyms) are also included in the database. Next to that there’s a literature overview, with many articles and books to be read online. A list of hybridizers and their plants is another listing on the site, mostly including the parents of the plants. Professor Saunders’ notebooks can be read online for those wanting to hybridize beyond lactifloras. It has always been a site that keeps on surprising, you can keep on browsing it and find that it’s impossible to read all that’s available there.

To fill in the last 10 years of peony cultivars and literature is a work that might seem overwhelming, but since Carsten was able to create his vast site in the past, we are very optimistic that he will succeed and from our side we wish him all the best in his endeavour. You can contact Carsten on this site in the forum or send him private messages. It’s also possible to contact him through his own website.

Although hard to understand what they say if you don’t speak any Chinese, this video about peonies follows them around the world, visiting the French peony nursery Rivière and the Dutch FloraHolland auction along the way. Most of it is filmed in China of course, with pretty footage of peonies growing in the wild and in nurseries and festivals. This video is to make up somewhat for the fact that it’s hard to find much information about peonies in China and we have a blind spot there, even though all shrubby peonies originate there, not to mention the ubiquitous P. lactiflora. In China the Tencent WeChat is the social media app that rules sole and supreme and currently we don’t know how to integrate that here. There are many huge peony festivals (Heze, Luoyang…), but not speaking the language we are currently unable to even find the dates those festivals are open. There’s another english-language peony site www.southernpeony.com by Adriana Feng which features some blog posts about her visit to China last year and where she tells about her visits to some of these peony festivals, we do recommend visiting her site at least once :-)

 

The peony flower season lasts only a few weeks as we all know. Although the season has been advanced and prolonged by growing them in other places more South and North, year-round production is still not a viable option. They can be bought any time of the year, but if you buy them in between seasons, you may find them both expensive and the quality wanting.

What we wanted…

With fruits, mostly apples and pears, it is common practice to store them after harvest in special cold storage rooms where they can control the air contents (oxygen (O2), carbon-dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N)), together with temperature and humidity. This is usually referred to as Controlled Atmosphere (CA) and fruits can be kept there for several months without decreasing quality. It is normally done by lowering the proportion of oxygen in the air, thus the name ULO-treatment (Ultra Low Oxygen).

In 2007 an article appeared in a trade journal, Vakblad voor de Bloemisterij, wherein a grower reported to keep his peonies in such storage to be able to sell them several months later when no other grower would have any. Interested by this, we decided to try it out, together with PCS, a research station here in Belgium. So the following year I harvested some flowers and the PCS collected them here and did some tests. They had contacted the firm that did the treatment for the grower in Holland and were duly informed that the grower would not repeat it as it had shown too much problems, but they did give us the air composition. The air we all breathe contains some 21% oxygen, 0,03% carbon dioxide and the rest is nitrogen. The ULO-treatments tested were either 10% O2 and 8% CO2, or 3% O2 and 5% CO2, with a planned storage period of 12, 16 and 20 weeks, and then some tests at the beginning and at the end with normal storage. We used fully closed tubs to do the testing as these would not let any oxygen through. On the image below you can see a Palistore system on the left, which is essentially a plastic covering that does the same thing and which is used for somewhat larger volumes than those that can be placed in a tub, as you can see on the right.

It didn’t work out well. Many flowers had dried, some of the water they were standing in had frozen, there were several cases of botrytis and after storage they only kept for 3 to 4 days when placed on water. The main issue of these was botrytis.1 No further tests have been done here since then.

What we got…

There are always those that don’t give up after one try and last season some more research on ULO-storage of peonies was done in the Netherlands. It was discussed with peony growers a few weeks ago and a report of it just appeared in Greenity, an excellent dutch language trade journal with all issues freely available after a short delay of a few months, here’s a translation for those interested:

Ultra Low Oxygen (ULO) storage of peonies offers perspective.2

Paeonia truly is a seasonal product. At times that season can be very short due to hot weather, as it was last year. How to prolong the season? The first results of a test at CNB, a Dutch cooperative for mediation in flowerbulbs and herbaceous plants, shows that storage of flowers in ULO-conditions offers perspective.

“And June 1st all peonies had been harvested.” That’s how Ron Hoogeveen, mediator at CNB and specialised in peonies, summed up the 2018 season. It was the end of a strange springtime with a lot of cold early in the season, which made it look like the flowers would be two weeks later than usual. Eventually the hot weather in the second half of May made them catch up at lightning speed. This presented a lot of companies with two problems: too few cold storage room and too few helping hands.

It is customary for peony growers to prolong the season by keeping part of the harvest in cold storage to sell them later. A few weeks present no problems, but longer does: the foliage deteriorates and the buds don’t open as well. Thus at CNB the question arose whether ULO-storage might offer an alternative. CNB has a lot of experience with the storage method. The cooling and treatment facilities have special rooms for them, where lily and tulip bulbs are kept at extremely low oxygen levels, giving good results in floriculture. Those rooms are not an option for harvested peonies. Could it be done otherwise? Yes it can, and Yorick van Leeuwen, cultivation advisor at CNB, gave some details during the ‘Peony afternoon’ which took place December 19, 2018 at CNB in Bovenkarspel. Some 170 attendees were informed about the first results of his research.

Closed boxes

Van Leeuwen and Hoogeveen contacted a company that delivered closed boxes in a standard ‘cubic metre’ size wherein ULO-conditions can be created. Some tests were done with these last season. The boxes contain six membranes that let oxygen out, but not in.

Two growers cooperated with the project, they both filled six boxes with peonies. The flowers were placed in them either May 24 or June 4. Every box contained 700 stems. When filling the boxes, two requirements are essential, according to Van Leeuwen. “The crop must have been cooled down already to a temperature below 2°C. Next to that the crop must be completely dry. If this isn’t the case, then moulds and bacteria may give damage. This is because these do grow normally under ULO-conditions.”

The flowers were kept up until 14 weeks after closing the boxes. The following varieties have been tested: ‘Kansas’, Sarah Bernhardt’, ‘Gardenia’, ‘Alexander Fleming’, ‘Bridal Shower’, ‘Monsieur Jules Elie’ and ‘Dinner Plate’. For comparison purposes these varieties have also been placed in normal cool storage.

Fresh

The peonies were taken out of the boxes after five weeks onwards. Van Leeuwen showed each time both what the peonies from ULO and the normally cooled ones looked like. The difference was clear. The ULO-peonies looked fresh, including the foliage. Even after 5 weeks in normal cooling those peonies showed dull, less fresh. After the treatment Van Leeuwen placed the flowers on water, without any further additions. Most flowers opened well.

Even varieties like ‘Monsieur Jules Elie’, which had been in storage for 14 weeks, and ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, twelve weeks ULO, showed well. September 14, Van Leeuwen still had magnificent peonies blooming with him. Overall Van Leeuwen determined that in some cases there was some decay due to black mould or botrytis, but those were low proportions.

Continuation

Van Leeuwen emphasized these are merely the results of only one season. These however are thus that CNB would like to continue them. “Next season we’ll continue and we’re looking for interested growers that want to cooperate. They can contact me or Ron Hoogeveen. One thing we’d surely want to research further are the effects of pre and post treatment agents.”

‘Peonies every single auction day’.

Auction employee Mario Heemskerk from the Aalsmeer branch of Royal FloraHolland gave a short overview of the 2018 season. Heemskerk said that every single auction day peonies were traded. In January the season kicks off with flowers from the Southern Hemisphere, after which the first flowers from Israel arrive, followed by different regions in Italy and France.
The short, heavy harvest in the Netherlands had big consequences for the auction, Heemskerk reported. “We received many complaints about the harvest stage of the flowers. The flower judges didn’t have an easy time. Part of the flowers had opened too fast and must have gotten too much heat during storage or transport.”
Till October peonies have been sold that were stored this long, after which, from the end of October onwards the first flowers from Chili appeared before the auction clock.

Footnotes:
  1. Blindeman, L. “Gebruik ULO voor bewaring pioenroos.” In: Jaarverslag snijbloemen, 2008, PCS, pp. 18-23[]
  2. Dwarswaard, A. “ULO-bewaring pioenroos biedt perspectief.” In: Greenity, January 3, 2019, pp. 16-17.[]

#thepeonysociety

A lot has been done on the site, but it’s a never ending task. The latest thing we’ve tried to do is some further integration with social media. With over 2 billion users on them they are hard to ignore. The Facebook page has been present for quite a long time and when appropriate some news items are posted there. That should make it easy for occasional visitors to this site to follow what’s going on. They can simply click ‘follow’ and any updates will appear in their daily stream.

Lately it appears that Facebook has been losing users to its daughter social media app Instagram. Most will know it, but for those who don’t: it’s foremost a mobile app to share images. You can also visit it on the web, but with less functionality. As an image sharing tool it’s much nicer compared to Facebook imho. If you’re using it, you can now also share your peony images with this site simply by using the hashtag #thepeonysociety and the images will appear (with a short delay) here. It also works on Twitter, although there you are without the possibility of adding a longer description to it. If enough images are posted with that hashtag, we may give them their own section on this site, but I guess that’s something for May/June/July when they are in bloom. However, you’re free to try it out with some images you may already have from previous seasons.

On most pages it’s now possible to translate the content to the language you speak yourself. If that’s English, it might still come in handy as many of the news posts are in other languages (Russian, French, German, Japanese, Chinese…) and if you set it to English, those will be translated as well. Apparently it makes it possible to write in other languages as well now, as we have our first Russian post about favorite white peonies. Try it out ;-)

The road map for this site: we’d like to include a kind of directory with peony nurseries, gardens, societies and websites. With locations, reviews and the possibility for members to comment on them or add their own. That would replace the few lists of peony nurseries in the menu, they are incomplete and b(i)ased on the ones I know (and I don’t know too much). It may take quite a while. The last somewhat larger work on the site was the ‘Paeonia newsletter’ and that took about four times longer than expected, thus I don’t like to give a date for it, but I do hope to add it before the next peony flowering season.

As a aside, the site has been offered to The American Peony Society to take over completely. It is being discussed, I don’t know what the outcome will be. They intend do update their own website and I thought it might be a good idea if they simply took over this one. They are the largest peony society as far as I’m aware and it would ensure the survival of this site in the long term, I wouldn’t want this to end up as so many other great peony sites. They already have much content from the Bulletins that could easily be published online and of course they are the international registrar for new peony varieties. If you feel this is a good idea (or a bad one), please be vocal about it (here or with the APS themselves) :-)

This is a small video showing how large scale the peony cutflower trade has grown in Holland. The machine you are seeing is a Havatec Quality Buncher, which is normally used for preparing cut tulips, but the first ones have been adapted to be used for peony cutflowers as well in 2016. About a dozen of them were in use in 2018 for several peony growers in Holland, of course only those that grow a large number of them.

You lay your cut peonies on them, and then they are cut at the required length, defoliated, counted and bunched. Some 4,000 to 6,000 stems per hour are processed this way (including some time to change cultivars and machine settings). When working with shorter stems, that number rises to 7,000. The defoliation module is made of rubber so as not to damage the stems.

For those interested, they are priced between 70,000 and 95,000 euros (80,000 – 110,000US$), so it’s fair to say not for the average small acreage peony grower. And if you can only use it during peony season (and not outside of it for tulips or other flowers), it’s also a no-go probably as it will be hard to make any returns on such a hefty investment.

There’s some information on the website of the company that produces them, Havatec. Those that can read Dutch, here’s another article describing it: havatec quality buncher 2.0

And here’s another video showing it in full action:

It is with pleasure that we are finally able to say the Paeonia newsletter is fully online. Paeonia was an international newsletter for peony hybridizers. It was published quarterly from April 1970 to spring 2002. It was started in 1970 by Silvia Saunders (daughter of Prof. A. P. Saunders) and Roy Pehrson. From approx. 1971-1994 Paeonia was edited and published by Chris Laning of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Starting in 1995, Paeonia has been edited and published by Don Smith of West Newton, Mass., until 2002.

The newsletter used to be available in some restricted discussion groups or on the websites of Don Smith himself, but both sources show little sign of life unfortunately and for most people they would be unobtainable. There used to be some issues missing but thanks to some benevolent peony addicts, the collection is complete.

Paeonia was geared towards the hybridizers but it contained many articles that will interest many peony gardeners as well. A few of these articles have already appeared on this site previously. Many of the most prolific writers to the newsletter will be familiar names to those interested in peonies: A.P. Saunders, Silvia Saunders, Roy Pehrson, Don Hollingsworth, Chris Laning, Bill Seidl, Don Smith, David Reath, …

It would take far too long to describe all things that have been discussed in Paeonia, but everybody is invited to have a look, either through the link above or through the menu item. All issues are available for download separately and a contents overview is available.

Micro-propagation of peonies has been talked about a lot, yet up until now it used to be a hit-and-miss story as there were many problems. In a meta-article about the subject in 2012, the following still to be solved issues were noted:1

(1) Explant contamination is serious. Bacterial and fungal contamination is rife in P. lactiflora initiation culture, particularly serious when underground buds are chosen as explants – understandably so. (2) Hyperhydricity and browning. In the area of browning, novel methods and mechanisms have yet to be obtained, although some valuable advances have recently been achieved. (3) Shoot differentiation is difficult. Herbaceous peony needs to be rapidly propagated by direct bud proliferation and not indirectly following callus differentiation. (4) The induction percentage of somatic embryos is low, and when these do form, deformity is high. (5) Rooting percentage remains low and the quality of roots is in general not high. Wang and his co-workers confirmed that rooting of tree peony was successfully achieved under various conditions such as 4 mg l−1 IBA, cool cathode fluorescent lamps, and photoautotrophic. Similar trials should be carried out on herbaceous peony which would greatly benefit the micropropagation of this difficult-to-root ornamental plant. (6) Transplanted plantlets survive poorly, primarily due to the low quality of roots, ineffective transplant period, unsuitable environmental conditions and seedling dormancy after rooting, all of which negatively impact the survival percentage of transplanted plantlets.

The intersectionals (Itohs) seem to be the easiest ones to propagate this way. A few laboratories are working on this and another one, IribovSBW from Holland, has just joined the band: in an article in Greenity, a trade journal, they claim to have solved the problems and are now able to propagate any cultivar from any group with hardly any losses. It appears those new fancy cultivars that are so vastly expensive for such a long time will only remain so for a short term in the future.

So, for those interested, here’s my translation of the article about the breakthrough:

Large-scale fast and clean propagation of peonies.2


The popularity of peonies is still rising. The acreage devoted to it is increasing fast. But when it comes to propagation, the grower has only one option, dividing the roots of mature plants. IribovSBW succeeded in adding another choice for growers. Large-scale propagation from tissue-culture is now possible.

Initially flowerbulbs were the main activity in the company of Eloy Boon and his partner Evelien Huis, therefore it was named Iribov when it was founded in 1992. Iribov comes from Irises from Bovenkarspel, the location where Boon grew up. Irises where followed by lily and nerine. Evelien Huis in ‘t Veld had already looked at peonies, but like tulips, they could be classified as difficult crops. Besides, at that time peony didn’t belong to the crops that were grown large-scale.

“At a certain point in time we did succeed in propagating them through tissue-culture, but the propagating rate was very low. Eventually we didn’t pay much attention to it anymore as there were enough other crops to work with,” says Eloy Boon, CEO of IribovSBW in Heerhugowaard.

Looking

Stil the peony kept intriguing, according to Evelien Huis in ‘t Veld. “Several times I started working with it again. It remained a difficult crop. The biggest problem with peonies was that there are three phases that have to succeed all: the creation of the tissue-culture plants, the rooting, and the growth phase in the greenhouse. Many times one of the three phases did work fine, but all of them not.”

A new client arrived with peonies in 2012. “We did have enough experience with helleborus and anemone, both crops from the genus ranunculae, to which paeonia also belongs.”

As so often with propagation of crops through tissue-culture, looking at it is extremely important. “I’m mostly interested in how a plant grows in its natural habitat. What happens during the whole growth cyclus. By looking at that thoroughly you get insights that can be used in the laboratory. I want to understand how a plant works. And as it turns out it is not so much the medium, but other aspects. We succeeded in getting from 10% survival rate to 90%.”

What those aspects are, she cannot say, because for the most part that’s the secret of a successful fast propagation. There has been more than enough testing she says: “these last years we have propagated several dozens of cultivars from all groups of peonies through tissue-culture. They all came back true to name.”

Fast and clean

By now there are many tissue-cultured peonies growing in the climate rooms and greenhouses of IribovSBW. “From now on, we can upscale and see what markets there are for this product,” Eloy Boon says. Expectations are high, he himself sees multiple possibilities: “With this a hybridizer who has a new cultivar can bring it to market faster. What’s also possible is that a grower of a popular cultivar chooses to renew his crop by this technique.” For him the advantages are clear. “By choosing for tissue-culture a grower starts with clean material. It is free from diseases and pests, like nematodes and viruses.”

The result offers another possibility: one-way traffic in the cultivation. Currently a grower propagates from motherplants which he divides. How healthy these motherplants are is not always well known. This way diseases and pests can go from the motherplant to the young plant. By choosing for cultivation from tissue-culture, the grower can start clean and deliver his plants after a few years.

Evelien Huis in ‘t Veld (left) and Joke Dragt inspecting peony plantlets grown from tissue-culture. (all images by René Faas)

List

Earlier this year IribovSBW, together with Hobaho and Dümmen Orange, reported their success in fast increasing tulips and now peony has been added. Are there other crops on the IribovSBW list that haven’t revealed their secrets as yet? Boon: “These last years we have run a program of difficult crops, of which we think there will be demand for. Next to tulip and peony the focus is on food crops, like cocoa, cashewnut and pepper. We’re working on the first two in Ghana, to give the locals the possibility to make better returns from these crops.”

IribovSBW

Eloy Boon and Evelien Huis in ‘t Veld founded Iribov in 1992 in Enkhuizen. Initially the focus was on fast propagation of flowerbulbs through tissue-culture. Soon herbaceous plants, cutflowers and pot plants were added, later also vegetables and fruits. The company moved to Heerhugowaard, where there was more space, in 2007, to keep growing. In 2011 they took over the multinational SBW. IribovSBW has plants in Holland, Macedonia and Ghana. Yearly production of the company is 25 million plants of about 300 crops and 10,000 varieties. Next to ornamental crops the company is also active in food crops. The latter account for about 30% of turnover and this part is expected to increase. Some 370 people are employed by the company. Next to fast propagation the company also has a molecular laboratory for, amongst others, fast detection of pathogens and marker analysis for identification and breeding support.

Footnotes:
  1. Miaomiao Shena, Qi Wang, XiaoNan Yu, Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva . “Micropropagation of herbaceous peony.” In: Scientia Horticulturae, 2012, no. 148, pp. 30-38.[]
  2. Dwarswaard, Arie. “Veel, schoon en snel pioen vermeerderen.” In: Greenity, no. 42, Oct 25th, 2018, pp. 42-43.[]

YouTube is a treasure trove of peony species videos. The quality differs wildly of course, but if you look good, you’re sure to find some gems. We’ve been browsing for footage of species peonies in their natural habitats, so here are some fine results:

Paeonia tenuifolia in Georgia

Paeonia parnassica in Greece

Paeonia emodi in India

Paeonia algeriensis in Algeria

Paeonia officinalis in France

Paeonia broteri in Portugal

Paeonia japonica (obovata ssp japonica) in Japan

Paeonia mascula in Turkey

Paeonia peregrina in Greece

At times the camera moves a bit too fast, but in the middle of the video clip you’ll get a good idea of what this species, paeonia peregrina, looks like.

This is a video from Down Under by the ABC television series Gardening Australia. Ron Boekel, an Australian peony grower, tells about his plants, and he does it with passion.

You can view the original video and read the accompanying article here.

From the Facebook ‘Planet Peony’ group by Bob Johnson, May 24, 2017. As it’s hidden in the ‘stream’ of activities in that group, it’s unlikely that you’d easily find it, which is a pity as it’s an informative article, thus here’s a ‘reprint’ (with some added pictures):

Helen Matthews vs. Alexander Woollcott vs. Carina – The purest Red colors in Peonies.

I took a second “binge hybridizing” trip to Adelmans (A’s) a few days ago, in order to work on some of the seedlings I have there, and as part of my trip, had the chance to put together a big vase of flowers, which I feel possess the best true “flag red” colors in peonies. They were all in bloom at the A’s at the same time, so I grabbed some and brought them home.

Carina (two flowers at bottom), Alexander Woollcott (top right) and Helen Matthews (two flowers top left)

As far as Alexander Woollcott vs Helen Matthews goes, Helen Matthews has a much more attractive plant than Alexander Woollcott. The foliage on Alexander Woollcott is thin and crinkled and fairly sparce, whereas the foliage on Helen Matthews is much nicer and more luxurious. Carina has nice foliage as well, and is almost indistinguishable from the color of Alexander Woollcott.

Alexander Woollcott

Helen Matthews has several rows of petals, while Alexander Woollcott and Carina are more resolutely single.

Helen Matthews is a bit darker as far as the red color goes, but not so much to make a large difference. Both Alexander Woollcott and Carina open up widely as they age, while Helen Matthews retains a better form I believe, and all of them bloom at about the same time. Early-mid season, as far as the hybrids go. All of these are of a more pure red color than Dad, or Red Red Rose, varieties that were once felt to be the best reds, but which still contain small traces of magenta.

Red Red Rose

Red Red Rose

Compared to The Mackinac Grand, they are lighter and more brilliant. Having said that, The Mackinac Grand also qualifies as a pure red in my book. It’s considerably darker and a bit later to bloom, and doesn’t really fall into the “flag red” category. But useful as a pure red and fertile as well.

The Mackinac Grand

The Mackinac Grand

Aside from Mackinac Grand, none of these are tetraploids, so pulling out their red color for breeding will involve pollenating a large number of flowers, in the hopes of getting a seed or two. At this point I have one small seedling which has just germinated this spring – ( Helen Matthews x The Mackinac Grand) which I hope to live long enough to use in my breeding at some point. This is a cross that I hope to make again this year.

My sense is what distinguishes these varieties is not so much the fact that they are red, but more that they have managed somehow to avoid inheriting the magenta color that comes down from the lactiflora reds.

Helen Matthews and Alexander Woollcott are still fairly hard to locate, for reasons I’ve never been sure of. They both seem to be doing quite well at the A’s and should be available from them at some point in the future.

Worth growing if only to see exactly how good red can be among peonies. I was not able to compare them directly with The Little Corporal or Laddie, a couple of other hybrids which are more single ( and are fertile tets ) and which also qualify as pure reds in my opinion.

Bob Johnson

The Little Corporal

A lecture from A.P. Saunders, legendary peony hybridizer, in 1924 on the growing of peonies. The text is from one of the nearly abandoned yahoo peony groups, but unfortunately there is no exact reference to where it comes from. If you would know, I’d gladly update the article to include it.

Growing of Peonies

I feel an unaccustomed accession of modesty when I speak before an audience like this, and I feel as if the knowledge that I have been able to accumulate regarding Peonies during the last 25 years is probably not as large as many of you would accumulate in one or two seasons; but such as it is, I modestly lay it at your feet. In order that we may leave nothing obscure in the general message which I wish to bring to you, I should like first of all to say something about the various kinds of Peonies which are in cultivation in our gardens – your garden and mine – mine, anyway.

The Peony as we ordinarily understand the word and use it, is the Peony staged upstairs this afternoon. What is that plant? All those forms which we see staged in the great exhibition which is going on upstairs are derivatives of a species which appeared wild in China, called by botanists Paeonia albiflora, white flowered, or Paeonia sinensis, the Chinese Peony [now called lactiflora]. Out of that flower have been developed all the immense variety of flowers which we now call Chinese Peonies. When we speak of the Chinese Peony we mean those staged upstairs, those which bloom [in Boston] from the 10th of June until the 4th of July in a normal season, in this latitude.

Chinese Herbaceous Peonies
All these Peonies before me on the table are, of course, of that kind, and I brought them because I want later on to say something about the different types of blooms which have been developed from Paeonia sinensis. I wanted also to say something about other groups, other species which have been found particularly amenable to cultivation. This seems to be true, that among the many wild species of plants which nature has offered us to work on if we will, a few are particularly susceptible to improvement, and those have yielded to us our wonderful garden flowers, either by the growing of seedlings and selecting the best types, or by cross fertilization of one species on another. You cannot be sure if you start on a wild species and cultivate it diligently that it will develop such beautiful forms as have been developed in this Peony. You find the same thing in the animal kingdom, man trying to domesticate animals from the remotest time until now. And how many has he been able to domesticate? Very few. The dog, the cat, the horse, the cow and chickens. Few others. Multitudes of animals have been worked on – bear cubs, lion cubs – but usually there has been more fun for the lion than the man in the end if it is kept up long enough.

So we find that a great many species of plants will not lend themselves particularly to improvement under man’s hand.

How far back does the Peony go? Let us trace its history. In the hall is a magnificent display of Peonies. Where did most of them come from? Some varieties were originated by American growers.

But long before Americans began the work, the French were at work raising seedlings and selecting the best. Where did the French get their Peonies? In 1805-6 they were first brought over from China and introduced to European gardens, and enthusiasts there immediately started in to raise seedlings and to improve upon the varieties which had come over from China. From France and Belgium enthusiasm spread to England and the work began there, and in America later on the same process was taken up.

Boston has the credit of being the center at which the whole of this phase of Peony culture in America started. Its serious performance began here through John Richardson, who lived in Dorchester. As to what sort of a man he was I cannot give you any idea, but he was a professor at Harvard – no doubt a good man. But he was far more than that. He was an expert. He had the divine gift of penetration. Somehow he knew whereabouts to select his seed and what plants to use for cross fertilization in order to produce a marvellous type of progeny. John Richardson had only a small garden. It could by no means be called a nursery. His little garden most Peony growers would consider insignificant. He did not even have the best Peonies, but a very modest collection, and yet today Peony men try and generally try in vain to produce varieties as good as the best John Richardson produced. If you are interested in knowing the particular varieties of Richardson’s which I have in mind when I speak so highly of him, I mention to you before any others Walter Faxon, and for a particular reason; then Milton Hill, and Grandiflora; and then stop. A man who has made three Peonies as good as those may very well rest on his laurels. Walter Faxon I mention first of all for this reason. It has always been easy to grow beautiful white Peonies – Peonies that are white or pale flesh colored. In modern times we get such things as this in my hand – very pretty flesh colored things – hundreds of them. We get also fine dark reds and mahogany reds. But in the full pinks, darker than this but somewhat in the color of this we have very little among the double Peonies that is satisfactory to us. The full pink Peonies are apt to run too much into purplish reds, into disagreeable purples, into muddy and disgusting magentas, and those things have short shrift in my patch and equally short shrift in the gardens of others who raise Peonies. If I buy Peonies and find that they have this color, they go into the large dump which I keep for the Ishmaels. Now Walter Faxon is a full pink, of a fine glowing salmon shade and is therefore a peculiarly precious sort. It is in fact quite unique.

John Richardson died in 1887, at a very ripe old age. There is a moral I have pointed out before which I will point out again here. Life is after all very interesting. There are none of us who like to be done with it when the time comes, and means of prolonging life have been sought by alchemists and many others from ancient times. At last I have discovered one. The art of prolonging life is to raise Peonies from seed. Yes! Because it is the will to live that fails us in the end. When we get old, our interests in life become weaker, and eventually fail altogether, and we have done with it. But if a patch of seedling Peonies is coming into bloom in June and the thought should come to us that our life had lasted long enough and perhaps it was time for the end, we should surely say:
“Postpone it until the first of July so that I can see my Peonies bloom.”

Prolonging life…

John Richardson lived to the advanced age of 89, I think. Almost all the men who have grown Peonies from seed have lived to be at least 85. That is one reason why I took it up. I wanted 30 years more of Peony culture, and could see no way more certain to give it to me than that. I recommend it to you all. Most of you don’t need it. You don’t have to think of the advancing years; but to the few, my contemporaries, I recommend this as the means of warding off the devastating effects of increasing years; for if you save Peony seed this year, put it into the ground this autumn [1924], you have the pleasure of busying yourself with other pursuits until the spring of 1926. Peony seed germinates usually the second spring after planting. People, of course, may affect to marvel at anyone wanting to plant seed which takes two years to germinate. They think we put a chair down and watch the bed to see it shoot up. But no, we put the Peony seed into the ground and go about our business. All have business, such as it is. In the course of a year and a half, the Peonies come up, and when they come up you rejoice in them.

For they are the dearest things! Little tiny shoots of red, one leaf or perhaps two, a little bit bigger than my thumb nail.

The remarkable thing is to look at the plants and reflect on what is in them. You marvel how such tiny creatures can contain in them the possibility of producing such lovely blooms, and no two alike. They are already persons in the true sense. You watch their development just as you watch the development of your other children, and like other children they sometimes turn out better and sometimes not so well. When your Peony children turn out badly, you root them out and throw them away.

Chinese Tree Peonies
Another great group of Peonies are those called, in derision, I sometimes think, Tree Peonies. The name, Tree Peony, suggests straining the neck to look at it. You do strain the neck, but you strain it looking down, not up. They grow three feet high with me, but it is true in England they grow six or eight feet high.

The Tree Peony is a development from a totally different kind than the Chinese Peony because it makes a permanent woody growth. These Chinese Peonies are what is called herbaceous in habit. They have a complicated system of big roots under ground. Each year the foliage dies down and nothing is visible whatever. Buds form upon the crowns underground which next spring shoot up through the soil and become the flowering branches of that year. Tree Peonies, P. moutan or arborea, make permanent woody growth above ground, and form flower buds for next year in the axils of this year’s leaves. These are forming now to make new branches next year and next year’s flowers. This plant has been cultivated by the Chinese for many centuries and is one of their favorite plants. You hear more about Tree Peonies in China than you do about the herbaceous Peonies, probably because the Chinese consider the Tree Peony superior to the herbaceous, and in that judgment I most heartily concur. The herbaceous Peonies have not the subtle delicacy of the Chinese Tree Peonies, have not the astonishing range of color and the wonderful pinks. Those pinks in the Tree Peonies are of the most enchanting beauty, incredible. They also have whites, dark reds and flesh colors in just as rich variety as you need.

Tree Peonies have been the favorite motive for Chinese painters and porcelain workers from remote antiquity. Vase painters and porcelain workers from remote antiquity. Vases many centuries old have Peonies on them – very highly cultivated garden forms, showing that the plant had been in cultivation for a very long time. No one can guess when the Chinese began the cultivation of these Peonies. Probably back to the beginning of the Christian era or before. The group of Chinese Tree Peonies is a marvelous group of plants and nobody should profess to be a Peony fancier and not make a tremendous effort to have Tree Peonies in his garden. The effort is often disproportionate to the results with these plants. With the herbaceous type you order roots or sow seeds and put them in the ground, and you need give them scarcely a thought for fifteen or twenty years. But with the Tree Peonies you must think of them day and night, because they are liable to attacks of strange maladies, and have one particularly annoying trick. In the morning you go out and look at a plant full of buds and think how fine it is. In the evening you go to look at it again and find that the plant is entirely withered and dead. This happens, it is true, only once in a while, but once is more than enough if it is a beautiful and valuable plant.

With these Chinese Peonies of the herbaceous type the buds form upon the crowns of the plants. In order to multiply those plants they need only be dug up and have the crown cut into sections, and every section that carries roots and a bud will be a new plant. It will soon shoot up and establish itself. But what are you going to do with the Tree Peony? How will you multiply it? If you slit the stem in two and make two plants, both will die. You will reduce your stock from one to zero. There is apparently no way but grafting. The Japanese have grafted Tree Peonies, taking parts of the branches at the right season, which is August, and grafting them into other Tree Peony roots. Unfortunately they use as stock a type of Tree Peony which is objectionable, with flowers as large as a man’s hat, and the most glaring shade of magenta purple ever invented. The moment they come into bloom they have to be dug out and thrown away. That is the stock on which the Japanese graft. That stock sends up suckers, and if you graft a delicate and beautiful variety on a plant which forms vulgar and vigorous suckers, the little scion will be crowded out and die. The way to prevent this is to cut out the suckers, but how can you tell? You can’t always be quite sure which is the stock and which the graft. The result is you are left in doubt, and you are indeed the man who hesitates and is lost, because if you leave the suckers they will soon crowd out the graft and kill it.

The European growers, on the other hand, have grafted the Tree Peonies on to the roots of the herbaceous Peonies – which does very well in some varieties and very poorly in others. Some bloom luxuriantly; others do not bloom for years.

In the old days, before the existence of Quarantine 37, all we need to do to get Tree Peony plants was to write an order to France or England; or order from our own nurseryman who in turn sent the order abroad. Under present restrictions no Tree Peonies can be imported for sale from abroad, and there are almost none for sale in America. I know of, I think, only one place in America where Tree Peonies are offered for sale. Mr. Farr, of Wyoming, has some plants; not many. What are we going to do about it? You say, “Why does he tell us about Tree Peonies and say they are so beautiful and then not tell us how we can get them?” I can tell you. It’s a long process, requiring determination and devotion; but the only sound method is to grow them yourself from seed. There will be no trouble from grafts or shoots from the stock if you have Peony seedlings. They are your own and they are permanent, very healthy, and will bloom regularly.

I used to be asked: “Yes, but what guarantee have you that your seedlings will be of sufficiently good quality to be satisfactory?” I had to wait for the answer to that until they bloomed. I have had from fifty to sixty in full bloom this year, some with fifteen or eighteen flowers apiece. They are as good on the average as the stock we used to buy, either in Japan or Europe.

I suppose you have some curiosity as to where you can get your seed. Well, there is no seed to be had, either, in America. Neither plants nor seed.

I can suggest only one thing. That is that you come to me for it. I have 100 Tree Peony plants that have bloomed for me this year. Most will set seed, and I shall probably have 1000 or more seeds. Those who want to try a few need only give me your names. In the autumn I will send you small packages, according to the size of the crop and the number of requests.

You may not have much success in growing them. But if you do have patience and determination to grow Tree Peonies from seed or in any other way, you will never regret it. The flowers are of incomparable beauty.

Early Americans Grew Officinalis Peonies
There are two more groups that I should like to speak to you about though very briefly. Both species which I have spoken of are Chinese plants. Now there is a species native to Europe, P. officinalis, the Peony of the apothecary. From ancient records the Peony was esteemed a remedy for certain diseases, being considered to have some kind of medicinal properties. P. officinalis, the crimson native species of Europe marks by its name the use which was made of it. Out of that wild species have been developed a number of garden forms, 15 or 20 perhaps, among which the old double crimson Peony is the common one, and perhaps the best known of all Peonies. It is exceedingly common in New York, but is not quite so widely disseminated in Massachusetts; but is a very pretty plant. That group, the Officinalis group, also blooms earlier, and normally they are all over before the Chinese group begins. Now it may seem to you that this talk is rambling, but I am really keeping my thought pretty close to one theme. I am trying to answer the reproach that is cast upon the Peony very often, that it has too short a season. Well, the Chinese Peony has a short season. It has a season of about three weeks, and we see no way of extending that season except by cold storage, which prolongs it into midsummer, but that is of no use to the grower; only to the cut flower man. The way to extend the Peony season is by using first of all in the Chinese Peonies themselves both the very early varieties and the very late varieties, and then taking on the Tree Peonies and the Officinalis varieties with those, and then another group still, which comes before the Tree Peonies; and then you will be able to get a Peony season about six weeks long every year.

If you get as enthusiastic over the Peony as the so-called Peony fan so that you are considered more or less demented – you may even be glad when the season is over. When you wake up every morning dozens of new things are in bloom. You drag your friends out to see them – very reluctuantly, as a rule; otherwise they would have gardens of their own. You drag them out, and that is a fatiguing process for you as well as for them. You compare your Peonies with those which you see at the shows, as to name, color, etc. – in short you are so busy with your Peonies from morning till night that you will conclude six weeks is just about the right time for the Peony season; and I am showing how you can have this season of Peonies.

The Chinese Peonies for three weeks, and for two weeks preceding them the Tree Peonies and Officinalis varieties. The Officinalis varieties have not been nearly as much developed as they should be. Very little work has been done with them. There are double crimson, double pink, double white, mauve pink and single crimson. But there is not the variety of color that there ought to be. There is a field for Peony enthusiasts, to produce new forms of Officinalis.

For the future – New Source Material for Peony Breeding
Then there is a new group which has just come into our gardens in recent years, which is exceedingly precious. There are but few varieties, but these are of the highest beauty. They are derived from a species of Peony discovered in the Caucasus, called P. Wittmanniana. That species has been used as the pollen parent by the great hybridizer Lemoine of Nancy [France]. He has taken pollen from Wittmanniana, crossing that very early species with later flowering sorts, and has produced a race of hybrids very much like the male parent, but the species Wittmanniana is white and the crossing with the Chinese blood has given us progeny which vary in color. The best of these sorts, in my opinion, are Mai Fleuri and Le Printemps, and they are of very great beauty. I never fully appreciated them until this year. Something in the slow, cool, moist season this spring has enabled the Wittmanniana hybrids to develop to a degree of perfection never before equaled. During a few days, for they have a very short season, they were as lovely as anything I ever had in my garden. The flowers are single, and the colors are indescribable, being very much mixed. The petals have stripes of pink on a background of pale coffee color, – very weak coffee color. Imagine a white peony dipped in coffee, and then stained green and yellow, and then painted rose near the edges. These are extraordinary plants and have come to stay. They bloom normally from the 20th to the 25th of May. That is three weeks before the Chinese Peonies begin. They are very precious to us indeed, and I am sure that they are going to be further developed.

I hoped indeed that I might have something interesting to say about a number of such hybrids which bloomed for the first time with me this year. I had about two dozen Wittmanniana and sinensis crosses in bloom. A great many go back completely into the male parent and show no trace whatever of having been crossed. That seems very curious, when you take pollen from this species and put it on as different a species as the Chinese Peony, and then take seed from the Chinese plant and find that the seedlings have the leafage and character and bloom and color, all the beauty of the male parent. The mother plant is completely submerged. The characters of the male parent are dominant in the first generation. The characters of the female parent completely disappear. Save seed from the hybrids and in that progeny you are bound to get sports partly towards the male and partly towards Chinese Peonies. There is only one flaw in this. These hybrids do not set seed. I have 25 or 30 varieties, and all have pods. The pod swells up as if it were full of seed and I think: “This time I have got some.” Later on in the summer the pods burst, and they are empty. These are some of the strange mysteries in connection with cross fertilization in plants, mysteries over which one may ponder much and go forward not at all.

There is a curious story in connection with the next group of which I wish to speak. In 1883 a French priest traveling in the mountains of southwestern China discovered a plant which looked as though it had the character of a Peony. He sent seeds home to Paris where they were planted. It grew to be a Peony indeed and was found to be a bright yellow flowered species. This was named P. lutea; the bloom is two inches across and as bright yellow as a buttercup, with delicious fragrance more like a lily – sweet and very agreeable. Now Lutea is a shrubby Peony, like the Chinese Tree Peonies, and Lemoine has made crosses beteween Lutea and Tree Peonies, and has introduced into commerce some two or three varieties which are large double yellow Peonies – big as these blooms before me and bright yellow, magnificent and extraordinary looking things. You would say somebody had dyed them. There is no need, because they come that way naturally.

This cross of the yellow Peony with the Chinese Tree Peony is a cross easily made, and you are likely to get occasionally a well developed seed. When I first began to make that cross I was sure I was going to be successful. I crossed from the Chinese Peony on to the Lutea plant, and the pods grew bigger and bigger throughout the summer. Evidently they were filled with seed. But in the autumn when I pressed one of these big seeds in my fingers it burst, and there was nothing in it. The problem which has always interested me is, what is the nature of that act of fertilization; for a Peony bloom that is unfertilized does not develop seed pods, but these pods grow all summer and are filled with enormous glistening black seeds, and those seeds are nothing but a covering. They have no contents. I should like to know what the process is which leads to the development of everything except the individual – all the appurtenances but not the person.

I have mentioned the Chinese Peony as constituting the backbone of Peony culture, and since I have a few minutes more, I should like to say a few words regarding the various types of bloom that have been worked out in this particular group.

First the true singles. These consist typically of a single row of petals surrounding a cluster of pollen-bearing stamens with the stigma in the center. These are easily identified, for if you will rub the finger gently over the stamens you will find it liberally powdered over with the yellow pollen.

Similar to the singles in appearance are the so-called Japanese type. In these flowers the stamens have really been transformed into stamen-like petals. These petals often have thickened yellow ends very much like the anthers on the end of the stamens in the single type; but if you will rub your finger over these you will rarely get the slightest trace of pollen. The thickened yellow edges really do contain pollen, but they very rarely burst so as to shed the pollen. However, if you want some pollen from flowers of the Japanese type, it can easily be had by slitting open one of these swelled edges with a knife blade, and scraping off some of the pollen which will be found inside.

In the true double flower the transformation of the stamens has gone still farther and they have now been changed into broad clear colored petals. Sometimes these are interspersed with pollen bearing stamens, and in that case we have what is called a semi-double flower. Occasionally we have a variety in which not only the stamens but even the stigma and the seed vessels have been transformed into petals. Such a bloom is completely double, and is incapable of producing seed.

The preference in Europe and America has been for the double type of flower, and we distinguish in this group various forms known as bomb, crown, rose, and semi-rose, according to their particular shapes and the arrangement of the petals. But in recent years the Peony growers of American have begun to turn their attention more and more to the Japanese type of bloom. My own impression is that we have begun to tire of the ever-increasing size and bulk of the full double flowers and to seek relief in a less heavy flower, one that is more likely to support itself without typing up, and which makes a better showing as a garden plant. But it must be admitted that as cut flowers the Japanese sorts are very fine too, and I hope that within a few years we shall find them much more widely cultivated in gardens than we have in the past.

I have long advocated the idea that all who love Peonies should not limit themselves to the commercial varieties, but should grow some seedlings of their own. It is a delightful occupation in itself, and it keeps alive one’s interest in one’s garden. Even the best collection of named sorts will become stale in time if there are no new ones coming on. But with a group of seedlings blooming for the first time each year your interest will be keenly awakened as the blooming season approaches. This is a very different matter however from putting your seedlings into commerce. People are proverbially apt to think their own geese are swans, and so it comes about that we are deluged now with new varieties which are being added to our already overburdened list at a rate of fifty or a hundred every year. I am often reminded of an old friend of mine years ago who was really a Rose fancier, but who grew Peonies too, and had raised a few seedlings. I saw him one summer just after the end of the Peony season, and he told me with great delight that his first seedling had come into bloom that year. “What was it like?” I asked. “It was a single pink. It was very beautiful,” he replied. Now in a batch of mixed seedlings there are always likely to be about a third single pinks and single whites. And while they are all in a sense “very beautiful” one ought to remember that there is no justification for putting a variety into commerce unless it is really distinct from anything we have had before or superior to any older variety that resembles it. Remembering this you will suppress most of your very beautiful single whites and pinks, unless, as may happen once in a long while, you get one that is so fine in color or quality as to warrant you in propagating it. An English firm of Peony growers has put out into commerce about one hundred named sorts of single pink Peonies. It is safe to say that not more than one tenth of these are really distinct and valuable.

My final appeal to you is to use more intelligence and always more intelligence. Do not be satisfied with going to an exhibition and noting down the fine kinds you would like to add to your collection; but study the catalogues of Peony specialists so as to become acquainted with the extra early and the extra late kinds of Chinese Peonies; and then see also what there is to be had among those varieties which bloom before the Chinese Peonies have begun, – those lovely harbingers of Peony season which give you a foretaste of the joys that are to come later. And do not rest satisfied until you have six weeks of Peony bloom in your own garden.

Most people visiting this website come from the USA, google analytics tells me. Many will know how they are grown there and much information can be found in publications about peonies (Al Rogers’ ‘Peonies’ for example). But what about that other flower powerhouse on the other side of the ocean, Holland? Al Rogers once remarked that he had much difficulty in finding information about peonies in Holland as nearly nobody wanted to help him out. Well, we cannot help Al Rogers anymore as he is sadly no longer amongst us, but a very informative article just appeared in the trade journal ‘Greenity’ about the peony season for Dutch cutflower growers. The trade journal is highly recommended, but it’s doubtful that many people will be able to read it as it’s written in Dutch language. I’m a strong advocate for sharing information however, thus here’s my own translation of that article:

Peonies upholding themselves despite strangeness of season.

Peony season is past us. It has been a strange season looking back. Due to the weather the supply of heated greenhouses, unheated plastic tunnels and peonies grown outside was all pushed together. Even though many stems were available in a period of three weeks after May 15th, prices remained acceptable.

The capricious nature of growing peonies was obvious this year. In early spring the peony season was expected to be a late one. After all, winter had been rather wet and cold, but then March gave us one week of warmer weather and “everybody thought the start would be normal after all.” “But the fact is that you can only say something about the earliness or lateness of the season when it’s the end of April,” said Aad Vernooy, networkcoordinator peonies at LTO Glaskracht Nederland, a sectoral lobby organisation.

That appeared to be so. Because from then on temperatures remained above normal day and night and as a result all peonies resumed growth very fast. The flowers from the heated greenhouses were about one week later than usual, but the harvest from the unheated plastic tunnels followed just a few days later. Immediately followed by peonies growing outside, whilst normally there’s about 10 days between.

“Add to this that the different growing areas in the Netherlands started at more or less the same time,” says Marcel Salman, mediator at CNB (the largest flowerbulb mediating office) and peony grower in Noordwijk. All of this together resulted in three weeks cutting of an enormous amount of peony stems from the second half of May onwards.

Luck from Africa

You’d expect such an add-up to be detrimental for prices, but all peony stems sold well. Vernooy: “We had the sheer luck that just around that period there was a shortage of roses from Africa.” So suddenly there was more demand for peonies as they are a good alternative to roses. Thanks to this more peonies went to Russia, America and England. Added to this the explosion of peony flowers ready to harvest meant that many growers were unable to cope with all the work of cutting them and eventually harvested less flowers than normal. As growers can normally cut peonies of a single variety for about a week, this year it was only two or three days. This resulted in a large demand for additional workers but these could hardly be found. The effect of this was most visibly with the growers that have large acreages, says Salman. “Some of them were only able to go trough the fields once. The rest was left to remain on the fields due to lack of manpower.”

In general the quality of the peonies was good, although not especially so. Vernooy saw the effect of plants growing too fast, the inner quality of the flowerbuds was less: “There was less content in a normally well filled peony bud, most obvious in peony stems from the heated greenhouses.” The lesser growing power also gave us lighter, thinner stems. Due to the hot weather and shortage of workers this year they were usually cut in a very soft bud stage instead of too hard. Salman estimates that the proportion of buds opening too soon was somewhat higher than other years.

Cold store emptied earlier

Prices were in general reasonably good. The lowest day average at the auction was 0.30 € (0.34 $) per stem, Vernooy tells us. The price difference between peony varieties was large though. Some stems sold for 0.10 € (0.11 $); those were the lesser ones. The most expensive ones went above 2 euros (2.29 $) per stem, usually the newer varieties. Peonies grown outside fetched daily averages of between 0.32 and 0.34 € (0.37 – 0.39 $).

Salman remarks that prices are under pressure since the end of July. At that time there was a lot of supply from cold stored peonies. As the peonies went into cold storage less well due to the hot weather, he assumes growers emptied them earlier. Due to this the number of stems coming to market now are larger than normal. Salman: “Other years there are peonies from cold storage up until the end of August, but this year the cold stores will be empty sooner,” is his expectation. According to Salman this shows clearly in the prices fetched at the auction, as normally some of his peonies are sold for 1.50 to 2.00 € (1.72 – 2.29 $), they are now selling for 0.40 to 0.50 € (0.46 – 0.57 $). “That’s not a price that can make good the expensive storage, you need at least 1 € (1.14 $).” Salman didn’t see the price peaks that often occur from the end of May onwards.

Extending instead of advancing

That there’s growth in the cultivation of peonies, is well-known. The acreage devoted to peony cutflowers is growing exponentially, five years ago there were about 700 to 800 hectares (1,730 to 1,976 acres) of them, now it’s around 1.200 hectares (2,965 acres), Vernooy estimates. Of these, 900 hectares (2,223 acres) are being actively used for cutting, whilst another 300 hectares (741 acres) are young plantlets to be used in the future. Salman: “For sure, there will be more stems next year.” Still there’s usually some brake on the supply due to whatever reason. “Up until now we have had healthy growth and demand was always there.’ Demand also increases because the flower gets more and more popular and the assortment more diverse. “There are still ample sales opportunities for peonies, “ Vernooy is sure of. Growing demand is expected from Russia, Poland and Ukraine.

Vernooy and Salman also see opportunities for Dutch growers to extend the season. This could possibly be done through ULO-storage (Ultra Low Oxygen), which is still being experimented with. The season could be extended this way until halfway September, Vernooy thinks. Salman doubts whether this is the way to go. After all, these are not fresh flowers. If quality were to be paramount, it would be better if Dutch growers looked at extending the season through growing peonies in other countries. Salman: “Everybody in Europe is working on advancing the season, but then we’re all fishing the same pond.” New fishing waters might be found in countries where you could cut peonies from the beginning of July onwards, Vernooy thinks. “I’m thinking about the Baltics, thus countries like Estonia or Latvia.”

Less supply of peonies

According to FloraHolland (the world’s largest flower auction) this year during the period from week 1 (Jan 1-7) up until week 30 (Jul 23-29) more than 84.5 million peony stems were supplied. This is both Dutch and foreign supply and both auction and mediation combined. This means a decline of 2.2 percent compared to the same period in 2017. The supply from the Netherlands stands at 73 million stems, some 5 percent less than in 2017. The supply of peonies at the auction (more than 59.5 million) has declined whilst the supply of peonies sold through mediation (24 million) has increased.

Source: E. Langen. “Pioen blijft overeind ondanks raar seizoen.” In: Greenity, 2018, Aug 16, nr 21, pp. 28-29.

Most of us have peonies blooming in May and June. Some people that live in warmer climates will already have flowers in April and those in (very) cold climates will have them in July. Of course you could also grow some very early species to have peonies earlier or use a refrigerator to store the flowers for later use. But to have them in the garden flowering some two months after the normal season is something that few of us will have experienced. Still, this is such an experience I’d like to share here.

Back in 2014 we had the unfortunate event that a severe hailstorm hit us spot-on just at the end of the peony flowering season (June 7th). There was a whole lot of damage, no need to go into details, but none of the above ground foliage and stems of my peonies remained. At the time I grew about 300 different varieties of peonies, mostly herbaceous hybrids and lactifloras, next to some intersectionals and shrubby peonies. None of them was lost due to the event, they all flowered the following year, although several of them with fewer stems and flowers. Remarkably Coral Sunset flowered better the next season thanks to the fact that the leaf nematodes that were present didn’t have a chance of dispersing themselves from the buds to the foliage below it, which was one of two nice suprises. The other surprise was that there was one variety that started growing again, growing strong and flowering some two months later in the midst of Summer. That variety was the intersectional Canary Brilliants.

I didn’t have too many plants of it at the time, so the following year (after seeing there was no damage to them), they were dug, divided and replanted. Now, 2018, we are three years later, they have grown into large mature plants (about 160 of them) and I though the time right to do some ‘repeat’ experimenting. Thus right after flowering, June 6th, I took out my ‘mowing’-machine and mowed 100 of them flat. Not an easy task as there were many partly woody stems as is usually the case with intersectionals. Not a single leaf was left, otherwise the plants might not be triggered to start growing again from their secondary buds.

At the end of the flowering season

Mowing them down (June 6th)

And indeed, a few weeks later, the new buds started growing. We did have very unusually hot weather this Summer with nearly always day temperatures of 30-35°C (86°F-95°F) with some outliers at 38°C (100°F) some days. This will not happen every year of course, I live in Belgium, not in Greece or Italy. At around July 23 they started flowering, right up until the end of that month, thus some 45 days after mowing down. I suppose in a normal year, they will start flowering at the beginning of August and will flower for about two weeks as Canary Brilliants does during a normal season. There are not as many flowers as in May/June, but I got an average of 5 flowers per plant, which is not too bad I would think (and I suppose if the weather were not as hot, more buds would have developed). The stems are a little less sturdy, but still more than sturdy enough as you would expect from an intersectional. The flower bud now is rounded, whilst in May/June they were for the most part pointed and only the very last ones had round buds then. The flower size and stem length are as usual. As anyone will know that has used intersectionals as cut flowers, they tend to open rather fast and their vase life is somewhat less compared to usual peony cut flowers. The fast opening is something that cannot easily be resolved, surely when temperatures are as high as they were this year, but when you remove nearly all the foliage (up until the bud with perhaps one small upper leaf remainig (and the ‘involucrate bract’ against the bud itself)) they do have a good vase life (when placed out of sun and sheltered from wind of course).

Growing again

Unfortunately no other intersectional but Canary Brilliants has shown this phenomenon, thus I’m currently restricted to only one peony variety. Other intersectionals that were growing here and thus don’t give a second blooming season when mowed down: Garden Treasure, Bartzella, Cora Louise, First Arrival, Momo Taro, Hillary, Callie’s Memory, Millennium. Perhaps there are other intersectionals that might be usable, but I have not been buying many new ones the last years.

First ones growing fine July 1st, whilst some others just mowed down on the right.

End of July with on the left those mowed down June 6th, on the right those mowed down July 1st and after that the Canary Brilliants plants that were not mowed down. The foliage tends to become darker with the palest green on the last mowed down ones and the darkest those that were left to grow.

The nice thing about Canary Brilliants compared to many of the other ones is that the bud, when opened indoors, has a nice orange cast to it, something which quickly disappears outside due to sunshine and turning the flowers to yellow. It also flowers over a long period, is very floriferous, has sturdy stems and is tall and upright. An extra bonus is that is has a very agreeable strong fragrance. It thus makes a good cutflower even if it weren’t for this reblooming capability.

Ready to be sold, nice round buds this time.

Just opened (left), influence of the sunshine (right)

I also mowed down some plants about a month later, July 1st. But, although every plant also grew again, not many of them made flowers again. Only about 1 in every 3 plants gave me 1 flower, which is a bit too few to make it worthwile I would think.

Opened indoors at the end of July

It remains to be seen whether one could repeat this each and every year without damage to the plants. But if not so, then perhaps once every two  years might also be a viable commercial option if you grow them for cutflowers. I will be digging them again in October and I’ll see if there’s any difference between my different treatments (I left some of them as they were and didn’t mow them down). It might be an interesting niche for some commercial cutflower growers or for some gardeners as well to have peonies blooming when only Alaska has them in flower.

For those that just can’t get enough of peony diseases, here’s a movie of what foliar nematodes can do in peonies. There were some images in my season’s overview, but I think the movie is better still :-) It starts with the three infected plants (Old Faithful seedlings, Old Faithful being rather susceptible to this pest) that didn’t receive a hot-water treatment and this is where the problems started. All around it where healthy plants. This is the third year of their growth and you can see that several plants in a circle around the original infected plants are now also showing symptoms. The symptoms at this stage (before flowering) are stunted growth, somewhat less stems and, above all, aborted flower buds. To the left of the infected plants, where the camera first swings to, you have a row of Don Richardson, where you can see the first plants with aborted buds, a bit further the other plants are still growing well. Then when the camera returns you can see the row after it with Fringed Ivory, another lactiflora, with the same symptoms, most visible in less sidebuds as well. Then to the right of the original three you have Color Magnet, a hybrid, that shows the symptoms most clearly. Stunted growth and aborted flowers. You’ll notice that as the camera goes further away that other plants of Color Magnet are very healthy with lots of buds. The most visible symptom is when foliage starts to dry up, ending at the veins as the nematodes have difficulty passing them, but this is only visible much later in the season. You can see some pictures of that in the longer article about foliar nematodes (go to the ‘magazine’ in the menu, or do a search).

PS: It took some time to find out how to upload a movie from my smartphone, never done that before. Apparently the way to do it nowadays is either through facebook or youtube and then ’embed’ it here. Hope it works well.

2018 shall be remembered as one of the shortest peony seasons ever (hopefully), it started late here in Belgium and ended very soon. Cold weather during the months of March and April resulted in postponing the very early ones by nearly 14 days. The very earliest one is a P. daurica seedling which flowered April 9th last year and took another 11 days to flower on April 20 this year. At around the same time my replanted divisions of P. mascula bodurii flowered. These have very sturdy stems and seem to tolerate our weather very well. They are described as white, but there’s some cream and green to it as well. It’s obvious that P. mascula hellenica is a far prettier plant, but bodurii is about a week earlier and far easier to grow, I think it could be one to recommend to any average gardener (once it becomes more easily available).

P. mascula bodurii

At the same time I could harvest my first cutflowers from my plastic greenhouses. To show that not all goes according to plan, here’s a picture of my Coral Charms and their rendez-vous with an unwanted guest named botrytis. Last year’s stems hadn’t been removed and thus the disease had a great time…

That’s not the only problem that occurred this year. I have fields of peony that have been planted in different years. A field that was planted three years ago with many different cultivars did very well, but upon closer inspection there was an issue with leaf nematodes (aphelenchoides fragariae, there’s another longer article on the website about them). When I planted this field all divisions did receive a hot water treatment to get rid of this pest. But I received three plants from another peony friend after I had given the hot water treatment. I could not start the procedure again for just three divisions and thus planted them with the others. The first year those three plants hardly flowered, but them being first year plants, nothing uncommon of course. Last year however, it was clear that they had problems with leaf nematodes as most stems didn’t give any flowers at all, whilst all other plants standing around them were perfectly fine. But as is the case with leaf nematodes, they spread from plant to plant during periods of rain or damp weather and this year in more or less a perfect circle around those three plants, several plants of other cultivars were infected as well and showed symptoms that I didn’t like and that most readers won’t like as well. Some cultivars are less susceptible than others and thus the degree of severity differs somewhat but alas, none proved to be fully resistant. See the pictures to know what I’m speaking of, there are also some pictures of plants of the same varieties that are still perfectly healthy, and these plants just happen to be only 1 meter (3 feet) further away from the infected plants, no doubt they would show disease symptoms next year if I were to let them grow there (but all shall be dug, divided and will receive their hot water cure).

Looking close at some peonies, sometimes you see something you hadn’t noticed before. Lavender Baby, that rare Lavender seedling from an open pollinated seed, has very deeply divided foliage. Having read some more about species peonies I am wondering whether P. officinalis in one or other form would not be the pollen parent? There’s a P. officinalis plant growing here, but it’s not doing very well, whilst Lavender Baby with more or less the same foliage is simply a standout when it comes to health and good growth. What I have also noticed this year is the difference between P. emodi and Early Windflower / Late Windflower, but you can read a longer article about that elsewhere on the site.

Lavender Baby leaf

The first excellent early cutflower this year was Vanilla Schnapps, unfortunately I couldn’t cut any as they are still being propagated, but I was able to use them for pollinating. During the beginning of the flowering season I still have time to make some crosses, thus Vanilla Schnapps is one of my favorites for this purpose. Together with Grand Massive and some early seedlings they have been used extensively this year, hopefully something nice comes from it. Most of them have been pollinated with PVBM003 (Pink Vanguard x Buoy Master, selection 3) which is the best plant I have produced thus far, very early with stems as sturdy as Old Faithful. I’ve also used some pollen that peony friends sent me, Ruud Warmerdam gave me some Anika, a very early flowering plant, and from Hans Maschke I got some pollen from P. parnassica, that rare deep red species. Since both plants are so difficult to obtain, I’ve used the pollen to the last grain on several fertile hybrids, we’ll see what results from it.

P. parnassica (picture from H. Maschke)

Something else that I noticed are the so-called ‘open buds’ (where the outer petals are too short to cover the inner petals/stamens/carpels) and which tend to result in flowers with rotten stamens when the weather is not dry enough. Moonrise, a plant of which I used to have several hundreds, has this deficiency, but it is hardly alone. New and rare cultivars are also sometimes prone to it, Triphena Parkin for example showed it as well on some flowers (whilst on others not). It must have something to do with the cold. Vanilla Schnapps which I had growing at three different places, grew perfectly well in two sheltered positions with perfectly formed buds, whilst at the third location many open buds occurred, a first for this cultivar. This last location was unsheltered, thus usually a few degrees cooler and I’ve also noticed that even here the sidebuds, which flower later, were again perfectly formed. It needs further study of course, but I tend to shy away from cultivars that show this phenomenon quite often.

From the newer cultivars that I hadn’t seen many times before two stood out from the rest: Just Peachy (see another article) and Dipple Gowt. The latter is from the cross P. Nilitz (an advanced hybrid) x P. obovata subsp. willmottiae. There aren’t too many hybrids with obovata in their background, Saunders introduced Silver Dawn, whose offspring was used to produce such lovely things as Sunny Girl, Greenland and Lois’ Choice. It’s nice to have something else with this much obovata genetics in it (as obovata tends to grow well in some shadow, thus opening new opportunities). The stems aren’t the sturdiest, though they are sufficient to hold the semi-double to double flowers. The foliage is very shining green and looks extremely healthy. Harald Fawkner, the breeder of this plant, remarks that it is very fertile and gives ample seed, we’ll see what the combination of Dipple Gowt x P. parnassica will give…

After this one flowered the real cutting season began, with very warm weather and rain torrents in between, not the best combination I must say, the older cultivars were simply left to flower on the plants as I only had enough time to harvest the better newer cultivars. With so many peony stems to market (other growers experienced the same weather, Holland is close by with their millions of peony stems growing) prices were not spectacular this year, but fortunately the cultivars distinct enough still did quite well. The Fawn and Amalia Olson are two cultivars of which I grow a lot and both did very fine this year, with lots of stems.

There are some other cultivars that surprised me in a positive way. Prairie Butterflies turned out to be a very large, tall, sturdy and healthy plant with very attractive flowers, somewhat in the colour range of Athena, but darker pink and much more impressive. White Frost seems to be an excellent double white garden plant, the stems are very sturdy and the flowers very attractive whilst their fragrance is extremely strong (and very likeable), the only plant I could smell from a distance when the flowers were open. The buds are too pink and not perfectly formed, thus as a cutflower they would not do well, but for the garden it must be one of the very best. And Tranquil Dove was very attractive this year, as it usually is, with the pink picotee edges, it’s a far better plant than the comparable Picotee.

The peony season is now over, we can do one last experiment with Canary Brilliants. A few years ago we had a severe hailstorm at the end of the peony flowering season which devastated my peony fields that year (and some other things as well). There wasn’t any foliage left over on my peonies, but one cultivar (from over 300 at the time) restarted growth and flowered again in July. That cultivar was the intersectional (or ITOH if you so like) Canary Brilliants, thus this time I’m trying to repeat this phenomenon, there might be a niche market for it…

Canary Brilliants

So that was my peony season in short, if you’d like to tell about yours, feel free to do so, it’s not my intention to write most of the articles on the website as it’s meant to let all people share their peony experiences. The comments section is yours, but so is the forum and you can even write an article for the ‘magazine’ yourself, so why not tell about your own peonies?

The American Peony Society (APS) has just proclaimed the peony ‘Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar’ as the 2018 Gold Medal Winner and thus as the Peony of the Year 2019. Rumor has it, however, that this plant might be identical to a peony which is more widely known, The Fawn. Peony The Fawn is the variety of which I have the most plants in my cutflower fields, and it is my favorite lactiflora. I don’t have Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar, so I cannot tell whether they are one and the same. The description of Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar fits The Fawn very well however, it should be a chance seedling, probably between Kansas and Sarah Bernhardt, with the plant habit inherited from the former and the colour of Sarah, but then speckled. Pronouncing its name is easy for me, living in the dutch speaking part of Belgium, but may be somewhat difficult for those that are native english speakers.

I have always had difficulty believing that a chance seedling would pop up in a commercial field, from varieties that nearly never give you any seed, and then grow into such a perfect plant. It’s unlikely, though not impossible. What would be more likely is that a very small division of The Fawn ended up in the field and grew into a fine plant which was not recognized as the variety it already was and then named ‘Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar’. I cannot be completely sure unless I see some ‘Pietertje Vriend Wagenaar’ for real of course, and the official registration has it that “The bloom has the color of Sarah Bernhardt, perhaps a little lighter”, which is not true for The Fawn as it is a deeper pink, although from time to time some paler flowers may occur (see one of the images below), depending on shadow, soil, etcetera, but on average the color difference is obvious… If any reader has an opinion about this, feel free to share it in the comments below :-)

Now I was going to write a few words about The Fawn. It was registered by B.B. Wright from Iowa (USA), no date given, but probably around the second half of the 1930’s as all his other introductions were registered at that time.1 None of all his other peonies are familiar to me, although I would have liked to see some more as The Fawn makes you wonder if his others were as good. It is available from many nurseries at an affordable price (statements of it being ‘rare’ are somewhat stretching the truth), which is logical since it has been a long time around and it grows and propagates rapidly.

Why is this my all-time favorite lactiflora? When the young stems and foliage emerge they are deep red and this remains so for quite a while, very attractive. The red coloration reappears in Autumn and the foliage is always very healthy until late in the season. At flowering time the foliage is dark green and you have a rather tall plant (some people claim that it is somewhat short, but here it is a tall as Sarah Bernhardt). The stems are incredibly sturdy, and with an open flower they take rain and wind better even than Old Faithful can. Even the smaller stems are sturdy enough to hold the flowers. A huge improvement over so many other lactifloras. It flowers somewhat late in the season, normally just before or overlapping with Sarah Bernhardt. The flowers’ base color is indeed blush, but there are so many deep pink speckles on them that the end impression is a deep pink. The petals are nicely placed, it has a very large fully double flower with some stamens placed in  between the petals. It is very, very floriferous and flowers for quite a long time, with a few (3 on average) sidebuds usually. The buds are something special. They are not rounded as with most peonies, but more ‘rose formed’, although this ‘rose form’ only appears just before opening (fortunately, otherwise rain would spoil the flowers, though it does make it difficult to keep the flowers in cold storage when there’s water in between the petals of the flowers). Pale pink at the outer edges at first and then, when about to open, they change their color and become deeper pink. As a cutflower they should be harvested only at this time, not earlier, or they will not open as well (they will open, but far smaller). It’s a fantastic cutflower with the sturdy tall stems that never bend over in a vase, they keep longer than Sarah Bernhardt as well. Only problem is that you must sometimes convince your customers that the ‘rose buds’ are not open flowers but still true peony buds. And whatever you may hear, it is not as pale pink as Sarah Bernhardt, thus it is not an improved replacement for it.

Enough talk, now some images, and if you have any experience with this cultivar, feel free to share them:

 

 

 

Footnotes:
  1. Kessenich, Greta M. (ed) “Peonies 1986-1996”. Minnesota: American Peony Society, 1996, p. 126.[]

A peony that really stood out from the rest in the beginning of this season was ‘Just Peachy’. It’s a sibling to Dreamtime, Kathy’s Touch, Nelda’s Joy and probably some others as well, all deriving from the same cross ‘Pink Vanguard’ x ‘Salmon Dream’, and I think it’s the best one from this range of cultivars. There’s some 75% Salmon Dream genes in them all as ‘Pink Vanguard’ is a result of ‘Blushing Princess x Salmon Dream’. No surprise then that the plant resembles Salmon Dream very well. If you grow them side by side, you might think they’re the same the first weeks, only after a while do the differences become apparent. Earliness, foliage all the way down to the ground, sturdy stems, healthy and large leaves are common characteristics.

It is a plant that was originated by Bill Seidl, the well-known American peony hybridizer who is alas no longer amongst us. He was very partial to this one:1

The flowers of this seedling are white, but not pure white.  Theresa G. saw the plant in bloom this spring and said it had just a little peach coloring, dubbing it “Just Peachy”.   It bore single, semi-double, and double flowers all on the one plant.
I advised Nate [Bremer, from Solaris Farms, kh] not to sell any divisions less than $200.  It’s that good.
Nate reports that he got “many” divisions off the big rootball he picked up at my garden, but that they were small and needed two years growth to become saleable plants, thus 2013.  He counted 47 stems.  There were 13 on  three other divisions, making a total of 60 stems on a seedling that grew for 31 years, never divided or transplanted, in the same spot.  (The seed germinated in 1980, and I am subtracting that date from 2011. The sdlg number, 79H5-8, indicates 1979 was the year the cross was made and the seed planted.)
Nate said there were “cavernous” openings in the main root.   Understandable in an old plant  as old roots decay away and are replaced by new ones.  But there was no disease.
The parentage is  Pink Vanguard   x  Salmon Dream.  Pink Vanguard is sdlg # 71H17 from the cross of  Blushing Princess  x  Salmon Dream.  So “Just Peachy” has a double dose of Salmon Dream in its pedigree.  Sixty stems can find no room to all grow upwards.  Instead of just leaning  outwards and demanding support,  the outer ring of stems, at about four inches of growth, reflexed sharply and grew parallel to the ground.  At bloom-time the buds reflexed upward so that the flowers faced the sun and bloomed almost at ground-level, but did not rest on the ground or break off.   It made for a mound of flowers, the central flowers on stems about 2 ft. high, inviting such names as Snowdrift, Snowbank, Snow Pillow, etc.
Paul [Brown, kh] asked what makes Just Peachy so “good”.  The flower itself won’t measure up to the lacti whites but, being an herbaceous hybrid,  it blooms earlier.  (Most hh’s do, overlooking Old Faithful which blooms with the late lactis.)  That’s a big plus.   Add on self-supporting stems and disease-resistance  and you have a good overall package.

Just Peachy is somewhat shorter, some 55 cm here (22 inches) and this results in a cultivar that will have less use as a cutflower because taller stems are usually needed there. But as a garden plant it is truly outstanding with the healthy foliage and sturdy stems.

I cannot recall when I got the first plants of Just Peachy, but I planted them, with hindsight easy to say, in a very bad spot where the ground stayed wet during the Winter. They barely survived, but that’s better than most other plants that were growing there as most simply disappeared (nearly all my plants of Pastelegance amongst them, one of the most expensive mistakes I’ve made with peonies). Two years ago they were replanted to a better spot and thus I now had some two-year old plants. And do they look good! There were some 5-6 stems and flowers on each of them, thus they grow very well. Not too much stems, you might say, given the 60 that Bill Seidl mentioned in his comments, but his plant was over thirty years old of course. Still the plants already looked very nice and ‘full’. What immediately struck me where the very attractive buds. They are somewhat pointed (unlike Salmon Dream) and very large. The colour of the buds and flowers is very attractive and rarely seen. When open you have a large semi-double flower with petals beautifully placed creating the looks of an airy double flower.

It does have some fragrance, although not especially much, but the earliness and health, combined with those very attractive flowers make it highly recommended for any gardener that likes to have something different that is also outstanding. It’s not easily available at this time, but that will surely change in the years to come.

Footnotes:

  1. Seidl, Bill. ‘”Just Peachy’, a new hh cultivar.” Online at: Yahoo Peony group, message 16343, Oct 30, 2011.[]

Tranquil Dove is a hybrid peony that derives from a somewhat shady cross. It’s an open pollinated seedling from Halcyon, a strain of very alike plants. Halcyon derives from some P. lactiflora cultivar, and the pollen came from a plant labelled as ‘Ozieri Alba’. The latter would probably be P. corsica, as it is also the name of a place on Sardinia where that species grows. It is quite resemblant of Picotee, which also has P. corsica as one of the parents (but with P. daurica ssp macrophylla as the other instead of P. lactiflora). Although both are very pretty, Tranquil Dove is far easier to grow for me.

The description I’ll leave to Martin Page, writer of several peony books:1

A single-flowered hybrid with slightly curled white petals which are edged with lavender. The stamens have golden yellow anthers on magenta-coloured filaments, which become white towards the top, and the pink tomentose carpels have red styles. With its glossy green foliage it makes an attractive garden plant, but spots of lavender-coloured pigment sometimes spoil the flowers. Early season, 65 cm (26 in.).

Not much can be added to that description, although I haven’t noticed those “spots of lavender-coloured pigment”. It’s quite early flowering (just before Red Charm here) and a very pretty colour it is with the foliage also being nicely compact. The buds and flowers aren’t the largest but are proportionate to the plant itself which is somewhat lower than average. But let the pictures speak for themselves:

Footnotes:
  1. Page, Martin. “The Gardener’s Peony.” Timber Press: Portland-Cambridge, 2005, p.126.[]

Notes on the Importance of early Spring Growth.

As I am never tired of mentioning, here on the high desert, spring frosts are a regular issue. We get numbers of them every year without fail, and while they don’t always kill flower buds, they can effect the carpals in ways so they won’t produce seeds. Last spring I tried an experiment : I did not water my plants at all during the time prior to flower bloom., and allowed them to develop with the soil moisture left over from our winter snows. My thought was that if the plants and buds were less hydrated, they might be more resistant to frost. The outcome of which was…I did not have a lot of flowers, and although the plants had the expected number of stems, the plants were shorter than normal. Once the danger of frost was past, I gave these plants very good care, lots of water, and fertilized them several times during the summer.

This spring the outcome is that many of my plants have gone backwards in their stem count, even though I had pampered them during the previous summer. Some newer plants had only half the number of stems that they’d had during the previous year, and some stems look like they may not have any flowers.

What conclusions should I draw from this ?

One thing that came to mind was the method that one sometimes hears about that hybridizers use to get seeds on flowers that would normally be too double to make seeds at all. At some point in early spring, the developing stems are cut back, and the plant responds by sending up a new set of stems on which the flowers are often single, and thus usable for hybridization.

My sense is that this second set of stems comes from immature buds which normally would go on to make next spring’s stems, but which are unnaturally forced into action this spring instead. At a time when the embryonic flower buds inside them are only just beginning their development.

This indicates to me that next year’s stems are already beginning to develop right at the very beginning of the previous spring. The fact that I had not watered my plants in the early spring ( we have very sandy soil here) inhibited the initiation of these buds, and was the reason that I got fewer stems this year, despite taking very good care of my plants last summer. And in contrast to last year, watering them copiously this spring as well.

I also tend not to fertilize in early spring, for fear of the sort of soft growth which will be susceptible to frosts. This may also lead to fewer embryonic buds and thus slower stem increase, even though I do fertilize several times during the summer.

It seems reasonable to fertilize in spring to produce good blooms this season, but it may have a secondary effect as well – The encouragement of flowers and good stem increase which will not show up until a full year in the future. From eyes which need to begin developing quite early in spring if they are going to develop at all.

Bob Johnson

Both Early and Late Windflower have been growing here for several years. As many will know, they are extremely vigorous, growing very fast into a large clump with a lot of stems and flowers. They are highly recommended for any gardener as they have so many good characteristics: easy to grow, healthy, different and pretty. They arose from the cross P. anomala x P. emodi. Different mother plants (veitchii, beresowskyi) all considered anomala now, they are very alike and I never saw any difference between them, except for their flowering time.

Several years ago I obtained some P. emodi seeds from Will McLewin, a British peony species specialist who has since focused more on shrubby species. Two of these have grown into mature plants that flowered the first time in 2016. Not too many stems and when in flower I didn’t see any difference with the Windflowers. It is well-known that many P. emodi plants sold are in fact one of the Windflowers. How to tell the difference? In 2016 I didn’t see any difference except for the fact that the Windflowers grow like weed and P. emodi not unfortunately, though it still stood healthy looking. I regret the fact that I lost the images I took that year of this plant. There was one big difference later that year, P. emodi produced ample seeds, the pods were filled with them. The Windflowers with their lots of flowers produced none at all here. So what I have must be the true P. emodi (since the Windflowers hardly if ever produce seed, you’re quite safe when starting with seeds). But in 2017 there was a late frost and these destroyed the flowers of my P. emodi, thus I didn’t have any seeds that year. Strangely enough the Windflowers had none of this late frost damage and flowered profusely as ever. How can you tell the difference between them both if you have no seeds (or flowers)?

Let’s look for help from the real experts then, this is what Martin Page, author of several peony books, has to say on the matter:

“The true P. emodi is a much bigger plant, which can be distinguished by having larger flowers and broader leaflets, but the difference is sometimes difficult to appreciate until you have seen the Himalayan peony “in the flesh”.”1

I cannot remember whether the flower of P. emodi was larger, but if it was, the difference can’t have been large, otherwise I would surely have noticed it. Broader leaflets are also something I didn’t notice, so how can we see the difference? Well, last evening I had a splendid idea, a rare occurrence, and decided to compare them from very close. Both Early Windflower and P. emodi were harvested and divided last year, so I only had several young plants, P. emodi without any buds, Windflower a few. I took some of the largest leaflets at the bottom of the stem from both and compared them closely.

At first I was disappointed, they are very alike. Larger or broader is not the word I would use for any of them, it seems the largest plants simply give you the largest leaf. The colour is alike, both above and below. Indumentum all the same (glabrous). Division of the foliage seemed the same as well, both biternate (every leaf is twice (bi) divided into three (ternate) parts).

Then something caught my eyes. The segmentation at the top of the leaflets. You wouldn’t notice it immediately as both are heavily segmented and the difference between a lot and a large lot is easily overlooked. But then I started counting (four large leaves from each cultivar/species). You’re free to do the counting yourself (although it’s more difficult on an image, but the difference is clear):

P. emodi:

 

P. emodi leaves
Total segments/leaf 1st leaflet 2nd leaflet 3rd leaflet
17 6 5 6
22 7 6 9
14 5 5 4
23 6 10 7

 

Early Windflower:

 

Early Windflower leaves
Total segments/leaf 1st leaflet 2nd leaflet 3rd leaflet
54 21 14 19
45 13 17 15
45 15 14 16
55 19 18 18

 

From this it is clear that the Windflowers are much more segmented and they can be easily distinguished from P. emodi this way. The extra segmentation comes from P. anomala. As Hong De-Yuan, Chinese peony expert, would describe it: “Paeonia emodi differs from P. anomala  in having the leaflets/leaf segments no more than 30 in number (as opposed to 70 to 100).”2 He also says that P. emodi is characterised by leaf segments numbering between 15 to 27, which fits my findings well (except for the one with 14 segments, but it’s pretty close still).

Thus, if you see or own a plant which you doubt is the true P. emodi, I would recommend using this distinguishing character to check. Below is an example of them both next to one another, each of them the upper part of the leaflet (2nd leaflet in the table above, it is easier to count the segments from only this part of the leaf when using an image). A test for you: which one is the true P. emodi and which one the pretender?3 Click on the image to enlarge it, that might help :-)

Flow-Flow admin info: Please choose stream layout on options page.

Footnotes:
  1. Page, Martin. “The Gardener’s Peony.” Cambridge: Timber Press, 2005, p. 44-45.[]
  2. Hong, De-Yuan. “Peonies of the World. Taxonomy and phytogeography.” Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, 2010, p. 118-120.[]
  3. The answer is pretty obvious, the left one has 18 segments whilst the right one has 10 segments (both are part from the last line on the table above), and thus the left one is part of a Windflower leaf, whilst the right one is the true species P. emodi.[]

The peony Vanilla Schnapps is one of the very best peonies that can be found and one of my all-time favorites. It was originally distributed as Bill’s Best Yellow (seedling 79H18-2) since it is plant that originated in Bill Seidl’s garden. It resulted from a cross between 71Y6-1 x 74H119-5. 71Y6-1 was a single yellow, whilst 74H119-5 derives from Blushing Princess x H3 (an unregistered near double pink from Roy Pehrson). 74H119-5 was chosen for its very strong stems. The very strong stems is something Vanilla Schnapps has surely inherited, it stands firmly upright, no matter what the weather conditions may be. The cross was made in 1979 and first bloom was in 1982. Bill Seidl never liked propagating peonies (hybridizing was his interest), so until 2006 there were only 2 plants of it in his garden and only from then on has it been distributed. It was registered by Nate Bremer from Solaris Farms in 2013. It remains somewhat scarce at the moment.

When the new stems break through the ground in Spring, they are deep red whilst the buds are already visible from the very beginning. They turn into a deep green before flowering.

 

Where did Bill Seidl get the name for this? That can be found in an e-mail he sent to Roger Anderson:

Your daughter Marlene read my last email and responded to the part where I said I was looking for a good, registered name for “Bill’s Best Yellow”. She suggested “Vanilla Cream”. Since BBY is a very light yellow, that sounded just right. But exactly what is vanilla cream? I checked the internet and found that the Steven’s Point Brewery, in our own state of Wisconsin, makes “Point Premium Vanilla Cream” soda. Not an alcoholic drink. I had considered “Vanilla Schnapps” but this is perhaps not a classy name for tee-totalers.1

It has foliage all the way down to the ground, always a good characteristic in my opinion (it helps keep the soil free from weeds around the plant, divides the weight of the stems vertically so they’ll stand up better and you can cut some flowers from it without it losing the capability to grow.

It’s a very nice pale yellow, semi-double to double with large fragrant flowers and very large pretty buds. It is quite floriferous and has a few side-buds. It flowers early in the season (well before Red Charm here) and the foliage remains green all season long. It propagates well, Bill Seidl already reported that he had his first flower the third year after germination and it establishes itself rapidly after division.

This is one of the very few peonies where I cannot think of anything to improve upon. It is available from several nurseries, although still pricey, but this one is surely worth its money.

From all the positive characteristics, it may come as no surprise that it is being used in some hybridizing programs all over the world. I have used it a few times and have also some plants growing from seed I’ve received from Bill Seidl. Vanilla Schnapps seems to have some dominant genes as several of the plants are very alike in bush habit and foliage, but I have none as yet which I consider worthy of registration and introduction.

Some plants that may show up in the future (these are some from Bill Seidl):

07TB-6 = Tranquil Bill: Tranquil Dove x Vanilla Schnapps
07LMV-1 = Vanilla Gorilla: LCMG-1 x Vanilla Schnapps
07DtV-1 = Dreamy Blonde: Dreamtime x Vanilla Schnapps

If you have any experience growing this peony, feel free to post your experiences as a comment to this article.

Footnotes:
  1. E-mail sent to Roger Anderson, March 25, 2010.[]

Don Hollingsworth is an American hybridizer who introduced many fine varieties and is well-known within the peony community for giving plenty of advice, both in publications, newsgroups and personal e-mail correspondence. He used to run a very good peony nursery, aptly named hollingsworthpeonies.com, where many difficult to find varieties were available. This is one of his many, many articles he has written over the years.

Growing fine peonies almost anywhere.1

Peonies are among the elite of ornamentals. When well provided for they give increasing rewards for years and will continue to do so indefinitely. Peonies which were planted long ago are often seen flowering around older homes. They are sometimes seen at abandoned house sites where they continue to flower regularly. When suitably positioned, peonies planted today will give similar results.

Fairfield (disbudded), one of Don Hollingsworth’s many introductions

In order to perform well peonies must grow well and attain mature size. New plants may require two or more seasons to reach the state of growth necessary for them to give typical flowering, depending upon the growing conditions they are given, and upon the natural habit of the individual variety. While they will tolerate poorer soils, provided their other needs are met, it may take several seasons to see a flower.

What it means for a peony to grow well is that during each growing season the plant stores as much food as possible, producing big storage roots. This enables the annual increase of stems and flowers until the plant reaches an equilibrium with its environment. While the same things can be said of many garden perennials, what is special about peonies is that they produce relatively very large plants during a short period of rapid growth. As with spring bulbs, this growth comes mostly from stored food.

Peonies grow best in a fertile, well‐aerated and well‐drained soil, such as will grow a good vegetable garden. Since they are long‐lived perennials any modification of the soil in their root zone must be done before they are planted. That is where the idea of a “hundred dollar hole” for a “ten dollar plant” gets its merit. A most prevalent problem around many new residential developments is low humus levels of the soil. Any substantial correction will have to be made as part of the initial site development.

Although peonies may tolerate low fertility, they develop accordingly slower in poor soils. Peonies growing under such conditions will benefit from periodic top‐dressing, possibly needing sources of both the major nutrients and the minor nutrients (trace elements). Depending upon the availability of suitable materials, either organic sources and/or more refined products may be used.

Peonies also tolerate dryness, but don’t expect them to be producing and storing food while the soil is dry. Further, prolonged moisture stress can be expected to bring on early die‐off of the foliage and the end of development for the season. If this does not occur until the last half of summer, the effect on long term performance may be minimal, but the foliage deterioration will be unsightly for the remainder of the season. In chronic moisture‐stress climates, sites protected from direct sunlight during the “heat” of the day and sheltered from hot, dry winds will offset some of the adverse effects of low soil moisture, while judicious irrigation can give the plants the moisture they need to function. Avoid watering around the base of stems. Especially when using high volume water delivery, it is best applied around the circumference of the leaf canopy, as in a shallow moat meant to moisten the outer half of the root zone.

Peonies may benefit from treatment for leaf and stem diseases, which become more pressing under conditions of prolonged high humidity. While the plants are generally tolerant of partial leaf loss to summer leaf diseases, early spring infestations as occur during cool, humid periods may be more devastating, sometimes leading to stem death and crown rot. Under such conditions, the plants may benefit from a timely application of suitable fungicides. However, the first level of disease management is prevention. Select sites having good air circulation, especially during early spring. Sanitization is next—clean up and dispose of old foliage and dead stems in the autumn to reduce carry‐over from one season to the next.

Garden Treasure, another Don Hollingsworth introduction

Peonies will not tolerate poor aeration of the root zone. In order for the plant to extract what it requires from the soil it expends energy, which is released through respiration, requiring oxygen. Any time the soil pores (the voids between the soil particles) are loaded with water, the air is excluded. Peony roots may reach 18 inches deep, or more, depending on habit of the individual variety. There needs to be someplace below the root level to where excess water can percolate away. For good plant health the excess needs to drain away within hours after cessation of rain or irrigation.

For an unknown site, you can determine the drainage characteristics by a percolation test, as might be used to evaluate a site for a septic tank absorption field. Dig a hole 18 inches deep, fill it with water enough times that the surrounding soil is well wetted. Then refill it and time how long it takes for the water to get away. An hour or less suggests an excessively droughty site. Three to six or ten hours may work very well with an ordinary calendar of rainfall. However, if water remains in the hole after 24 hours, you have a chronic wet‐land. Either install mechanical drainage measures to change the situation or select another site for your peonies. Raised bed strategies may also be of help, depending upon site and design.

Remember, naturally excess water is often seasonal. A site which may look just fine in the relative dryness of autumn may be wet next spring when the plants are making their most important growth. That is where the percolation test comes in.

Some peonies are more sensitive to poor aeration of the soil than others. The so‐called tree peonies (actually shrubs) and many of the natural species are (or act) as alpine plants and may do best in a coarse soil having good drainage, provided they are adequately protected from moisture stress, as discussed earlier, which will be especially important in hot locations. Shade and shielding from hot summer winds may enable better performance, particularly in the midwest United States.

 

Footnotes:
  1. Hollingsworth, Don. “Growing fine peonies almost anywhere.” In: Paeonia, 1994, vol 24, no. 1, pp. 5-6.[]

Paeonia tenuifolia, also known as the fernleaf peony, is a very different peony species with lots of finely divided narrow leaflets. Most readers may know the wild form, which is a single red, or the cultivated double red ‘Plena’. There’s also a lesser known pink form ‘Rosea’ rarely available from time to time. Hans Maschke, a German hybridizer, has worked with this species for several years and the results are inspiring. A few years ago (2013) he reported on this cross in the American Peony Society Bulletin. Hans has kindly given me permission to post that article here, for which I’m grateful. Please leave your comments below if you might have further questions or if you’d like to say whether these plants are welcome in your garden, they are something completely new in the peony world and very promising if you’d ask me. Hans is considering an update on the article with his latest experiences. He is still working to improve upon this cross, with some help from Wolfgang Giessler, from the German nursery of the same name, to introduce the white form, Weisse Perle, in the strain as well. For more pictures or even more crosses from Hans you may wish to visit his own website (in German, but with many pictures, the crosses are on the left):
http://www.andreas-maschke.de/wordpress_paeonien/

You can click on any of the images below to see a larger version of it.

Hans Maschke – The Long Road to Pink Double Fernleafs1

This plant from a backcross with var. ‘Plena’ is very vigorous and has pushed its competitors aside

The fernleaf peony (Paeonia tenuifolia) is well known and widely appreciated and will need no further introduction here. In addition to plants with single red flowers, typical of the species, a double red (var. ‘Plena’) and a single pink form (var. ‘Rosea’) exist. Hereafter in this article, the mentioning of these variety names will always refer to the pink or double clones presently offered in commerce. Rumors about white singles and pink doubles have been confirmed not long since. Recently, the pure white selection ‘Weisse Perle’ (Giessler 2013), with first bloom in 2009, was registered with the American Peony Society. In 2010, Leo Smit of Canada found a double pink fernleaf among his plants grown from seeds, which he had purchased in England. This story is told on the website of the Heartland Peony Society. Significant advancements in fernleaf peonies seem to be underway.

In the 1980’s I purchased the red double and the pink single from Heinz Klose (now deceased) of Lohfelden, Germany. I have never had any other P. tenuifolia in my garden than just these two plants and their progeny. Around 1990, I pollinated var. ‘Plena’ with var. ‘Rosea’, just to toy with them I guess. All the resulting plants bloomed single and red. Disappointing perhaps, but soon I had other problems. We had to move our garden to another location and at the end there were only two seedlings left of that cross (TF-1 and TF-2). But I had learned by then that my result was typical for dominant-recessive inheritance.

Some understanding from genetics

Basic genetics teaches us that genetic information in plant cells comes in duplicate. A homozygous plant with single flowers has the gene S in twofold at the pertinent chromosomal location (SS). A double form has dd there instead. One gene from each of the parents is passed on to their offspring. Thus, when a single is crossed with a double, all seedlings will have the genetic configuration Sd. Such plants are called heterozygous. If the inheritance pattern is dominant-recessive and S is dominant, the flower will be single. When two such heterozygous plants are intercrossed, there are several possibilities for the genes to recombine: Sd x Sd may give SS, Sd, dS or dd. All outcomes of combinations will have equal probability. Sd is the same as dS, so we get 25 % SS (single), 50 % Sd (single) and 25 % dd (double).

In the pink single tenuifolia, the genes pp for pink will be present instead of RR for red at the location where color is determined (with R being dominant). If a red double is crossed with a pink single, two mechanisms of heredity run simultaneously and independently: ddRR x SSpp inevitably gives 100 % SdRp, meaning 100 % single red flowers. In the second generation (F2), we get a diversity of combinations: SdRp x SdRp gives 6.25 % SSRR (single red), 12.5 % SSRp (single red), 6.25 SSpp (single pink), 12.5 % SdRR (single red), 25 % SdRp (single red), 12.5 % Sdpp (single pink), 6.25 % ddRR (double red), 12.5 % ddRp (double red) and finally 6.25 % ddpp (double pink). Thus, a pink double may come from crossing two red singles!

Pursuing the double pink

I got my first F2 seedlings shortly after the turn of the millennium, but luck wasn’t on their side. Few of them reached maturity, because of neglect due to the sheer lack of time which I constantly suffered back then. Anyway, I found a double red (TF-4) and two single pinks (TF-6, TF-7) among these F2 plants and this confirmed my underlying assumption.

My first double F2 seedling TF-4 showed up in 2008

TF-6 is a very compact plant with a good performance after dividing and replanting

A batch of seeds planted in 2005 met a better fate. Flowering began in 2011 with two pink singles (undistinguishable from var. ‘Rosea’) and five or six red singles out of approximately 60 seedlings. This was not disappointing, since I wouldn’t count on doubles among the first 10 or 15 percent of first blooms in any batch of seedlings from which 25 percent can be expected to be double. I think it is common for singles to show up first.

In the following year (2012), two nice pink doubles appeared (TF-8 [now registered as Little Erna, ed.], TF-9). A third one joined the group in 2013 (TF-10, [registered as Aunt Fritzi, ed.]). Most of the seedlings of 2005 have flowered now. Next to the pink doubles, there are about 10 pink singles and 10 red doubles as well as some 30 single reds. This corresponds very nicely with the earlier lesson in basic genetics.

In 2012, TF-8 and TF-9 showed one and two flowers, respectively. Both were transplanted in the following fall since they stood rather crowded in their bed. In 2013, the respective numbers were six and three, joined by another three from TF-10. I happily report that the vigor of these plants seems to be good. As yet, the pink doubles bloomed together with var. ‘Plena’ or perhaps even a little earlier. On an average, the flowers of these seedlings are much alike, but there are also differences. TF-8 and TF-10 have flowers roughly as large as var. ‘Plena’ with a color similar to var. ‘Rosea’ while the substance is better. TF-9 has slightly smaller flowers which are a little “feathery“ and the color is more intense. Time will show how constant these traits are and if maybe there are even more differences .

The flowers of TF-8 were always bagged to prevent unwanted pollination. TF-8 has been registered as Little Erna.

TF-9 is the only pink double which proved fertile with other pinks, so far

The byproducts

As can be derived from the above, 75 percent of the F2 generation is heterozygous. In other words: genetically different from both the wild form, the var. ‘Plena’, and the var. ‘Rosea’. Hence, one can expect some variation in appearance as well. This proved to be true. Several of the single reds have larger flowers compared to the wild form, sometimes with extra petaloids. Many of the plants are more compact growing than the already known, existing forms. The red doubles slightly vary in size, doubleness and depth of color. Some have flowers which also look ”feathery“, while others carry large, massive globes which can well compete with the var. ‘Plena’. Meanwhile it has become obvious to me that TF-4 is heterozygous of the type ddRp. This seedling blooms a little later than var. ‘Plena’, the plant habit is slightly more compact and the flower color is somewhat lighter.

Some of the pink singles are clearly different from var. ‘Rosea’, especially TF-6 and TF-7. I suspect these plants are most likely heterozygous of the type Sdpp. The petals of the flowers of both TF-6 and TF-7 have a heavier substance than the petals of var. ‘Rosea’. For TF-6, this makes the flower color appear somewhat opaque. This plant is of the dwarf-type and forms an exceptionally nice little bush. The flowers of TF-7 are larger than usual. They look rather massive and have a distinctly deeper color, which is particularly impressive on opening. The shape of the bush is also nice. As it seems, quite a few fine garden plants can be expected from the F2 generation, aside from the pink doubles.

TF-7 excels with rather massive flowers in a stronger pink

What the future holds

Clearly, the present results are very encouraging for further breeding. One promising prospect will be a larger share of pink doubles. While this is 6.25 % in the F2 generation (TF-2 x TF-1), using TF-4 as the seed parent (TF-4 x TF-1) will likely result in doubling this outcome (12.5%). The cross TF-4 x TF-6 will expectedly yield a share of 25% pink doubles. Finally, crossing a pink double with a heterozygous pink single should result in 50% pink doubles with the balance being pink singles. I tried all possible matings with TF-8 through TF-10 as seed parents and TF-6 or TF-7 as pollen parents and got a surprising result: TF-8 and TF-10 completely refused the pollen applied. It is comforting under these circumstances that TF-9 proved fully fertile with both TF-6 and TF-7. It’s also comforting that all three pink doubles were fertile with Paeonia mlokosewitschii. This might bring new qualities into the tenuifolia-mlokosewitschii hybrids. Meanwhile, I have also made some other crosses, among them backcrosses with the original varieties. Maybe the results of further breeding will exhibit still more variation in color, shape and habit. This can be particularly hoped for from plants with one of the newly found white-flowered forms in the parentage.

TF-10, now registered as Aunt Fritzi, bloomed first in 2013.

It can be anticipated that in a not too distant future there will be a considerable number of red double, pink single and pink double tenuifolias. How to name all these plants? In 1838, when the renowned British botanist David Don described the var. ‘Plena’, it was common practice to rely on Latin cultivar names. This is not allowed anymore. At all events, the best seedlings will get names in accordance with the rules of the International Cultivar Registration Authority (ICRA) for peonies, which is the American Peony Society. What will become of the plants that are not distinctive enough to register and not poor enough to throw away? Considering the rather low multiplication rate of tenuifolia clones, it could be an option to sell them as unnamed seedlings. One can only speculate what will happen in time with the traditional varieties from which all this began. Will they stand their ground and keep their identity, or will they drown in a flood of newcomers?

Author’s Note: Thank you to Ruud Warmerdam for his help in writing this article.

Footnotes:

  1. Maschke, H. “The long road to pink double fernleafs.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, 2013, no 368, December, pp. 12-18.[]

F.C. Stern was the author of one of the most important publications about peonies with his “A study of the genus Paeonia (read it online)” (published in 1946). In 1954 he wrote an accessible article about the best species for “Gardening Illustrated”, a magazine, which was reprinted in the Paeonia newsletter of 1973 . It is quite good and as it primarily mentions species it is for the most part still a good read. There aren’t that many people that have seen nearly all species peonies and his remarks are thus very interesting for those thinking about growing some species. Some of the species have since been reclassified and a very few have only been discovered after he wrote the article, to get a good overview, you’re invited to browse the species pages on this website. For small updates on this article: P. mlokosewitschii and P. wittmanniana are to be found with some others under P. daurica currently, P. lutea and P. delavayi have been lumped together as P. delavayi, P. veitchii and P. veitchii var. woodwardii are now both considered P. anomala, P. mascula has gotten some white subspecies since.

This Material Was Supplied By Miss Silvia Saunders

Taken From The November, 1954, Issue Of “GARDENING ILLUSTRATED”

The Best Peony Species and Their Hybrids by F. C. Stern, V.M.H.1

The peonies usually grown in gardens are all derived from the wild P. lactiflora (syn. albiflora) from Manchuria and Northern China. These lovely sweet-smelling peonies have been cultivated for generations by the Chinese and Japanese and in recent years by the western nations, and especially lately in the U.S.A. The seedlings vary very much both in colour and in form, some single and some double.

The other “Paeonia” species, and first crosses between species, have been much neglected in the garden. These usually flower earlier than the lactiflora forms and many of them are most attractive, and easy to grow. They are accommodating as to soil; any good loam with or without lime suits them perfectly. Many of them like the half-shade and in this position the flowers last longer. Some people say they are difficult to move but I find that if they are moved as early as possible in October they will usually flower the following year.

The earliest species to flower in the garden is P. cambessedesii. It comes out at the end of April or early May. The pink flowers are very beautiful, especially in contrast with the foliage, which is a deep silvery green and red beneath. It is hardy in the south, of England, but as it comes from the Balearic Islands it might want a south wall in gardens farther north. P. emodi from Kashmir is the next to flower. It grows into a large bush about 3½ feet high and is very lovely when covered with white flowers. This plant does best in the open border in full sun; it is such a fine plant that it is worthy of a good place in any garden.

P. cambessedesii in Pollenca, Formentor, Mallorca, Spain. Copyright: Antoine Périer

In May and June many species come into flower. The well-known European P. mascula, which used to be called P. corallina, with its red flowers, will grow anywhere and is useful in the garden to cover rough places. This peony was grown by the monks in the Middle Ages. Although it is indigenous to central Europe it is found in many parts of Europe and Asia Minor: in these outlying places it is usually found near the remains of a monastery, as for instance on the Island of Steep Holme in the Bristol Channel.

The yellow herbaceous species make delightful plants with their gay flowers; they are quite hardy as they come from the Caucasian mountains. The best is P. mlokosewitschii, which has deep yellow flowers. It is a charming plant in spite of its unpronounceable name and is quite easy to grow. It does extremely well in half shade and the flowers last much longer in this position; in fact, it grows better there than in full sun. Another delightful Caucasian species with light yellow flowers is P. wittmanniana. It enjoys the same treatment as P. mlokosewitschii. All these species that do not grow too tall are very useful as ground cover for lilies.

Paeonia wittmanniana in Georgia, Samegrelo Province - Copyright Ruslan Mishustin

Paeonia wittmanniana in Georgia, Samegrelo Province – Copyright Ruslan Mishustin

The low-growing P. tenuifolia is excellent in the rock garden. Its narrow dissected foliage is always pretty and shows off the deep red flowers to perfection. The late Professor Saunders, of Clinton, New York, made many crosses between species, some of which he sent me. The one I liked best was a cross between P. veitchii woodwardii and P. tenuifolia, which received an Award of Merit under the name of ‘Redwood’. The dark green leaves are finely divided as in P. tenuifolia. It is an attractive hardy plant, taller than P. tenuifolia with larger red flowers. Another peony with narrow leaves is P. anomala intermedia. It grows taller than P. tenuifolia and has much larger flowers, very large for a species, the colour a deep red. It is one of the finest flowers of all the species and there is a plate of it by Miss Snelling in my book “A Study of the Genus Paeonia”.

Paeonia tenuifolia – Copyright Kakha Kvaratskhelia

The white-flowered P. obovata alba comes out later, usually at the beginning of June; it has a delightful cup-shaped flower and obovate leaves of a brown-green colour. It does not grow tall and likes a half-shady place. The variety “Willmottiae” is a larger form which is not so easy to grow as the type.

One of the finest wild species is what Clusius called the “great red Peony of Constantinople,” P. peregrina; this peony grows wild in the northern Balkans. It is sometimes referred to as Fire King in nurserymen’s’ catalogues. The flower is a very bright red, cup-shaped, the leaves green shining and much divided. It is one of the latest, to flower, at the end of June or early July; it does extremely well in half shade and the bright, red flowers light up the shadows under the trees.

There are several fine forms of this peony in cultivation, but it is not possible to say whether they are hybrids or just variants that have appeared. The two best that I have grown are Defender and Sultan. Defender, which has received an Award of Merit at the R.H.S,, was introduced by Professor Saunders. It is a very strong-growing plant with the same cup-shaped flower as the species but of a deeper red and somewhat larger. It is easy to grow and is a first class plant. Sultan, whose history is unknown to me, appears also to be closely related to peregrina; it has even deeper red flowers which are larger than those of Defender. It is also a good garden plant but does not seem to be so strong as Defender. There is another form of this species found wild in the vicinity of Smyrna. It has the same cup-shaped flower and the same leaves as the Balkan form but the colour of the flowers is a salmon red; it is often known in gardens as ‘Sunbeam’ or P. peregrina lobata.

Paeonia peregrina – Copyright Fil the Man Who

The last of the herbaceous species to flower is P. veitchii and its variety woodwardii; a lower-growing plant. P. veitchii only grows about 18 inches high. It has several reddish, maroon-coloured flowers on each stem and is an accommodating plant, growing well in sun or shade.

The tree-peonies are favourites of mine; these stately plants are not seen often enough in our gardens. They are not difficult to grow; a good loam, with or without lime, suits them admirably. They are perfectly hardy but have an annoying habit of making their new growth early in April. These new shoots, on which the flower eventually comes, start into growth suddenly and grow very fast; they are soft and tender at first and apt to be cut by frost or the cold east winds we sometimes get in April. I have seen Paeonia suffruticosa, the wild form, growing on top of the rock garden in Stockholm, which shows how hardy these plants are, though, no doubt, the young shoots do not start until after the frost is over. Therefore, one must try to place these plants in some part of the garden where they will be protected from the east wind and where they will not start too early into growth. I plant them in a half-shady place among shrubs or facing north where the young growth will be delayed. In this garden a number of them grow well in these positions, and all of them are well protected from the east wind.

There are three wild tree peonies that are magnificent garden plants, all extremely hardy. P. suffruticosa, known as Rock’s Variety, which I have already mentioned, has large, white flowers, with deep red markings at the base of the petals. It grows into a big shrub. The plant in this garden is about 8 ft. high and about 10 ft. in diameter. It received a F.C.C. in 1943. The seed of the wild species was sent from China, by Dr. J. F. Rock, to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, U.S.A., about 1930, and distributed by them. These plants, when they flowered, tallied with Farrer’s description of the wild plant which he found on his expedition to Kansu and describes so vividly in this book, “On the Eaves of the World”. Farrer, however, did not send back seed. The wild form of the beautiful Chinese and Japanese tree peonies, the Moutan peonies as they call them, was always rather a mystery. It would seem that all the different beautiful forms which have been evolved by generations of Chinese and Japanese gardeners have come from this wild plant.

The new yellow tree peony, P. lutea Ludlowii, is a very fine plant, growing up to 6½ feet high. The flowers are a butter yellow, large and held well up above the foliage, and open in May. It was collected in 1937 by Messrs. Ludlow and Sherriff, in south-eastern Tibet. It is quite hardy and will grow in any soil, even on the rubble of the chalk cliff at Highdown. Seeds are freely produced and germinate well. This variety is a much better plant than P. lutea itself. The latter is a low-growing shrub with smaller flowers which are half-hidden by the foliage. Though P. lutea is a poor plant for the garden, it has been used very successfully by French and American hybridists to produce some fine hybrids which I will mention later. The other wild species is P. delavayi, also from China. This plant, growing up to 4 ft. or 5 ft. has large, deep maroon-red flowers; the size and shades of colour vary very much when the plant is raised from seed. The best forms with large flowers are decorative in the garden and useful as they will grow and flower under trees.

Paeonia delavayi

Besides the Japanese and Chinese garden forms of these tree peonies, there are a number of good hybrids, raised by French growers and by the late Professor Saunders. The two I like best were raised by Saunders. ‘Argosy’, with large, single yellow flowers, grows into a large bush and is a fine garden plant when covered with flowers at the end of May; ‘Black Pirate’ has large, dark mahoganyred, single flowers and is very striking when in flower. The single forms appeal to me more than those with large double flowers, as in the French hybrid ‘Souvenir du professeur Maxime Cornu’. The flowers in these double forms are too heavy for their stems and in the garden hang down in any bad weather. Several of the single forms have been raised here; ‘Mrs. George Warre’ and ‘Cassandra’ are two of the best, but the trouble is to propagate them. It is difficult to strike them from cuttings; they will layer but this takes a considerable time. The best way is to graft them onto herbaceous peony roots, but this is a matter for the expert propagator. Many of the hybrids and the garden forms come well from seed, though germination is sometimes slow, and it is always exciting to see what the flowers will be like, as there is always much variation in their colour and form.

Footnotes:
  1. Stern, F.C. “The best peony species and their hybrids.” In: Paeonia, vol 4, no. 4, 1973, pp. 2-4.[]
“Why should we join a peony society?” (this one, or any other), you might ask yourself. After all, you can simply grow them in your garden and enjoy them yourself. Well, a society has the benefit of bringing like-minded people together. Most societies (or their members) organise events where you can meet other members, visit member gardens, show your peony blooms and so on… These events just increase the pleasure that peonies will already give you, call it ‘Green Prozac’ if you like.

 

To illustrate how much nicer it is to share your peony experiences, I’ve copied this nice post from Bill Seidl, American peony addict…1
 
Sunday, Sep. 23, was an eventful day in my garden, the kind I’d describe in a garden diary — if I kept one, which I wish I had all these years.  I knew all week long that Nate Bremer (Reedsville) was coming to dig peonies.  On Sunday morning Peony Addict  Theresa (Iron Ridge) phoned and said she was coming up with Tony, her significant other, to collect htp (hybrid t.p.) seeds.  Shortly thereafter, Dennis Ledvina  (Green Bay) called to say he was going to drop by to collect magnolia seed that his friend Tom had hybridized in spring.

Nate arrived first, followed soon by Theresa and Tony.  Then Kris Casey dropped by, having been informed earlier by Nate of his plans. After awhile, both Dennis and Tom arrived.  They had stopped at my residence first to collect magnolia seeds there, then came out to the garden (2 miles from my home) to collect more seeds there.   They were introduced to Nate, who they had never met personally but knew of each other’s specialized garden interests.

 

I wanted to take a group picture with my digital camera which, altho quite new, already proved to have depleted batteries.  I couldn’t find my film camera, and no one else had brought theirs.  So there are no photos to refresh memories of the day.

 

Kris didn’t stay long.  Family acivities demanded her attention.  Before she left she said she wanted to buy a division of a plant that I had in the garden.  I thought it would be some rare daylily or peony cultivar.  Instead it was some sedum species.  I’m not sure of the name but it looks like it would be one parent of the hybrid Autumn Joy and similar cultivars.  It’s a bright pink, attractive to bees and butterflies, and sets viable seeds in abundance.

 

She also related a mystifying story concerning a neighbor man. In a state of depression he took his own life, leaving behind a wife and three young children.  Sometime before that he had promised Will, Kris’s husband, that he would help him cut down a large willow tree on their property. One the day of his funeral, the tree came crashing down. There was no storm, no rain, no wind. It fell between other plants, causing no harm to them, as if aimed to avoid damage. Coincidence? A supernatural event?Of peony interest, Nate mentioned that he harvested and planted a seed from Bartzella.  It was firm and a sinker in water.  Theresa was especially excited by this as she has frequently pollinated Bartzella and never found a trace of a seed.  Nate said he had not made any deliberate pollinations.    He also said he had purchased ‘Millennium’  earlier, a Roger Anderson origination.  Theresa said she had seen this in Roger’s garden and admired what she saw.

 

Dennis had told me earlier that he had sent magnolia budwood to Princeton Nurseries in the spring, and by fall they returned to him potted plants, 4′ to 5′ in height !!  If any of you do business with RareFind Nursery, you will find in their 2007 Supplement, recently mailed, many of Dennis’s originations.  I am most familiar with ‘Angelica’ , page 23, having grown it in my garden for about ten years, and having survived w/o any winter damage in my zone 5 climate.  The catalog description does not mention its wonderful fragrance.

 

Old Faithful

Nate dug and divided peonies for several hours.  Some that he tackled were two old plants of Old Faithful, which are notoriously difficult to divide, but he did well.  Others were Mackinac Grand,  Etched Salmon, Greenland, a pink mutation of  Viking Full Moon, Seedling 74H120-2 (double black-red herb’s hybrid),  “Pastelorama”, my garden name for a very large herb’s hybrid in pink/salmon shades from Salmon Dream x an Anderson hybrid, Salmon Dream, Clare de Lune, and several lactis.  The  lactis were in my garden for many years but I was not interested in breeding lactis, they did not seem to be effective in the i-cross, and I needed the space for herb’s hybrids.  So I did not seek to retain any divisions for myself.

 

While Nate was doing this, with my help, Theresa and Tony were gathering htp seeds of both Theresa’s crosses and mine.  By mid-afternoon I joined them for a late lunch break, leaving Nate alone to finish digging and dividing.  We arrived at the restaurant in time to watch the last 3-4 minutes of the Packer/San Diego game, which the Packers won in the closing minutes.  From there we had to go to my home garden to collect seeds off a htp seedling there.  We also found two seeds on a cross of Alice Harding x sdlg 231 which I forgot that I had made.  AH hangs its head, so it was fortunate that Theresa spotted the seed-head.

 

When we returned to the main garden,  Nate was gone, having finished his work.  But there was still more htp seeds to be gathered.  These had all been placed in zip-lock snack bags and put into one box.  So our last chore was to separate my crosses from those made by Theresa.  We usually use different-color labels, but sometimes borrow from each other.  Most of the seeds included  some Irvine-Sutherland hybrids as pollen parents.  Roy Klehm had allowed pollen to be taken from them when Theresa and I visited SongSparrow last May.

 

Earlier in the week I had gathered some seeds off  Waucedah Princess, a big surprise.  But that’s a story in itself.  It was dusk when Theresa and Tony departed.

 

On the way home I thought it was a remarkable coincidence that all these good gardening friends of long standing had converged on my garden the same day.  That had never happened before.  You’d think that I had called them all up for free beer and bratwurst.

 

Bill

Footnotes:
  1. Bill Seidl, “Sunday get together”, posted in the yahoo Peony Addicts group Sep 24, 2007.[]

In the 19th century many peonies were bred in France and the UK, whilst the center of peony hybridizing was to be found in the USA during the 20th century. It didn’t all stop in Europe however. Here’s an older article about Lithuanian peonies where the hybridizer herself tells about her work. Her varieties may be somewhat difficult to find, but you can see some available from Liga Popova’s/Janis Ruksans’ catalogue.

PEONIES IN LITHUANIA (by Ona Skeiviene, Kaunas Botanical Gardens)1

Peonies are not native to Lithuania. They have been introduced from other countries and are extensively grown in gardens, parks, city planting and in various collections of botanical gardens. Eight different species are commonly grown in Lithuania.

P. anomala L. Native to the European part of USSR, Western and Eastern Siberia, Central Asia, Mongolia. Plants are 60-90 cm high, herbaceous, one blossom on a stem. Leaves are twice three-lobed, upper side along larger veins slightly hairy, undersides smooth. Flowers purplish red, 8 cm diameter, fragrant. Seedpods 5, generally hairy, reflexed. Seed round, black. Blooms in May- June. Grows well in light soils. Hardy. The roots of this variety in Western Siberia at one time were used as spice with meat and in folk medicine for epilepsy, gout, rheumatism, cough and various stomach/intestinal disorders.

P. masculata (L.) Mill. (syn. P. corallina Retz.). [now P. mascula, kh] Native to S. Europe, Middle East, Cyprus and Sicily. Plants 60-90 cm high, herbaceous, stems smooth, one blossom on a stem. Anthocyanin present in stems and leaves gives the plant a specific colouring. Leaves twice, sometimes thrice three-lobes. Flowers purple, sometimes whitish or yellowish, 9-11 cm. diameter. Seedpods 5, arranged in a star shape or sometimes reflexed. Seed round, red when not fully ripe, later black. Blooms in May-June. Easily withstands low temperatures. Grows well in various soils, in a sunny or semi-sunny location.

P. lactiflora Pall. (syn. P. albiflora Pall., P. Chinensis hort.). Native to E. Siberia, Far East, Mongolia, Japan, China. Plant herbaceous, stems smooth, with 2 or several blossoms, 60-100 cm high. Leaves twice three-lobed. Flowers white, pleasantly scented, up to 10 cm. diameter. Seedpods 3-6, at first straight, later hooked. Seed oval, black. Blooms in June. Hardy.

P. lutea Delavay ex Franch. Native to China. Plant with semi- woody stems, 70 – 130 cm. high, grows like a shrub. Leaves grayish green, leathery, deeply lobed. Flowers yellow, 10 cm. diameter, fragrant. Seedpods 2-4. Seed black. Blooms in May-June. Needs winter protection . Very resistant to disease, grows well in all types of soil.

P. officinalis L. Native to Europe. Plants herbaceous, up to 50-80 cm. high, one blossom to a stem. Leaves twice three-lobed, upper side dark green, bottom side lighter. Flowers dark red, wide open, 10-12 cm. diameter, non-fragrant. Blooms in May.

P. peregrina Mill. (syn. P. decora Andr.). Native to Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Middle East. Plants herbaceous, one flower to a stem, up to 80 cm. high. Leaves twice three-lobed. Flowers purple, 7-11 cm. diameter. Seed oval, shiny, bluish-black. Blooms in May-June. This is a good decorative peony which grows well with minimum of attention in various soils and even in half shade. Hybridizes very easily.

P. suffruticosa Andr. (syn. P. arborea Donn., P. moutans Sims.). Native to China. Stems woody, upright, sparingly branching, 50-150 cm high. Leaves long-stemmed, twice three-lobed, undersides grey-green. Flowers grow singly on the tips of branches, 10-15 cm diameter, white, pinkish-red, with large, darker spot in the center. Seedpods 5, arranged in a star shape, hairy. Seed large, black. Blooms in May. Overwinters with light protection.

P. tenuifolia L. Native to the Southern part of European USSR, Caucasus, Middle Europe, Balkans, Middle East. Plants herbaceous, one flower on a stem, sometimes two, foliage dense, plant up to 60 cm height. Leaves twice or thrice three-lobed or thrice feathery, divided into very narrow, parallel sections. Flowers dark purple or dark red, 8-10 cm. diameter. Seedpods 2-3, rarely 4-5, covered with reddish hair. Seed dark brown, shiny. Blooms in April – May. Plants multiply easily by seed, are long lived and hardy.

The hybridizing of peony in Lithuania was begun by Mrs. Ona Skeiviene in 1947 at the Kaunas Botanical Gardens. For this work an existing collection of P. lactiflora of 42 varieties at the Kaunas Botanical Gardens was used. Main objective of hybridizing was to develop disease resistant varieties that are hardy and highly decorative. For this purpose cross-breeding and selection was the method used.

The hybridizing of P. lactiflora followed this scheme; 1. Initial seedling beds, 2. Selected seedling beds, 3. Control beds, 4. Initial trials of varieties, 5. Competitive trials of varieties, 6. Trials of promising new varieties and their examination under commercial/production situations.

New varieties that proved themselves under all 6 counts were named and released for final testing to the State Varieties Testing Commission. This way during the 21 years (1947-1968) hybridizing P. lactiflora, six new varieties were named and released for testing to the State Varieties Testing Commission. Some varieties are not released yet and are numbered 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23. Following are the descriptions of the six varieties that have been released for testing.

‘Darius Girenas’ (1947). P. lactiflora ‘Germaine Bigot x Madame Calot’. Flowers light pink, double, 15 cm. diameter, pleasantly fragrant. Blooms first part of June. Plants are resistant to disease, 100 cm. high. Variety released for State testing in 1969.

‘Freda’ (1947). P. l. ‘Auguste Dessert’ X ‘Parette’. Flowers whitish pink, 14 cm. diameter, semi-double, fragrant. Blooms beginning of June. There are 5 – 7 blossoms on a stem. Disease resistant, luxuriant growth, 100 cm. high. Variety released for State testing in 1969.

‘Garbe Motinai’ (1947). ,P. l. ‘Pierre Recanoux’ X ‘Germaine Bigot’. Flowers pink with violet blush, double, 18-20 cm. diameter, very pleasantly fragrant. Blooms in mid-June. Plant luxuriant, with large leaves, 100 cm. high. Variety resistant to disease, hardy. Variety released for State testing in 1969.

Prof. K. Grybauskas (image from Liga Popova’s/Janis Ruksans catalogue

‘Prof. K. Grybauskas’ (1947). P. l. ‘General MacMahon’ X ‘Parette’. Flowers red, with white edging, double, 16 cm. diameter, fragrant. Blooms in June-July. Resistant to disease. Plant luxuriant, well formed, 100 cm. high. Variety released for State testing in 1969.

‘Skeivienes Velyvasis’ (1947). P. l. ‘Eugene Verdier’ X ‘Germaine Bigot’. Flowers double, rosy pink, 14 cm. diameter, pleasantly fragrant. Blooms in June-July. Plant luxuriant, 100 cm. high. Variety released for State testing in 1969.

‘Virgilijus’ (1947). P. l. ‘Pierre Recanoux’ X ‘Auguste Dessert’. Flowers reddish, single, 18 cm. diameter. Blooms beginning of June. Plant well formed, luxuriant, 100 cm. high. Variety released for State testing in 1969.

All of the above varieties of P. lactiflora lend themselves well to individual or group planting or for commercial flower production. Cut flowers hold well in transport and remain decorative for a long time.

Footnotes:
  1. Skeiviene, Ona. “Peonies in Lithuania”. In: The American Peony Society Bulletin, 1975, no. 214, June, pp. 38-41.[]

The site is working fine now. Registration and logging in works like a charm. If you have a story to share, you can either post something in the forum or if you have a longer article on offer, then you can submit it for review after which we can approve it and it shall appear on the homepage. Join the groups you’re interested or look for other members. In every way: welcome to The Peony Society!

 

Fun it may be to always discuss those new advanced hybrids, but they tend to come at a price. Just look at this price comparison list that can be found on Adriana Feng’s very interesting website Southern Peonies. New or rare, they come priced in between 75 US$ (Lemon Chiffon, Juliska) and up to 400 US$ (Kayleigh Ann, Pastelorama) for a single 3-5 eyed division. As peonies are experiencing a rising popularity, many of those even tend to sell out very fast (i.e. in their first days on offer), thus they are probably not even overpriced.

Now you may wonder “Do I really have to spend such an amount of money for some peonies?” and of course you don’t, there are hundreds, probably even thousands, of varieties that come within a more feasible price range. Just visit one of the specialised peony nurseries that have their catalog online and you’ll see plenty of affordable options as well.

Then further down the price range you come across those dirt-cheap ones, those that will only set you back a few dollars (or euros, or pounds, or whatever). Usually they’re always the same few varieties and you can buy them practically everywhere, any garden center will have these available and some department stores will also have them available. Are they any good? Could you buy some, give them to your mother and be sure that in a few years time she will still be glad for that gift of peonies?

Now I’ve grown peonies for several years and I started out with some of the cheaper ones as well, thus I do have some experience growing these.

Surely, you will need a healthy and large enough root division. Those sold in small 4 inch (10 cm) diameter pots are sure to be a disappointment, no matter what variety you buy. Dried out or partly rotted divisions are obviously no better. If possible then it’s best to buy them from a specialized peony nursery, most of those also offer some of these very regular ones, they may be somewhat less cheap, but even for the cheapest varieties there is always a quality difference and it is still best to buy good quality (and they will offer true-to-name, not unimportant as well).

Now, the source where you buy them notwithstanding, these are some of the very cheapest varieties on offer.

Karl Rosenfield
A ‘red’ lactiflora cultivar. Very floriferous with sturdy stems, a very fast increaser and reliable. The flowers however are small and the ‘red’ is only a purplish red which most people will not find very attractive.

Monsieur Jules Elie
An old bomb double pink. Very large flowers. But the stems are not sturdy enough and you can bet that after some rain or wind, you’ll find your flowers down on the ground.

Duchesse de Nemours
A double white. Reports differ, but here it is a weak performer with few stems and small flowers.

Sarah Bernhardt
Double pale pink. Very reliable, very floriferous, beautiful large flowers. The most widely available variety. But give it some rain or wind and these will also bend to the ground.

Officinalis ‘Rubra Plena’, ‘Rosea Plena’, ‘Alba Plena’
The double red, pink and white officinalis. Early, but very weak stems and the flowers lose their petals quickly.

 

Those are thus all forgettable and you’re advised to walk past them. But there are also some good ones amongst the cheapest and these are my favorites:

Dr. Alexander Fleming
A double pink with large flowers. Very healthy, floriferous and reliable, this one stands up to bad weather thanks to its sturdy stems.

Dr. Alexander Fleming

Red Charm
A true dark red and far better than the Officinalis cultivars mentioned before. This one has far larger flowers and sturdier stems.

Red Charm

Shirley Temple
A double pale pink that fades into a pure white. Large flowers aplenty on very sturdy stems.

Shirley Temple

Gardenia
Also a double pale pink that fades into a pure white. It’s better than Shirley Temple, with even larger flowers and somewhat taller.

Gardenia

Those four can be bought with confidence if you’d ask me for some of the cheapest and most foolproof recommendations.

Now, if you can spare a few bucks more, you might think of these: The Fawn (pink), Al Rogers (white), Old Faithful (red), Coral Sunset (coral orange), Garden Treasure (yellow). Those are some of my favorites mid-range price, but you’re not prone to find them in any non specialised garden center…

An interview with Silvia Saunders in the New York Times (1974).1 Silvia Saunders (1901-1994) is the daughter of A.P. Saunders, well-known peony hybridizer, who took over her father’s nursery to distribute his new peony hybrids. She was also the founder of the ‘Paeonia’ newsletter that brought together peony hybridizers.

Silvia Saunders, image from Hamilton College, Clinton, New York

What better time to think about peonies than now when the magnificent plants are in top form. These stately perennials were the center of attention recently at the Greenwich Garden Center, Cos Cob, Conn., when Miss Sylvia Saunders visited to talk about her favorite flower. The center’s fine collection was just coming into peak bloom for the occasion. Her late father, Prof. A. P. Saunders, was well‐known for his peony hybrids, which developed from a backyard hobby to a nursery business. He was also a chemistry professor at Hamilton College. Twenty‐four years ago, Miss Saunders gave up her New York career as a magazine photographer and returned to Clinton, N. Y., to help out with her parents’ small business “for a year.” She never left.

ALL ABOUT PEONIES

Now at the point of retirement herself, Miss Saunders readily shared her admiration for these magnificent flowers and predicted big things for peonies of the future. She has hopes that hybridizers will delve more deeply into development of “this most unexplored perennial.”

Peony fanciers have never really rolled up their sleeves and gone to work on peonies, Miss Saunders said. She could think of many ways to improve peonies and was particularly hopeful that their bloom season could be extended with earlier and even later varieties. (Most peonies in this area finish flowering by mid‐June.)

She said that there is the ever continuing hope for yellow herbaceous peonies and “why not dwarf varieties, variegated flowers and foliage, disease resistance and simpler means of propagation for the tree peonies.”

This is not to say that there are no admirable peonies to grow now. There are scores of magnificent varieties available and the background of some of the famous Saunders Hybrids is fascinating history.

Lovely Rose, one of her father’s peony introductions

The Chinese “discovered” the peony growing wild among the thicket plants in Manchuria and Mongolia, Miss Saunders explained. This was the species Paeonia albiflora (now sometimes listed as lactiflora).

The Chinese domesticated the species, raised it from seed, and through continual selection, developed strains with pure white to deep maroon flowers and variations in between. The Chinese began to export these in the 1700’s to the acclaim of gardeners throughout the world.

Three Caucasian species also came into focus and peony growers, including Prof. Saunders, explored their possibilities. These are P. tenuifolia, the dwarf, fernleaved peony, a fine rock garden specimen; P. macrophylla, the big‐leaf, which is good for breeding work, and P. mlokosewitschii, with jadegreen aristocratic foliage.

The latter species was crossed with other Caucasian species and this hybrid was then crossed with a fourth species, P. lobata with mittenshaped leaves, to provide the beautiful pink colors for which the Saunders Hybrids are famous.

So much for the herbaceous peonies which die down to the ground each fall. For many, the most elegant are the tree peonies. Sometimes the flowers are extremely large, to 10 inches or more, and the petals are fragile looking suggesting crepe de Chine.

Colors range from white to yellow to pink and the deepest reds. The foliage is particularly attractive.

The woody stems of the tree peonies die down to the ground in the cold winter zone where the Saunders Nursery is located, but Miss Saunders explained that in most climates, the tree peony is actually a subshrub. “To me, it is the most beautiful flowering plant I know of.”

Although the tree peony (P. suffruticosa) is a native of northwestern China, it was the Japanese who perfected its beauty. They began exporting some of their magnificent varieties in the late 1890’s.

Hybridists turned to the species, P. lutea, to add yellow to the tree peony. “It actually is a delightful species,” Sylvia Saunders noted. “but it has the dreadful habit of drooping the flower heads.” This species is much used by hybridists to advance strains of tree peony.

Looking to the future, Sylvia Saunders took note of the recent breakthroughs in peony development when the supposedly impossible was accomplished. A tree peony and herbaceous peony were crossed.

This original cross is attributed to the Japanese hybridist Toichi Ito. Several named hybrids followed including Yellow Heaven, Yellow Emperor and Yellow Crown, which currently are exorbitantly expensive. But they may be the new road for future developments genetically, according to Miss Saunders, but they may not be good garden plants.

To grow peonies, two essentials are: excellent soil drainage and sunshine. The plants are set out in the fall in deeply prepared soil which has been enriched with wellrotted compost or manures plus bonemeal or other highphosphorus fertilizers.

Though Miss Saunders is retiring, the famous Saunders Hybrids will continue. Her nursery has been sold to Dr. David Reath, a veterinarian, in Vulcan, Mich., located on the Upper Peninsula. Several other nurseries also specialize in peonies: Louis Smirnow, Brookville, L. I. 11545, and Gratwick Tree Peonies, Pavilion, N. Y. 14525.

Footnotes:
  1. Faust, J.L. “Around the Garden.” In: The New York Times, June 2, 1974, 148.[]

Prof. Arthur Percy Saunders (March 22, 1869 – August 14, 1953) is probably the most well-known peony hybridizer the world has ever seen. He was responsible for bringing many new species into the gene-pool of our garden varieties, thus bringing new colors and a longer flowering period. Most information about the man and his works can be found in many of the American Peony Society (APS) publications. Below you’ll find what I believe to be the best description of the work, it is a section of a chapter in one of those books. This describes his work with the herbaceous species, although he also worked with shrubby ones. If you still want to know more about him, his shrubby peonies or his publications, it would be best to join the APS and order the books they have on offer.

One more remark: many of the species he used have now been renamed or lumped together with other species, the most important one of these would be P. albiflora which is now known as P. lactiflora, I have tried to give the current name when known within parentheses.

A.P. Saunders in 1953 (at the age of 84), with some 'White Innocence' peonies, one of his many introductions.


Saunders tending peonies, courtesy of Hamilton College Archives.
Video of A.P. Saunders and others at Hamilton College as he works and tours. Video recorded by Alexander Woollcott in the early to mid 1930’s.

The Work of Professor A. P. Saunders 1

It has already been pointed out that Professor Saunders was not the first to make crosses between peony species. He was, however, the first to bring together a large assemblage of species— the vast majority of which had never been used before in crossing. He was the first to systematically try to intercross each one of these species with every other one. He created more hybrid races and more new hybrid varieties than all other breeders, past and present, put together. His work in creating these new hybrid races is the greatest peony achievement of this, or any other, century.

Dr. Saunders was born in 1869, the son of the Director of the Central Experimental Farm at Ottawa, Canada. He grew up in a botanical and horticultural atmosphere. He was graduated from the University of Toronto and took post graduate work in chemistry in Berlin, Goettingen, and finally at Johns Hopkins where he received his doctorate’s degree. In 1900 he was appointed professor of chemistry at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He continued his professorial duties until his retirement at the age of seventy in 1939. He lived in the same house, and worked with peonies until his death in 1953.

Professor Saunders [as most of his peony friends called him] joined the American Peony Society in 1906. He served as a Director of the Society from 1909 almost continuously until his death. He was Secretary from 1910 to 1924. Editor from 1916 to 1924, Vice-President from 1928 to 1930, and again from 1936 to 1938, President from 1930 to 1932. He was a member of the Seedling Committee from 1925 until his death. In June 1928 he was awarded the American Peony Society’s Gold Medal for his success in hybridizing peony species, and in 1947 received the Arthur Hoyt Scott Horticultural Award of Swarthmore College, one of the highest awards in horticulture.

He began to raise Chinese peony seedlings as early as 1905. By about 1915 he had secured plants of several authentic peony species, and began his work of the hybridization between species, exhibiting the first varieties of the Challenger Strain in 1928.

In addition to his profession and his peony hobby, Professor Saunders had many interests. He was deeply devoted to the College and attended all its functions, usually accompanied by his family. He set up a telescope near his home so that college boys might gaze at the stars. Ice skating was a favorite sport; birds were a constant delight. Chamber music was throughout his life a beloved occupation: he played an excellent first fiddle.

Through it all ran the supreme and engrossing occupation of the garden. There was, to begin with, a constant supply of fruits and vegetables for the big family table. In the flower garden besides peonies, almost every other garden plant was at least given a try. Iris were hybridized — one variety, White Knight, received an Award of Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society at the Wisley Garden Trials. Roses there were too, but they were soon abandoned because they required too much coddling to survive Clinton winters. The tiny cyclamen species were grown, nurtured and loved. In the autumn, colchicums produced sheets of mauve bloom.

The turnover was tremendous; always about fifty per cent. It had to be. Plants arrived to be tried out, and those that did not soon give a good account of themselves were discarded to make way for new or better ones. Already by 1905, besides seventy-five iris and thirty-nine phloxes [Professor Saunders later raised and named the fine white, Mary Louise, still considered a leading variety today] there were no less than two hundred forty-eight peonies!

Garden notebooks were started in 1900, the peony notebooks in 1903; both series were continued almost up to his death. The term “peony” of course referred in those early years, aside from two or three insignificant species and perhaps a dozen or two fine Japanese tree peonies, to the albiflora race (lactiflora, kh). New varieties came into the garden in a steady stream every autumn, while the poorer sorts were as steadily culled out and thrown away every June.

The early work with peonies was not hybridizing at all in its true sense for it was purely on these albifloras. A great many seedlings were raised and many were taken to the national peony shows, which were an annual June trek. “Staged in Cleveland in 1913,” he writes, “thirty-two varieties of Chinese peonies plus four-five undistinguished seedlings.” Some of the best were eventually put on the market, and two now survive in nursery lists: the deep red Matilda Lewis, and the lovely light pink semi-double named for his daughter, Silvia Saunders.

The role played by the albifloras has been a dual one: not only were they favorite garden plants, but their many fine qualities have given them great importance as the mother plants in a large majority of the new hybrid races.

Other species, it was hoped, would provide extension of season of bloom, wider variation in foliage, and the possibility of new and beautiful flower colors, notably in the region of fine bright pinks, and perhaps even of yellows. So when several distinguished foreign botanical species began to arrive to take up their abode on College Hill in Clinton, they were given places of honor. P. lutea, the wild yellow tree peony from China, was sent by Lemoine in 1913; lobata arrived the following year; and macrophylla and mlokosewitschi were procured from van Tubergen in 1915.

These new plants marked the opening of a new era. “My main purpose in all this work of cross-fertilization,” Professor Saunders later wrote, “has been to strike out if possible into new lines that would produce early flowering types in greater variety and beauty than we have heretofore had.” Few would deny that in his thirty years of hybridizing he succeeded admirably in this quest.

The Season of bloom has been extended by two or three weeks. Formerly, the only early-blooming herbaceous kinds were the old familiar forms of officinalis, of tenuifolia, and of the Lemoine wittmanniana hybrids in pale tearose shades. These plants were all lacking in some respect of beauty, variety, or vigor of growth. Only the officinalis varieties were at all widely grown. Now through the use of May-blooming species, and in particular those very early three, “Macro,” “Mloko,” and “Tenui,” that bloom May 12 to 15 in Clinton, hybrids have been created that flower throughout the second half of May and into the first week of June to overlap the albiflora race.

But in the new brilliant range of colors an even greater improvement has occurred. There are new reds in vermilion, scarlet and cerise; new shades of true pale lilac; new waxy whites with striking flarings or edgings; new ivory and opalescent shades; but most important of all, an entirely new range of pinks, in salmon, coral, flamingo, and cherry—colors which had existed in the Japanese tree peonies, but never before in the herbaceous group.

To obtain these hybrids, Professor Saunders embarked on a campaign of crossing, the extent and intricacy of which he himself did not at first foresee. In the end, the total number of peony plants that either immigrated into the Clinton garden from the outer world, or were born here, was 17,224, this being the number of the last plant in Volume 23 of the Peony Notebooks. Allowing an ample thousand for all the pure albifloras, another thousand for the tree peonies and their hybrids, and five hundred for all the species plants, there remain over fourteen thousand, five hundred to cover the vast number of herbaceous hybrids. Of these, some one hundred sixty-five were selected as worthy to be named, propagated and put on the market —a little more than one per cent. Most of these bid fair to become permanent additions to American gardens.

It was not only as a garden plant that the peony held fascination for Professor Saunders. As he worked, he became more and more engrossed in the scientific aspects of the species, whose characteristics he was able to observe not only in the plants themselves but in their hybrid offspring, and with the attempt to bring order and classifiable knowledge out of chaos and disorder.

The interesting new species that were beginning to be sent him by plant collectors and botanical gardens in Europe, and particularly England, were the wild peonies from the borders of the Mediterranean, the Caucasus, the Himalayas, and China. Neither Professor Saunders, nor indeed any other American, had ever seen most of these plants. They were then, and many of them still are, unknown to American gardens.

A good many new kinds were in the ground in Clinton and showing their true colors by 1925 when Professor Saunders was asked to write the chapter on species in the Society’s Manual. There existed at that time no complete or up-to-date study of the peony, and the Manual, published in 1928, stood as the authoritative work until about 1943 when the first parts of Sir Frederick Stern’s A Study of the Genus Paeonia were published in England by the Royal Horticultural Society.

Professor Saunders, not always in complete agrement with Sir Frederick in matters relating to the classification of the species, had, as a hybridist, special opportunity to study compatibilites. He reached the opinion that the ability of two species to intercross, while not alone in itself proof of relationship between them, did serve to strengthen the supposition that they were related, provided there were other reasons to suppose so.

To follow through a really complete and scientifically planned program, it was necessary to cross each species, or form of species, onto every other, species, or form of species, and then all over again the other way round, for a given cross usually yields entirely different hybrids when made in the opposite way. In addition to the many herbaceous species, there were the tree peonies, consisting of two important groups, the Japanese tree peonies and P. lutea, the wild yellow tree peony from western China. All these were crossed onto one another, even to the extent of crossing the trees onto the herbaceous and vice versa. For who shall say, until it has been tried, tried, and tried again, whether or not a hybrid between the tree and herbaceous can be made?

“In 1916,” runs a notebook, “Mr. Bertrand H. Farr was kind enough to send me some blooms of P. lutea, whose pollen I put on blooms of many different peonies, both herbaceous and tree. In 1917 again, I made some two hundred fifty pollinations, many of which were hybrid crossings, and in 1918 I transplanted ninety-five seedlings, not a one of which, as it turned out later, was a hybrid; all were merely “selfed” seedlings and were consequently thrown out.” Top place among the failures were: 1) the attempt to cross the trees with the herbaceous; and, 2) the great continued exasperation and frustration of trying‘ to induce the yellow peony “Mloko” to cross with albiflora. “How long must you go on,” Professor Saunders asked finally “until you feel justified in saying that a given cross cannot be made?” The answer given to him by Dr. A. B. Stout, famous botanist and plant breeder of the New York Botanical Gardens, was “Until your patience is exhausted.”

Added to these were many small run-of-the-mill, acceptable, even expectable failures. Failures due to unviable [lifeless] pollens were eliminated by pollen-testing, begun soon after 1920. Failure through having tree peony seeds frozen in winter was overcome by the building in 1928 of a small frost-proof cellar set into the slope of the recently acquired strip of land up College Hill, named “The Ribbon” from its shape.

“No one,” wrote Professor Saunders, “should undertake the work of hybridization unless he feels within himself an unfathomable well of patience and a strong wall of persistence against which he may put his back when discouragement threatens to get the better of him. One must take failure and disappointment as the order of the day, and regard every successful cross as a gift of the gods.”

Attempts to classify “true” species have been made in a preceding section, but so wide are the differences of opinion, not only among botanists themselves, but between botanists on the one hand and horticulturists on the other, that the term “species” will be used in this section as it is found in Professor Saunders’ notes. He often used the term to indicate botanical varieties, or forms of species, and he himself remarked: “The hybridist has to remember that distinct varieties may give very different results even when botanically they are to be considered as merely forms of the same species.”

Decora and peregrina, for example, are now considered to be at least closely allied to, if not actually forms of, officinalis. The name peregrina has in fact often been employed as a synonym for officinalis. Stern considers lobata and others synonyms of peregrina.

Dr. Saunders’ notes will also be followed in the use of certain abbreviations, notably that of “Mloko” for the unspellable, unpronounceable, though botanically approved, name of mlokosewitschi, honoring the Russian forester who discovered the plant. Many other beloved varieties were given, as a child or pet puppy may be given, their own nicknames: “Albi” for albiflora, “Tenui” for tenuifolia, “Macro” for macrophylla. The Japanese tree peonies were always referred to as “t.p’s.”

The most recent and complete article by Professor Saunders on his herbaceous hybrids was published in the American Peony Society Bulletin for September 1941. Even this account covers only those strains of which one parent was albiflora. Albiflora played a major role in the work of hybridists generally; in Clinton it served as parent to a full eighty percent of the hybrids. Not only that, but included within this four-fifths are almost all the most important strains: the “Challengers” the outstanding “Lobata hybrids,” and the “Chalice” group, to mention but three. It seems suitable here again to allow first place to those groups, and to give later attention to the remaining strains, those made without benefit of albiflora.

Albiflora x Officinalis

Officinalis and its many relatives grow wild over much of southern Europe. Long ago introduced into European gardens, they have given rise to a number of garden varieties, double as well as single. Rubra Plena is the best known. There is a good deal of confusion as to the origins and the nomenclature of many of these. Whether lobata, officinalis, Otto Froebel, etc., are, or are not, related to one another, they give, when crossed with albiflora, hybrid strains that are all quite distinct from one another.

Officinalis in its many varieties has given not only a very large share of America’s herbaceous hybrid peonies, but many of these are of the highest quality, with new and vivid colors heretofore totally lacking in herbaceous peonies.

Single Crimson Officinalis

Dr. Saunders’ notes say: “I have no plant of the wild P. officinalis that I can be sure is true. The forms of it that I have used, and there are many, are the garden varieties, and particularly a single crimson seedling of one of these which appeared in my garden many years back.

He started in, about 1917, to cross this plant with Chinese peonies, and with great success, for it eventually fathered all those hybrids later brought together under the name, “Challenger Strain.” These are tall robust plants, stout and straight of stem, with glossy, almost tropical foliage, and the flowers in shades of vivid crimson, sometimes measuring eight inches wide.

The cross takes with fair ease, giving an average of about six seeds per cross. In 1921, two hundred and twenty-three seeds were gathered, which produced thirty-three plants, of which three were introduced.

The strain includes Challenger, Defender, Mariner, Erebus, and Tantrums. The mother of the first two was the great seed-setting albiflora, Primevere, which has also produced Chalice and other hybrids.

Tantrums has a huge center of tousled golden stamens; Mariner and Erebus are deepest maroon red; all are single. The blooming season in Clinton is from late May into early June.

The “Challengers” made their debut at Boston in 1928 and at Washington in 1929, and in both years they caused a sensation and came home with medals and awards. Though the strain as a whole shows extreme sterility, an occasional seed is set. Some ten years were devoted to working on this cross before we find the note: “No pollen in 1928. And I think I have about enough of this strain.”

Miscellaneous Officinalis (Including Otto Froebel)

“There is such a bewildering variety of hybrids between albiflora and Officinalis that one hardly knows where to begin with them,” wrote Professor Saunders in 1941. “It seems that each separate variety of officinalis imparts peculiar characters to its offspring. Thus the “Challenger” group is quite different from that in which the officinalis parent was the variety Sabini, and these in turn are quite distinct from that large and important group derived from lobata or lobata Sunbeam. Lobata itself is a variable plant. I have several times raised batches‘ of seedlings of lobata, and they do not come at all uniform in color…

It seems to make a lot of difference what form of lobata one has to work with. The plants from Amos Perry, with flowers of brilliant vermilion, gave progeny whose flowers vary from pale salmon pink to crimson, but chiefly in salmon, coral, and cherry pink—a most lovely range of colors. But I have also a crimson form of lobata and when I used that on the Chinese peonies, I got a group of plants which are all crimsons, varying in depth of color, but without one pink in the whole group…”

“A group that has greatly interested me is that derived from the variety Otto Froebel.” This plant bore rosy-salmon flowers, and produced among its hybrid children several very brilliant pinks; they were the nearest to a true “salmon” at that time [about 1931]. They appeared particularly well under the artificial lighting of the exhibit hall and won many awards, starting with their debut with the “Challengers” in 1928 in Boston. Lotus Bloom and Victoria Lincoln are still prized, but the rest were cast into the shade by the much finer pinks that appeared in the late thirties in the great race of lobata hybrids.

Among the many hybrids derived from still other forms of officinalis five are worthy of special mention: Edward Steichen (very dark red) and Postilion (scarlet crimson) are both from officinalis The Sultan. Emblem (very early), and Legion of Honor are two more good reds; and Madrigal, a pale blush double, is from the double officinalis Lize van Veen crossed by a double pink albiflora. These varieties are all reciprocal crosses, i.e. albiflora crossed onto officinalis.

 

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Lobata of Perry and the Lobata Hybrids
[probably some P. peregrina form, might also be P. broteri or P. officinalis, ed]

Without any question the “Lobata Hybrids” are one of the two groups for which the Saunders name seems sure to live longest. [The other group, the “Lutea Hybrids,” are tree peonies.] The pollen parent of this strain is a plant which came in the autumn of 1928 from Amos Perry in England under the name of lobata. It bloomed the following June. Having learned through experience the rather poor compatibility between the Chinese peonies and certain of the officinalis forms, of which loabata is one, Professor Saunders determined on a real campaign, and accordingly made this cross no less than one hundred and thirty-four times that month!

In August when he went the rounds to collect the bagged seeds, what was his astonishment to gather two thousand two hundred and sixty-eight seeds! Now he wrote: “Contrary to the general rule in officinalis, this plant has a violent affinity for albiflora.” And from thesee seeds, two and three years later, one thousand, two hundred and eighty eight little plantlets germinated! So the seed yield was nearly seventeen per cross and the germination over fifty percent – both enormously high for hybrids. “Often there were thirty to forty seeds in a head, and in one (Primevere) as high as seventy-nine. This is utterly unheard of in the annals of my crossings. No species cross has ever given such results. Indeed albiflora on albiflora would hardly do better. What explanation there is for the easy taking of lobata on albiflora I cannot yet guess.”

The first blooms from the 1929 crossess began to appear in 1933, and from then on, every plant turned out to be either a splendid red, with many scarlet and cerise shades new to herbaceous peonies, or a vivid pink in salmon, coral, flamingo, or cherry, with never a bad color in the lot and not a one that turns mauve in old age. They simply fade out through palest peach to silvery white. Almost all are singles; there are a few airy semi-doubles. Some forty of these have been introduced — about three percent of the total. A complete list of names will be given later; some that have proven most popular are Alexander Woollcott, Cardinal’s Robe, Carina, Heritage [a reverse cross], Red Red Rose, and Your Majesty, among the reds; and among the pinks, Claudia, Constance Spry, Cytherea, Grace Root, Janice, Julia Grant, Laura Magnuson, Lovely Rose, Ludovica, Nathalie, and Queen Rose.

 

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The cross is pretty generally sterile.The several hundred plants in the nursery yield not more than twenty-five to fifty seeds in a season. These are always planted tenderly, for a beautiful F2 has come from one of them: the unique and lovely ivory-yellow Moonrise, a sturdy plant of great substance, harking back to who knows what pallid ancestor on its albiflora side? Here again, as often happens in many second-generation plants, all the original fertility has returned: six Moonrise set more seed than fifty first-generation plants. Those who may have lobata hybrids in their gardens would be well advised to treasure and plant whatever seed may be set.

Albiflora x Decora and Decora Alba
[P. peregrina, ed]

Decora and its white form are closely related to officinalis, and are by some considered to be botanical varieties or forms of it. Plants and seeds reached Clinton from nurseries in Europe in the years 1924-I928. Decora is described as a “magnificent blood purple on quite a tall stem. Used pollen in many crosses, 1929.” One hybrid, the very early dark single red, Reward, was introduced.

 

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Decora alba blooms very early in spring. A great many crosses were made and two hybrids introduced, of which one is Camellia, a lovely double white rosette with palest peach blush at the base of the petals.

Albiflora x Macrophylla
[P. daurica subsp macrophylla, but it probably was P. daurica subsp tomentosa or P. daurica subsp wittmanniana, because macrophylla has glabrous carpels and in some other publications Saunders mentions it being P. tomentosa, ed]

P. macrophylla (“big leaf”) is one of four or five species that grows wild in the Caucasus mountains. This rather dwarf plant has small cup-shaped white flowers with a strong odor of cloves (or is it nutmeg?) and its leaves are the largest, coarsest, and glossiest in the entire peony kingdom. A single leaflet often measures nine by six inches — huge for a peony. These give off a strong smell of English box in the spring sunlight.

All the Caucasus species are extremely early, macrophylla vying with tenuifolia each spring as to which shall be the first to bloom; usually between May 10 and 15 in the Clinton latitude. It imparts to its hybrid children a strong tendency to earliness. By this one cross alone, the peony blooming season was extended by two or even three weeks.

Starting in about 1918, more than a thousand plants of this cross were produced, including the second, third, and even fourth generation, plus several lateral relatives. The vast majority are white; there are a few with pale blush tinge. All are single except as otherwise noted. This cross takes fairly well: over the random period 1926-31 it was made one hundred and forty-three times, and yielded four hundred and forty-four seeds, an average of 3.1 seeds per cross. Not too bad! One of the first hybrids to appear has ever since remained near the head of the list: the immense shimmering white single, Chalice. In 1925 it was noted as a “corker” and is still widely so considered. Another almost as lovely is Seraphim.

 

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Most first-generation hybrid peonies are sterile, at least during the earlier years of their growth. Some remain so permanently. Others, however, after the plants have attained to full maturity, may begin to set an occasional seed, though never very many, and these seeds produce plants which are of course the second generation from the original cross —F2 plants as the botanist calls them. In these F2’s a surprising and a welcome change occurs, for the natural fertility is in large part restored. So it is with the macrophylla hybrids: the F2’s have strongly viable pollen and are regular and abundant seed-setters.

Among these F3’s are Serenade, Archangel, May Lilac, and the heavy seed-setter No. 4992. Then there are the “back-crosses” in which pollen from one of the hybrids was placed back onto an albiflora variety. This gave Garden Peace and Requiem.

Professor Saunders recommended to the hybridist who might be trying to get double hybrids to make use of the Chinese peonies James Kelway and Lady Alexandra Duff, as he had had several examples of their tendency to throw doubleness into their hybrid offspring.

Professor Saunders early noted that a cross usually gives different results when made in reverse. It was found that when a flower of macrophylla was crossed by pollen from an albiflora [presumably imported from the South in late May] there was a strong tendency to doubleness. And another difference appears: the cross in this direction takes very badly: “1929: 27 crosses, 14 seeds; average .5 seeds per cross.”

Triple Hybrids: Officinalis x (“Albi” x “Macro” F2)

Stemming from this cross are two fine triple hybrids. One of the white “Albi” — “Macro” F2’s crossed with officinalis Rosea Plena gave Pageant, a spectacular tall rose pink with a 4-inch shock of golden petalodes. Crossed with Otto Froebel, it gave Mid May, a vigorous plant with blush flowers.

 

Albiflora x Wittmanniana
[P. daurica subsp wittmanniana, ed]

Another species from the Caucasus region is P. wittmanniana. “This is a plant,” wrote Professor Saunders, “which does not do well under the conditions i offer it. It is not widely listed and I think never has been; it was therefore always somewhat difficult to obtain, and this, combined with the difficulty of keeping it growing and alive in the garden, has meant that I have never at any time had many blooms to work with. Added to this is the fact that the cross is not one that takes with great ease, and hardly at all in the reverse direction. M. Lemoine reported to me that he had never had any luck with the reverse cross, but that his hybrids were the result of wittmanniana pollen on albiflora. He produced four lovely things and gave them lovely names: Avant Garde, Le Printemps, Mai Fleuri, and Messagere; they are not so well known as they deserve to be, although this may be because they inherit wittmanniana’s delicate constitution.” Lemoine made these crosses about 1890, and since then until about 1925, nothing further appears to have been done with this species. Wittmanniana’s flowers are of a most delicate pale ivory—paler than “Mloko’s.” Of the Lemoine hybrids, Messagere, is cream-color and the other three are pinks with a sort of cafe-au-lait cast to them.

Professor Saunders raised some one hundred and sixty hybrid plants at one time or another, of which he likewise selected four for propagation: two whites [one has delicate greenish tints]; a third, Magnolia Flower, with blooms of a mauve and tawny-cream shade; Ballerina, the fourth, is the reverse of the cross; it is a smallish plant with very double cream-white blooms. He felt that this was a cross that might well repay further work by someone living in a climate better suited [wherever that may be] to wittmanniana’s needs [whatever these may be]. But it has always been a hard plant to obtain; it apparently has rarely if ever been offered in America.

 

Albiflora x Coriacea

Coriacea, a species from Spain and the mountains of Morocco, happened to be in the collection of the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa where some of its pollen was obtained in 1928. A division of the plant itself reached Clinton in 1933 and bloomed the following spring. In 1928 and 1934, forty-eight crosses were made of coriacea with albiflora. Result: 186 seeds. Ultimate results: twenty-four plants. “I had no pollen again,” Professor Saunders writes, “until 1940 when I made 16 crosses, and 1942 when I made 35. Total from these two years: 2 seeds!” The hybrids resulting from the 1928 and 1934 crosses were thrown together, being all very similar, and introduced as a strain under the name “The Lavenders” (usually sold as Lavender, ed). With charming pale lilac flowers, these are distinguished and lovely plants.

 

Albiflora x “Ozieri Alba”
[probably P. corsica as Ozieri is a place in Sardinia, Italy. Note that Tranquil Dove (aka Halcyon F2) also resembles Picotee (see further) quite well, ed]

Seeds labeled “ozieri alba” were received from the world famous firm of Vilmorin, Andrieux & Cie, of Paris, in 1926. Seven germinated in 1928. Search through botanical and horticultural literature failed to reveal any mention of such a peony name. When the Vilmorins were questioned, they said the seeds had originally reached them from a correspondent whose name they had lost and they had no record of the matter, except that they had forwarded the seeds to America. Of such lack of records and resulting dead ends are many horticultural puzzles born.

Professor Saunders’ notes say, “from its foliage it evidently belongs in the group Corallina-Broteri-Cambessedesi.” He crossed it with albiflora in 1934, and got seven hybrid plants, which he later put together and introduced under the group named “Halcyon.” Very early blooming, the waxy white flowers have marked purple flares suggesting white Japanese tree peonies; these are prize plants. They even set seed with fair ease.

“Ozieri alba” was also crossed with tenuifolia in 1934, giving nine fine seeds. Germination: zero. That seems to be the complete Clinton story of this plant of unknown origin.

 

Albiflora x Emodi

P. emodi appears to be the only peony to grow wild in the Himalaya mountains. This is a tallish plant with many nodding small white flowers and rather fernlike foliage. Here is a page from the notebook, on the long-drawn-out effort to establish this species in the garden.

“One plant from Botanic Gardens of Dublin, spring 1928. It ultimately died. One hundred seeds from the Superintendent of Hyde Park, London, in spring, 1928. Sent some to the Harvard Botanic Garden. Most of mine rotted; none came up, and Harvard also had none germinate. Twelve seeds from Hyde Park again, in February, 1929. They gave in 1930 eight plants. In 1932, I let it bloom undisturbed so as to get a crop of seeds, and this was the result: 24 big, flat, dark blues, all soft. No germination. In 1935, the same: 8 seeds, all soft. Seems to be quite self-sterile. And it crosses unwillingly with albiflora. I have made a good many attempts and have only two or three hybrid plants.”

From 48 crosses in 1931, two-thirds were failures, and the remaining 17 gave only 65 seeds. Fourteen plants ultimately resulted, and one plant has been introduced, named White Innocence. It bears a number of flowers on each stem, of which only the laterals produce seed, and these but few. This plant grows to almost five feet, and is the tallest, and latest to bloom of the Saunders hybrids. Emodi fathered two other beautiful hybrids, which we shall meet near the end of this chapter.

 

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And so we come to the end of all those hybrids which resulted from combining albiflora with some other species. Some eighty per cent of all Dr. Saunders’ herbaceous hybrids have now been discussed, and within that four-fifths are many of his most significant creations. There still remains, however, a number of interesting and beautiful races.

But before going on to these, mention should be made of a heroic attempt, and tribute paid to the originality and persistence of another peony originator. In mlokosewitschi, the only truly yellow herbaceous peony, would seem to lie the most alluring of possibilities for a new hybrid race: its flowers are a delicate pale almost lemon-sherbet sort of shade, nonetheless a true enduring yellow; the leaves a dull jade gray-green without sheen or gloss, slightly rounded at the tips; purplish-crimson stems complete the picture of what is after all one of our most beautiful garden plants. Alas, it has proved for many gardeners too difficult to grow. But “Mloko” in bloom among a clump of Narcissus poeticus in May is a lovely sight, and those who wish to add distinction to their gardens should try at least once.

It has strong pollen. All in all, the hybridist fairly drools when he thinks of a possible hybrid race with “Mloko’s” color, foliage, and season, and albiflora’s double flowers and greater hardiness. “Mloko,” however, was to prove a cruel disappointment; it crosses not at all with albiflora, and only grudgingly with other species that one may offer as eligible partners. “In the earlier years, 1918-1924,” runs the Notebook, “I used to make this cross almost every year, and certainly, in the aggregate, I made several hundred. Occasionally, I would get some seed, but all plants from it were pure “Albis”; the result of accidental selfing. I therefore gave up this cross. Tried once again in 1929. All failures. This ought to be enough.”

Dr. Earle B. White, a former Washington dentist now living in Florida, was working on the cross during this same period. Dr. White persistently made some five hundred crosses a year between “Mloko” and albiflora, and did this for eight years before finally getting one hard hybrid seed. Then he had what is almost unknown in hybridizing —one hundred per cent germination! It came up! It came up, grew to maturity, flowered, and was unmistakably a hybrid. With pale ivory-yellow flowers, and foliage midway between the two parents, it blooms in early June in Clinton, and is truly a distinct and beautiful addition to the peony world, quite aside from being a hybridist’s triumph. Named Claire de Lune, the stock is now owned by the Gilbert Wild and Son Nursery in Sarcoxie, Missouri.

Hybrids From Species Other Than Albiflora

Officinalis x “Lobata Perry”

Following are hybrids made by combining any of the many forms of officinalis [including lobata], Otto Froebel and many more with one another or with other species (not albiflora). First are a charming group of rather dwarf plants [all fathered by the same “lobata Perry” that we met in the famous lobata hybrids]: officinalis Rosea Plena gave Little Dorrit [opaque salmon with bright red flares]; Rubra Plena gave Scarlet Tanager [true light red], while Alba Plena gave Good Cheer [clear light vermilion]. Because the parents were closely related, these hybrids are fertile, and the resulting F2’s have very similar brilliance and charm.

 

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Officinalis x Coriacea

Coriacea [the same plant which, when crossed with albiflora, gave us the lovely “Lavender Strain”] was now crossed onto officinalis Rubra Plena. The result was a small plant with handsome glaucous [bluish-green] foliage, veined red, and with black-purple flowers which was named Eclipse. This plant may prove difficult to grow.

Officinalis x “Decora Alba”

“Decora alba” when crossed with Otto Froebel gave thirty-four hybrid plants, of which the best was introduced under the name Diantha. This charming dwarf plant has very early flowers of a delightful salmon-rose pink shade.

Triple Hybrids: Albiflora x (Officinalis x Macrophylla)

There were a good many hybrid plants of officinalis crossed by macrophylla, but none was ever considered worthy of public introduction. Their value was proved in the nursery however, for when they in turn were crossed onto albiflora, several fine and distinct triple hybrids were produced. Three of these are: Burgundy, a deep wine purple, Campagna, a fine pure white, and Herald, an early brilliant scarlet.

 

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Mlokosewitschi and Further Attempts at Crossing

The many attempts to cross “Mloko” onto albiflora over a long period of years have already been noted. Albiflora seemed, to the eyes of the hybridist, the most desirably eligible of all the partners presented for “Mloko’s” favors. But it was therefore to prove the most heart-breaking of disappointments.

The list of “Mloko’s” rejectees is long. Not one of the following attempted combinations with “Mloko” came to anything: anomala, arietina, arietina “cretica,” bakeri, beresowskyi, browni, cambessedesi, coriacea, corsica, “decora,” “decora pallasi,” microcarpa, obovata “alba,” obovata “japonica rosea,” pubens, russi “major” [actually a Lemoine hybrid between russi and wittmanniana, but usually found listed among species], wittmanniana, and woodwardi. In addition these forms of officinalis were tried: Etoile de Pluton, Mutabilis, Sabini, “Single Crimson” [that fathered the “Challengers”], Striata Elegans, Alba Plena, Rosea Plena, Rosea Superba Plena, Rubra Plena, Otto Froebel, and something known in the notebooks as “false lobata.”

Six additional species did give hybrid plants which, though never propagated or introduced, do still survive: broteri, corallina, emodi, peregrina, triternata [another Caucasian species], and veitchi. With two species and two only, did “Mloko” succeed in founding families. Like “Mloko,” these two are native to the Caucasus region, and like “M1oko,” both are very early blooming. Macrophylla acquaintance we have already made. The other plant, tenuifolia, is one of the few peony species known to European and American gardens as early as 1765. This is the very small, very early, very ferny-leaved little peony found in many gardens. It occurs in several forms: Rubra [single], Rubra Plena, Rosea, and Rosea Plena.

 

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Peony ‘Time Traveler’ (2005, Saunders/Waltz) was only recently introduced and is the result of Saunders crossing P. emodi x P. mlokosewitschii, it flowered for the first time around 1946.

“Mloko” x “Tenui” and reverse

Mloko” crosses easily with “Tenui” either way, and their hybrids follow the rule: the first generation plants are almost wholly sterile, but with age, they do produce a few seeds. “Indeed I am being driven to the conclusion,” wrote Professor Saunders in the early thirties, “that all peony hybrids eventually produce seeds, given a fairly large number of plants and sufficient lapse of time. Every year seed is produced in my garden by hybrid plants which have previously been entirely sterile.”

So it is with the “Mloko”-“Tenui” hybrids: seeds were eventually set, and in the resultant second generation the natural fertility of the species is restored: they all set seed fairly abundantly. Oddly enough, the colors in the first generation, whichever way the cross is made, derive entirely from the “Tenui” side of the family: never a tea-rose nor an ivory, to say nothing of a yellow; but instead, shades of crimson, cerise, and pink of varying degrees of beauty. The early pink Playmate is the best of these. The F2, Nosegay, is earlier still, a brighter pink, with better foliage and taller stature: altogether a finer thing. The foliage of both is reminiscent of the fernlike “Tenui.”

 

But the reverse cross, “Tenui” X “Mloko,” gave in the second generation not only the early tea-rose Gwenda, but then her own child Daystar [therefore an F3 which opens its ivory yellow flowers with the earliest peonies, about mid-May. These two have large broad glossy leaves, not like either parent. Nosegay, Gwenda, and Daystar are good seed-setters, and because of the blood in their veins, would probably repay further work.

Triple Hybrids: Albiflora x (“Tenui” x “Mloko” F2)

The F2 Gwenda was crossed onto a double albiflora to produce three beautiful and quite distinct children: Roselette, a tall very early pink and a good grower; Rushlight, a pale ivory-yellow, taller than Daystar or Nova; and Sprite, a white with apple-blossom tints. Both Roselette and Rushlight have viable pollen and set seed.

 

Mlokosewitschi x Macrophylla

“Mloko” crosses reluctantly with macrophylla, but by good fortune the hybrids are fertile in the first generation. “This is surprising, for both in appearance and in chromosome numbers they are different, “Mloko” being a diploid while “Macro” is a tetraploid.” The hybrids have characteristics of both parents: Coarse leaves, pale ivory-yellow flowers, and extreme earliness. “This race should certainly be used in further crosses, as they would be likely to give something interesting.” The F2’s, of which the best is Nova, take after the parents, so that in time one may have from seed a nice little planting of early pale yellow peonies.

 

 

Quadruple Hybrids: Albiflora x (Officinalis x (Mlokosewitschi x Macrophylla) )

The fertile hybrids of “Mloko” x “Macro” were crossed onto a number of plants, for here of course there seemed to lie one more possibility of obtaining a race of yellow hybrids. Two triple hybrids [albiflora by the hybrid “Mloko” x “Macro”] still exist under the numbers 14400 and 14414. Tall plants with very early pale ivory flowers, these set seed. Although never catalogued, this triple strain should surely be used by future hybridists.

The “Mloko”-“Macro’s” were also crossed onto various forms of Officinalis: with Otto Froebel they took fairly well and produced a strain of triples that were fertile and that were themselves crossed onto albiflora. The resulting plants are thus Quadruple Hybrids, for in them are combined the bloods of four species: “Macro,” “Mloko,” officinalis, and albiflora. Numbering some one hundred and twenty all told, these plants began to bloom in 1943, and are thus the last hybrids to come from the Saunders hand. First catalogued in l949, some dozen or fifteen are now listed. The prevailing color of the flowers is an ivory sheen quite unique and beautiful. Many of them, like Lady Gay, are strikingly flared —a few, like Papilio, are delicately veined like a butterfly’s wing: Starlight, which, though very like Dr. White’s Claire de Lune, blooms a week earlier, and Sunlight, are clear ivory yellow. Firelight is a fine bright early rose-pink. These hybrids are nearly sterile though of course like most such things not absolutely so, and there are little F2 seedlings coming along in the seed-beds which should be blooming in a few years.

 

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A Few Remaining Hybrid Strains

Corsica x Macrophylla

One plant of the Mediterranean species corsica reached Clinton from Barr’s nursery in England in 1924. It died. Two plants came from Lemoine in 1928. One died. Four more plants came from Barr again five years later. The five plants were widely used in crossing, and with macrophylla a hybrid was produced, named Picotee, a delightful little thing whose white flowers are edged — “picoteed” — bright pink. It is fertile, and its children closely resemble the parent, in this case a most happy circumstance.

 

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Willmottiae x Macrophylla
[P. obovata subsp wilmottiae x probably P. daurica subsp. tomentosa/wittmanniana, ed]

One of the most beautiful and distinguished of peony species is willmottiae, from western China. Its‘ large, elegantly-formed leaves, presented horizontally in three’s, are of a deep bronze, and of so dull a finish as to have a “bloom” like the grape. Against and above these, float flowers of an absolute and indescribable whiteness; this plant is unmistakably among the bluebloods of the garden world. It should be far more widely grown. Alas, where to obtain it?

Two plants reached Clinton in 1917 from the English nursery of Allgrove, and were used in a number of crosses. Of the cross with macrophylla, one, Silver Dawn, was introduced. It is a lovely white and the name describes it well, but is it lovelier than willmottiae?

Hybrids of Woodwardi, Veitchi and Beresowskyi
[P. anomala subsp veitchi, all of them, ed]

These three species are generally considered to be closely related to one another, and are all perhaps forms of anomala. Woodwardi blooms first; its flowers are rose-pink. Veitchi comes next; with its rather deep magenta-ish-pink flowers, it is less pretty. Beresowskyi blooms latest of the three but its flowers closely resemble those of woodwardi. All three are from western China, and all three were in the course of time represented in the Clinton nursery. They were tried out with various other species, and three hybrid plants were eventually introduced.

Tenuifolia x woodwardi produced the little Earlybird, a bright unfading crimson.

Last perhaps, but far from least, come the “Windflowers.” This is a strain, or rather two strains, produced by crossing the Himalayan peony emodi with two other Asiatic species. Charming tall plants, better than emodi itself, extremely vigorous in growth, and with nodding white flowers, these hybrids are like white autumn blooming Japanese anemones. Early Windflower, derived from veitchi, comes into bloom about May 20, to be followed in a week or ten days by the late form (Late Windflower, ed). They are among the very loveliest of garden hybrids.

 

In this section an attempt has been made to give a picture of a half-life time spent in cultivating peonies. Without overstating either the failures or the successes, we hope to have conveyed some idea of the combination of scientific thoroughness and persistence of mind, compounded with what must have been half inspiration, half hunch, that were necessary in order to overcome the repeated exasperations and defeats, not to mention the vagaries encountered in plants and in nature herself.

The whole field of peony hybridizing, far from narrowing itself down to a few lines, has opened up into a vast terrain. The few fertile first-generation plants and the many more second-generation hybrids in which fertility has been completely restored, have revealed an immense new series of crossings to be initiated, in which only the beginnings have been pioneered. This may be the place to say that from Professor Saunders’ nursery, hybrid plants of many of the strains described herein may still be obtained, by hybridists and others interested for scientific or breeding purposes, without their incurring the full expense of the “garden” varieties listed‘ in the catalog. Those lines that appear to offer the greatest prospect of success and interest have been indicated; but who of us dares predict where the future of the peony may really lie?

Peony ‘Blushing Princess’ (1991, Saunders/Reath/Rogers) is often used in modern hybridizing programs for its doubleness and sturdy stems. It was formerly known as Saunders 16350 F2. Saunders 16350 was the result of ‘Pink Jap x Gwenda’. 

Footnotes:
  1. Section from Wister, John C. (Ed.) “The Peonies.” American Peony Society: USA, 1995, pp. 40-61.[]

P. coriacea is a species which grows in the mountains in both the south of Spain (Sierra Nevada) and Morocco (the Rif and Mid-Atlas). Not too much information can be found, it is difficult to obtain and grow and has only once been used in any hybridizing effort as far as we know. It is characterised by its leathery foliage (coriaceous), and is a tetraploid. It naturally grows in a Mediterranean climate, which is characterised by a hot and dry summer (Köppen-Geiger climate classification Csa with C=warm temperate, s=summer dry and a=hot summer). As it grows at higher altitudes it may be accustomed to somewhat milder summer temperatures, but rainfall will be very sparse there in summer as well, although both the Rif and Mid-Atlas are situated north of the higher Atlas mountains, close to the Mediterranean Sea, and are thus spared from the extreme drought the Sahara desert would bring.

P. coriacea (image from Wild flowers of Europe)

Now for its use in hybridizing, let’s go back a long time, to the year 1928 when A.P. Saunders crossed P. coriacea with P. lactiflora and P. officinalis:

“In the spring of 1928 I made a trip to Ottawa, Canada, where there is a large collection of peony species. I wonder when anyone else has made  as long a trip for the sole purpose of gathering some pollen grains. At any rate I brought home with me a number of different pollens gathered from plants that were then in bloom. Among these was the species P. coriacea which is native to Portugal and the mountains of Morocco. I made a good many crosses with coriacea pollen on Chinese peonies [P. lactiflora, kh] and a few on officinalis (the old double crimson) [P. officinalis Rubra Plena, kh]. Then I waited for five years and in 1933 and 1934 about ten of the hybrid plants came into bloom. They were all much alike; all single, sterile, and they all gave flowers of a lovely lavender color. They are somewhat reddish at first, but the color soon changes into a clearer and lighter shade and the red goes out of it. Who could have predicted that these clear lavender flowers would come out of a cross between a purple red and apparently no matter what in the way of a Chinese peony?

This race of coriacea hybrids is highly sterile. I do get a seed once in a long while, but from the few seeds I have had in ten years there are so far no germinations. It has to be remembered that peony seeds are in no hurry to germinate. They sometimes come up the spring after they are planted in the autumn, but more often they do not make their appearance until the second spring. It should likely to be poor things with perhaps no vitality in them.

I should very much like to have some F2 plants out of this cross, for these hybrids represent a break in the conventional color scheme of the peony and if such plants turned out to be fertile they ought to give interesting outcrosses on officinalis, macrophylla, and other species.

From the few crosses made on officinalis with the coriacea pollen I got only two or three plants, but these have flowers of a fine intense deep purple maroon color which contrasts with the gray-green foliage to produce a very striking effect. Unfortunately these plants have proved slow and difficult to propagate.”1

As far as I’m aware nearly nothing remains of the tetraploid officinalis x coriacea plants. One was introduced and named Eclipse, but very hard to grow. As Don Hollingsworth would have it in 2001:

“A caution about Peony Eclipse, it proved to be a very shy grower here. That doesn’t mean it cannot be grown — one just needs to be lucky and a careful planter. I expect it is very narrowly adapted as to climate and soil. I had a big piece of it from Roy Pehrson more than twenty years ago (big, I concluded, because it has a poor root structure for dividing). It got smaller every year. Because it is tetraploid and has the same pollen parent as the Lavenders (triploid), I had hoped to use its pollen in attempt to get an advanced generation of the Lavenders. It is very disappointing having acquired something so rare and then lose it.”2

Reportedly Valkyrie does have Eclipse in its ancestral background: Blushing Princess x (Sable x Eclipse).

The best of the P. lactiflora x P. coriacea seedlings were introduced into commerce as the Lavender strain (all triploid). Thus originally it wasn’t a single plant that was chosen and named, but several different plants, although with the same parentage and very much alike, that were all sold as Lavender. As these plants are not the easiest ones to grow, it is quite likely that over such a long time only the best grower(s) of these is/are still being grown from a few specialized nurseries. I once grew one, a very nice division obtained from Don Hollingsworth’s nursery, but unfortunately it died after a few years.

Lavender

Although A.P. Saunders had his first blooms in the early 1930s and stated his interest in obtaining offspring from it, it took a very long time, 70 years, before a rare seed finally germinated at the other side of the ocean. Ruud Warmerdam, in the Netherlands, noticed a seed on a plant of Lavender in 2002, thus open pollinated. This was probably the first seed from it to germinate and grow. It flowered for the first time in 2006 and he offered the first plants in 2009, it was registered in 2013 as Lavender Baby.

A first year plant of Lavender Baby in front of a larger Lavender. The foliage being completely different.

 

Lavender Baby close-up

 

Lavender Baby full grown plants

 

Now Lavender Baby is a plant you could easily spot from a distance in a field of other peonies. The foliage is very different. Deeply dissected and grey-green of color. The foliage is very dense, it is very floriferous and, unlike its mother, very easy to grow and propagate. It is rather short, never more than 50-60 cm in height here. The foliage makes it a good garden plant, but the flowers are not particularly attractive to my eyes. Small, dark pink, sometimes a bit irregularly formed on somewhat spreading stems.

By sheer luck I was one of the first customers and obtained it in 2009. In 2011 it flowered here and, expecting low fertility as it was related to Lavender, I used its pollen on some 40 flowers of Pink Vanguard. It turned out to be very fertile as I got some 15 seeds on average for every flower pollinated, thus over 600 seeds. They germinated extremely well, nearly 100%. A bit of reading, which I hadn’t done at the time, might have predicted this as Saunders had already noticed that rather infertile F1’s that give the occasional seed, tend to result in F2’s with fully restored fertility.

Now I have grown these seedlings into some 350-400 mature plants (some were culled along the way, others were weaklings, some were lost due to careless treatment). Most have grown quite well and I had them in flower several times. From the first to the last, they are all shades of pink. ((But for one exception, which is yellowish and surely the result of a contaminated cross, it doesn’t resemble the other seedlings.)) Most are worthless of course, a lot of them with weak stems, some with ugly open foliage, many with very small buds and flowers. Unfortunately none has the foliage of Lavender Baby. If I compare a random 50 plants of this cross with a random 50 plants of a cross with more advanced hybrids on both sides, it is clear that on average the resulting plants are only mediocre. I had used Lavender Baby pollen also on Blushing Princess and Salmon Dream. This resulted in fewer seeds, simply because I did not have as many flowers of these. The seedlings from Salmon Dream all grew into ugly and weak plants. Blushing Princess’ children were on average far better than Pink Vanguard’s children with the same father. But in the end, the best plants were from Pink Vanguard x Lavender Baby as I had ten times as much plants to choose from. Most of these plants are fertile and their seeds are already being grown on.

One of the rows of my Pink Vanguard x Lavender Baby seedlings

Currently I’m propagating a few selections. Some are merely for use in further hybridizing, but there are three candidates for future registration and introduction. I’ve given them provisional names to easily refer to them.

CF 001

CF 001

“CF001” (for cutting flower 001) is a semi-double to double, quite early and tall. Average bud size, floriferous. It is somewhat spreading, thus not particularly suited for gardens.

Kato 001

“Kato 001” (my daughter’s name is Kato) is a semi-double to double with strong upright stems. Large flower and good bud size, average length, good fragrance. Its buds froze last year due to an exceptionally late frost (the same could be seen on Pink Vanguard).

Kato 002

Kato 002

“Kato 002” is also a semi-double to double with strong upright stems. It is as yet unclear which is the best one, Kato 001 or Kato 002, but both are excellent garden subjects. For cutflowers they might be somewhat short. They flower very early and with their excellent bush habit, I consider them welcome additions for most peony gardens.

If you have some experiences with any of the above plants, feel free to place a comment and share your story!

Footnotes:
  1. Saunders, A.P. “Plant hybridizing, a fascinating study.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, no. 90, 1943.[]
  2. Don Hollingsworth in the forum of the Peony yahoo group: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/peony/conversations/messages/4695[]

Bill Seidl (picture from Conrad Art Glass & Gardens)

Bill Seidl, a well-known American hybridizer of advanced herbaceous and tree hybrid peonies, passed away October 8th, 2016.  I’ve only had a few short e-mail conversations with him several years ago, so I won’t claim to have known him very well, but he regularly wrote articles about peonies for the APS Bulletin and the Paeonia hybridizer’s newsletter as well as on several internet forums. If you’d like to read some of it in the Paeonia hybridizer’s newsletter, just download this one which is mostly his work: Paeonia vol 21 nr 1

He has bred and introduced many wonderful peonies, of which Vanilla Schnapps (formerly Bill’s Best Yellow) is probably my favorite one.

In 2007, May 3rd, he posted the following in the Peony Addicts Yahoo Forum Group:

Dear PeonyAddicts,

This letter is to let you know I’ve uploaded a file on my life with peonies to the group site. Originally written for the APS, it was not  used, and so I thought I’d share it with all of you.

Bill

Since the article he was mostly active on the internet forums and was helping out Solaris Farms to start work on peonies. There’s a very nice article in the APS Bulletin, written by Nate Bremer of Solaris Farms, about him. ((Bremer, Nate. “Bill Seidl… Mr. Advanced Generation.” In: The American Peony Society Bulletin, December 2016, no. 380, pp. 14-21.))

So, here’s the man in his own words:


Close Encounters With Peonies and Peony People
Bill Seidl, Manitowoc, WI

As with many peony lovers, my first encounter with peonies was, as a child, with some very old cultivars. They were Edulis Superba and P. Officinalis Rubra Plena. Both grew in my parents’ garden. I still live in the house in which I was born, 1932, and can vouch that the former thrived in one location for 60+ years, the latter almost as long, before I transplanted both to a second garden, one acre in size. From our backyard I could see Festiva Maxima in one neighbor’s backyard and P. tenuifolia Rubra Plena in another’s. The latter still lives there today, and the owner, a 90-year old lady, says I can have it in the fall as it has not done well ever since a well-meaning daughter mulched it with cypress bark. It is down to three stems.

My second encounter with Paeonia was about 1960. During the long interim years I became more and more interested in gardening and developed rather eclectic tastes. This I attribute to two reasons. (1) My parents, being thrifty, always maintained a garden on our 50′ x 100′ city lot. A single car garage in the NW corner of the lot and a long driveway did not leave much garden space, but they squeezed in several fruit trees (plum, pear, apple), a strawberry patch, vegetables, a grape arbor, and a few annual flowers. No perennials except for the two peonies. During WW II the government encouraged home-owners to start Victory gardens, but my parents needed no such prodding. There was never any lawn in our backyard. Some memories of those times include Ma’s plum dumplings, Pa’s home-made wine (there’s still some 40-yr. old wine left in the cellar), my graft of an apple onto a pear (It lasted three years and bore one apple), and a peach seedling onto a plum (it grew well and then blew out in the first summer rainstorm), my annual flowers seeds from Burpee for sending in a 10-cent newspaper coupon, some General Ike tulips for a 25-cent coupon (I still have the tulips), and pulling a coaster-wagon full of bunches of carrots for three blocks to a Farmers Market at sunrise. I went with one of my brothers and Pa said shoppers would feel sorry for us two little kids and buy from us first. He was right. I had to help with many garden chores, but mostly it was by choice.

(2) As a youngster I looked forward to visits with my great Uncle Gil Thompson and Aunt Kate. They grew gladiolus for a local florist, roses, and a few other perennials. He showed me how easy it was to hybridize gladiolas and grow the seeds to flowering size in two years. No cold stratification necessary. During the off-season he rolled Cuban cigars in his “den” which was lined with ribbons and rosettes won in gladiolus exhibitions; she made out income taxes. I thought they led a great life. I also read about the work of plant breeder, Luther Burbank. All this impressed upon me the fact that most cultivars of plants had their origin as a seed, and one did not have to be a genius to raise some of your own.

In mid-1956 I finished a two-year tour with the Army (1.5 yrs in Japan). That summer I saved seeds from the gladiolas in the garden and planted them the next season. By 1958 I had to rent garden space to plant all the seedling-bulbs (corms). This also gave me a chance to grow daylilies and peonies in quantities the home-garden could not accomodate. I ordered daylilies from Russell Gardens, TX, and from Gilbert H. Wild & Son, MO. The Wild catalog was an eye-opener because it listed herbaceous hybrid (HH) peonies with parentages as well as lactifloras. I ordered some of both types, and thus the second encounter began. Crossing lactis did not much interest me because so many breeders had already done so in such immense numbers that I did not think the envelope could be easily pushed any further. I selected one seedling, L9, from those days and sent it to al Rogers, Oregon. In the early 90’s he had visited here and admired the plant, rather low-growing, a floriferous semi-double to double white.

Crossing the HH’s did interest me, but the lack of doubleness was a turn-off. Some that I had were Rose Noble, Rushlight, Firelight, Pageant, Roselette, Halcyon, Diantha…. The “yellows” were very pale and not likely to deepen in any crosses. I did think a proper goal would be doubles with rose flares. I have nothing to show from the few crosses made in those years. However, a few years later Lyman Cousins appeared on the scene (the 1969 Show in Mansfield, Ohio) with originations of that coloring which were informally dubbed “Inner-Glow Hybrids”. At the 1972 show in Mansfield he was awarded the Saunders Memorial Medal for his hybridizing efforts.

During the 60’s hybridizing gladiolus and daylilies took center stage. There were a few gladiola cultivars that had a mild raspberry/rose fragrance and I worked to improve that quality. Acacia was the cultiver most often used. (All these are tetraploids.) In daylilies the new tets were being developed, beginning in the late 50’s, and I was eager to try these as they became affordable. Dr. Robert Griesbach was active in both areas. He introduced many glads that were highly ruffled and with heavy, waxy substance. And he induced tetraploidy in daylilies by colchicine-treating diploid seeds from Orville Fay.

(3) The third encounter–and still continuing– began in 1968 when I joined the APS. I wanted to find additional HH that were more likely to produce double forms and deeper yellows than the ones I had from Wild.

Coincidentally, that was the year a lady in New Zealand, Joan Wright, made available Lucky Star, a fertile tetraploid gladanthera (or acidiolus) resulting from Gladiolus x Acidanthera murielae backcrossed to A. murielae. (Acidanthera is a very fragrant diploid species, since moved to the Gladiolus genus.) This would give a boost to my flagging fragrant-glad project, and so I spent $200 to obtain about 30 corms. I mad hundreds of crosses and raised thosands of corms (105,000 seedlings one year, most unplanted). However, LS has only two genes for A-type fragrance which, in a tet, meant a fragrance intensity of 50% of that in the dipoid species. Furthermore, during meiosis it seemed the two genes split evenly between egg and pollen cells, so that recombination could never exceed 50% fragrance intensity, and it was 25% in crosses with garden glads. I tried to induce tetraploidy in the species with minimal success. After a decade of crossing I gave up the project in 1978. I had developed allergies to glad pollen — too much sniffing for fragrance. Also thousands of corms were too much to plant each spring and dig each fall. Peonies were not so demanding.

Dr. Griesbach had made similar crosses and introduced a few selections, but the fragrance was mild and no better than what I had in my seedlings. In the early 70’s I met him (along with Mr. Fay) at one of the APS meetings. He too thought the induced tet species was an alternative solution. I doubt he tried it though, as he had enough irons in the fire with his tet Hemerocallis and Lilium projects.

Breeding glads or hems woud be a good project for wanna-be peony breeders. You could squeeze in two or three generations while waiting those long 4-6 years for your first peony seedlings to bloom. Roger Anderson and Roy Pehrson both bred gladiolus before they started with peonies. Roy registered four selecitons with the NAGC (N. American Gladiolus Council). And in Bulletin 334 an APS member in Estonia related his inerest in gladiolus.

The first APS meeting that I attended was the 63rd Annual Peony Exhibition, in 1968, at the Mitchell Park Horticultural Domes, Milwaukee, WI, and that only for several hours mid-day. When I entered the reception area I paused to admire a big bouquet made entirely of one peony variety, a single white of beautiful simplicity, a greeen center of carpels and practically no stamens. A sweet, elderly lady of slight stature, stood up from the reception table and, beaming, told me that I was admiring White Innocence, which was bred by her father, Prof. Saunders. The moment she said that, I know who she was. She introduced herself as Silvia Saunders. It was my first encounter with a peony person, and what a way to begin personal encounters! I’m not numbering further encounters as they continually happen, sometimes most unexpectedly. Silvia took time out from her reception duties to introduce me to as many important people as possible. I remember Carl Klehm and his son Roy who had time only for quick hello’s before continuing with their efforts to keep show events on schedule. She pointed out Sarah Klehm with son Kit, just a youngster then. And she made sure I did not overlook the hybridizing and seedling exhibit by Sam Wissing. I spent at least an hour listening to his spiel. His display included P. lutea, my first encounter with that exasperating species whose poor flower-carriage still plagues advanced hybrids today. In the next Bulletin, # 190, I was pleased to read that Miss Saunders, 66, had accepted the Board of Directors offer to be the new APS president.

1968 was also the year I learned of the Ito intersectional (i) hybrids and their introduction into the U.S. by Louis Smirnow. (I think he began advertising and selling them in 1967.) So I spent another $200 to acquire them. Within a couple years or so I met Roger Anderson at a peony show and we agreed that these new peonies were cutting edge, the peonies of the future, and if we wanted to grow them in colors other than yellow, in our lifetime, we’d have to originate them ourselves. In this we found an equally enthusiastic leader and teacher in the person of Roy Pehrson.

I began to attend APS meetings regularly and primarily to obtain pollen of the lutea hybrid (LH) Alice Harding. Both Roger and I duplicated Mr. Ito’s cross exactly, Kakoden x Alice Harding, without success. The next step was to try AH pollen on any lactiflora. I made hundreds of controlled, bagged crosses and obtained only one true hybrid, Hidden Treasure. The plant grows only 18 inches tall, if that, with rather wide-segmented leaves. The flower is good, a single yellow, but is hidden in the foliage or points laterally.

Using other pollen, probably Chinese Dragon, I obtained Rose Fantasy. I took it to the 72nd APS Exhibition, 1977, in Milwaukee as a seedling HT-1 where it won a Certificate of Merit and high praise from Silvia Saunder, Bulletin 223, pp33-34. However, after registration it was transplanted and began to lose its full, rounded petal form. I have one plant left with no hint of its early glory. In her comments Silvia (now 77) noted that the Itoh hybrids are shown as “Herbaceous Hybrids” and added, “Not really an exact title”. The exact title finally appeared at the 95th National Exhibition at the Boerner Botanical Gardens, Milwaukee, 2000, when they were shown as “Intersectional Hybrids”.

From 1969 onward Silvia had organized a Hybridizers’ Workshop (or Seminar) at the annual convention. Many subjects were discussed, the most trivial being whether pollen is better applied to the stigma with the finger or the brush. Roy Pehrson argued seriously and adamantly for the finger; Dr. David Reath, for the brush. He did so light-heartedly and with great fun to see Roy’s response. But he was not playing the Devil’s Advocate. He stored his pollen in plastic, rectangular pill-boxes (he was a vet) and I cannot imagine him fishing for pollen and later shlooping his finger in his mouth to kill the pollen before moving on to another cross. He used an alcohol-dip for the brush, but had others in reserve during the drying-interim.

At the 6th Seminar, 1974, Hamilton, Ontario, Roy Pehrson brought his own i-hybrid seedling, a black-red , single bloom from a cross made in 1969. It was the first non-Ito Itoh Hybrid (“intersectional” hadn’t been coined yet) any of us had ever seen. This was included among 22 i-hybrids Roy sent me a few years before he died (Feb. 21, 1982) for further evaluation and possible introduction. I registered it as Lafayette Escadrille. Soon afterwards it began to develop narrow petals. I note that on the HPS website there is an image of it with normal, wide-formed petals.

The only other one that I named was Viking Full Moon. It continues to display fully-formed petals. A third seedling, still retained, is #RPWS-22, yellow with flares, petals narrow but not excessively. It makes a very large, vigorous plant. The other l9 were all discarded. These were of a purplish-red color. It seems the narrow petals or later development of narrow petals is most likely to occur with the darker colors.

In 1971 I bought an acre lot outside the city limits. Although my rented garden had expanded to about 6x its original size, it had become too small for my needs. Besides perennials, I wanted to plant trees and shrubs that one had difficulty finding around the city— a sort of private arboretum. Over the years I planted Kentucky Coffee-trees, katsura-trees, cork trees, various conifer cultivars, magnolias…. especially magnolias. A leading breeder of the latter, Dennis Ledvina in Green Bay, taught me all about chip budding and it has been great fun to convert ordinary species trees into uncommon flowering specimens. At a peony convention in Minnesota Dr. Reath introduced me to an overseas visitor, Sir Peter Smithers, living in Switzerland, who was also interested in magnolias as well as tree peonies. He was especially interested in my Lutea Hybrid Anna Marie and arranged for me to send him a grafted plant via the Reath Nursery. In later years, his magnolias shaded out the tp’s which he passed onto the Riviere Nursery, France. In my garden I have cut down or cut back trees to allow sun-loving perennials to grow better.

By the mid 70’s I had my own plants of Alice Harding, but by then I realized other LH’s might be more productive parents, never mind those wonderfully unique chromosomal irregularities that made it a superior parent for the i-cross. A feature article in Bull. 191, Dec. 1968, by Rev. John Fiala, was inspiring. He wrote that the lacti x AH cross was “a rather fertile one” and that he had 150 plants (true hybrids ???) from some 200 crosses. He also claimed Lutea Hybrids such as Age of Gold, Thunderbolt, and others made fertile crosses onto herbaceous peonies. Whatever happened to all of these?? There was never any follow-up article.

Disappointed with AH I turned to the only other LH’s I had in the garden. Age of Gold was a no-go for pollen, Chinese Dragon was fair, Reath’s 199 (Golden Era) and 198 (Golden Experience) were good. One day, about 1976, I noted in a short row of germinating seeds from i-crosses, three plants with true hybrid foliage. All were from G.Era pollen. Varmints or cutworms destroyed them in short order, but I reported this event in Paeonia Newsletter and in an APS Bulletin.

I decided the way to go with the i-crosses was to breed LH’s and AGLH’s (Advanced Generation Lutea Hybrids) that were highly fertile, more so than GE. (I shall use that abbreviation for Golden Era.) That gradually became my focus and has remained so to the present.

My HH crosses were not given up. Using Saunders hybrids offered by Silvia during the years when she maintained her father’s nursery, and using seedlings from Roy Pehson, double seedlings became a reality. In one cross, 74H119, 75% of the seedlings bloomed double, all in shades of pink. (The “74” indicates the year the cross was made; the “H” for “herbaceous hybrid”.)

Valkyrie (74H120)

The cross 74H120 produced some semi-double to double black-red seedlings. The petals were marred by fallen pollen. The parentage is Saunders 16350-F2 x Pehrson’s Sable/Eclipse hybrids. Eclipse traits were never observed; that part of the parentage is suspect.

I crossed a lot of single, light yellow clones and raised 200 seedlings to maturity. A waste of time for doubles. About three were saved for slightly improved color and crossed with Sunny Boy when it became available from Chris Laning. The seeds were sold, mostly in NZ.

Goldilocks, with its most unusual parentage, became available in 1975. It does not produce pollen and the stigmas are usually “feathered”, seldom producing a smooth surface to receive pollen. Never got a viable seed. Cutting back June 1st yielded some late flowers with the same problems. I did think it the best herbaceous yellow except for Mr. Ito’s i-hybrids. Some kind of fungus attacked my stock of 20 plants, blackening the foliage in mid-August. This did not happen in earlier years. The plants came back but met the same fate repeatedly. Finally discarded.

Both Chris Laning and Roy Pehrson came out with their version of “Best Yellow”. Mine was 79H18-2 from 71Y6-1, a single yellow X 74H119-5, a double light pink. It is a double, light yellow, quite good, and should be registered— but not as “Bill’s Best Yellow”. First bloom was in 1982 as a three-year old (two years of growth behind it). It blooms about a week before Lemon Chiffon. It is 24 years old now and last year I had two clumps. A garden visitor saw it in bloom and wanted a start. So I divided one clump and lined out five new divisions. Hybridizing is a challenge and fun. Propagation is not.

Vanilla Schnapp’s (formerly known as Bill’s Best Yellow or 79H18-2)

 

Another good seedling I should’ve propagated in large numbers is 79H14-1: Archangel x unknown. It’s a very early-blooming double white….when established. Otherwise varies single to semi-double.

APS article, Part 2.

Seedling DPSW-1 is Carnation Bouquet. The “DP” stands for “Double Pink”. I had decided to use pollen of Sparkling Windflower (Silvia Saunders had reported it was a tet) on all the double pink tet HH that I had. The object was to see how the very precise stamen-ring of SW would translate when converted to petals. I only got as far as Saunders 16350-F2 (later named Blushing Princess by Al Rogers). CB was only one of two plants, and nearly trashed. It was drowning in a sea of quackgrass when I casually picked a flower for a bouquet. The recipient of the bouquet pointed out that it was “different” and asked its name. Thus alerted, I recalled the plant’s location and gave it TLC thereafter. I called it “Louella’s Carnation” until a garden visitor said the whole clump looked like a bouquet of carnations. This cross ought to be repeated with other colors so that CB has companions in white, red, and yellow. SW is available, I’m sure, from several specialists and Song Sparrow. As a parent, CB sets occasional seed. Theresa Griesbach once reported pollen production on a single-form flower. This is rare. When not well established, the double blooms thin out but I’ve never observed any reversion to stamens.

Back-tracking a bit, Blushing Princess appears in the parentage of 74H120, and in 79H18 via the parentage of 74H111. The latter is from BP x H3. (I have no idea what H3 is— prob. a Pehrson seedling. My 20-yr-old card files aren’t all that complete.)

Roy Pehrson once said: Don’t cross a lactiflora with pollen of tet HH; all you’ll get is soft seeds. That seemed like a dare, so I made the cross Kakoden x Greenland. I did get many worthless seed, but one of the good ones produced 81KG-1. It’s a floriferous double white with red carpels. Probably triploid, as seed production is not good. It bloomed as a 4-yr-old plant in 1985. Still have the plant, never divided, too good to discard. Its original seedling designation was 81KSSD-1 because Greenland, when Roy sent it to me, was simply a Sanctus/Silver Dawn seedling.

Another interesting cross was LSW, Laddie x Sparkling Windflower. My first selection, LSW-1, still grows vigorously in the garden, making a large clump of single red flowers, thick husky stems, still liking some support. About 1990 I sent similar tenui-type seeds to Irene Tolomeo, CA from which two seedlings survive. Earlier this year she sent pollen from one of these and I used it on LSW-!. I’ve already peeked and know I’ll have loads of seed.

A sibling, LSW-6, had very stocky stems but did not increase. Pollen from Roselegance gave RELSW6, a very stocky plant with large blood-red single flowers, fading with age. Tet, I’m sure. Plan to register. By the way, RE is extinct. A terminal case of botrytis wiped it out shortly after registration, but not before I made this cross.

My best HH is Pastelegance (PE) and it’s all Reath breeding. During a visit to his nursery he consented to my request for a little pollen of Lemon Chiffon shortly after its first-bloom year. (I had a lot of nerve.) I put the pollen on his own introduction Salmon Dream, obtaining both PE and RE, and two other seedlings soon discarded, perhaps too soon. RE was distinctive because it had an anemone or crested shape (I don’t like the term “japanese”), rare in HH. Perhaps that form can be recovered by breeding with RELSW6. I once took Pastelegance to a show in Milwaukee where Dr. Reath remarked that under artificial lights it had a soft, warm glow not appreciated in direct sunlight.

Other Salmon Dream crosses have produced excellent HH seedlings in my garden. I regard it as the best HH for breeding, bar none. Dr. Reath gifted me with a start, in the 70’s, when it was still a numbered seedling. I did not realize its breeding potential at first. Recently I read that someone said SD must be a slow increaser because there is so little of it around. I think a more likely explanation is that after David registered it, he realized its great hybridizing capabilities and seldom listed it in his catalog to protect his own hybridizing interests.

I should mention that geographically I live mid-way between David Reath’s home (Vulcan, Upper Michigan) and Roger Anderson’s (five miles south of Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin). What better location for a beginning peony hybridizer!! And the frosting on the cake is that both wives are great cooks. I enjoyed splendid lunches prepared by Sandra Anderson, and suppers by Eleanor Reath. David was on-the-go too much to come home for lunch but put away a lot of cokes instead.

In the area of breeding moutans —‘”moo-DAH” is how a local Chinese lady pronounced it — I acquired Rock’s Variety from the Reath Nursery and crossed it with Shintenchi and Kamata Fuji. I bloomed about a dozen seedlings and it was difficult to discard more than a few. I registered Lavender Hill (RV x Kamata Fuji) and will register MRV-12 (RV x Shintenchi). This is similar to Guardian of the Monastery in color, an inch less in diameter, but much more floriferous. Roger Anderson named Angel Choir from the same cross. It has made a great plant, loaded with double white blooms with dark flares. A nurseryman could grow such seedlings by the hundreds, discard 10-15% at first bloom and sell the rest. No grafting. No dividing.

There is a lot of current interest in Rock or rockii seedlings. But isn’t all this old hat? Years ago I read that Japanese breeders spent generations to eradicate these flares, and now in one generation we are undoing their work.

Except for Candy Stripe I steered clear of lactifloras. Roy Pehrson sent me his Junior Miss and Roger Anderson, Candy Stripe. JM is a 10 in my book, double pink, strong stems, wonderful fragrance. The virtue of CS is that its stripes are concentrated in the outer ring of petals. As the flower expands more and more all-white petals emerge from the center, giving the flower a picotee appearance. Other striped clones don’t do this, incl. my own seedlings out of CS. It seldom produced laterals in my garden which, along with the distinctive coloring, ought to make it a wonderful florist’s flower.

Roger has his Martha W., premier seedparent for the i-cross, dug out from his neighbor’s (Carroll Spangler) Martha Washington variety asparagus patch. The spelled-out name was not allowed (duplicate naming ??) but the abbreviation was, which in itself violates the rules of nomenclature. But that’s OK. What’s done is done. I believe Roger crossed MW with other lactis for seedlings that would inherit its unique hybridizing traits. No go. Nevertheless, I think that avenue is worth driving down again.

Even before disillusionment with Alice H. I had made crosses for Lutea Hybrids. I numbered the seedlings 1, 2, 3…. as they were transplanted from the seedbed (usually after two years) to their permanent location 4′ apart in rows 5′ apart. In the seedbed they were 1′ apart. I preceded the numbers with “AL” for “Advanced Lutea” (I’ve never made F1 crosses) until #51. At 51 and thereafter I used “SH” for “Shrub Hybrid”. No letters are needed if it is clear that only lutea hybrids are under discussion.

By the way, sometimes in the past I have used terms like F2, F3… in the wrong way. It seems when the progeny of F1 crosses are crossed witb each other, their progeny are F2’s. The F2’s crossed with each other yield F3’s, etc. Back-crosses interrupt the numbering. An F2 back-crossed to an F1 or one of the parent species is not an F3. I think of it as three generations removed from the starting point, but that’s not the same as an F3. I believe the F-numbering system is used by professional breeders of corn, petunias, etc. to create inbred strains for a particular trait, and when they are crossed with each other, the seedlings have hybrid vigor with predictable traits. Golden Era is probably about four generations removed from the original lutea/moutan cross, but it is not an F4 and its seedlings are not F5’s.

AL-1 is from the cross Age of Gold x D223. The latter is a semi-double yellow Daphnis seedling. That’s how it was identified when sent by Gary Seaman, working for the Gratwick Nursery in the early ’70’s. I have reason to believe that these numbers don’t always agree with the Daphnis records, but they are consistently used in mine. # 1 is a semi-double yellow with some variegated foliage. I sometimes call it ‘Yellow Rosebud” for the way the petals unfurl. The last seedling numbered, just this year, is # 240, a self-sown seedling discovered under the foliage of # 57. FB: 2006. Good carriage.

In between 1 and 240 many wonderful and surprising plants and some duds occurred. Getting rid of what I call the “lutea hook” is a major task. In a few cases the lutea hook was a major lutea bend with the blooms best appreciated from a worm’s -eye view. In most it is a small hook just under the bloom which makes the flower point to the side. One of my nieces, about age 8, put one of these in a bouquet and said it looked fine. It pointed right at her. There is a lesson here somewhere.

In the time period for 240 plants to bloom I made new friends via correspondence and from garden visitors, won new converts to peony growing, learned some lessons on culture and what it takes to kill a healthy plant, and learned how to graft and teach it to others. Re the latter, the simple wedge-cleft graft works fine and can give you near 100% “takes”. The scions don’t have to be used the day — or the day after — they are cut. The same success rate can occur even after they are stored cold and moist for two weeks. Longer than that may well work out fine. Spring grafting has worked for me, using scions sent from the southern hemisphere. Other experiments need to be worked out. This is a story in itself.

Killing a healthy plant is easy, just use herbicide carelessly. Or let it grow in a depression — even if otherwise it is on a slope. Snow-melt water, if it stands for a couple days at the base of the plant, will kill the crown when it freezes to ice. A third way came unexpectedly. The 01-02 winter here started off very dry. We had relatively mild weather for Zone 5 but still minus 10 or 12 overnight for some nights. There was no significant snowfall until March. At the time I thought if this dry spell had occurred in May, June, and July, it would have been a disasterous drought for farmers. I lost many peonies, herbaceous and tree, on a rented lot with very sandy soil. (Daylilies were lost for area growers.) The tree peony buds fattened up in April and looked great; then they wilted and dried up. The roots were frozen, not the tops. It seems cold temperatures will penetrate dry soil much more intensely than wet. And that did them in. There is a scientific explanation for this that I shall not attempt. Some leaves had blown in around some plants in the fall which I left in place. Those plants were OK.

The tree peonies were one-of-a-kind seedlings. From the best one I let Theresa Griesback take scions and it is alive and well in her garden. She even brought pollen from it this season to use in hybridizing. I’m sure this one is good enough to register sometime. Some years ago I lost my only plant of Fuchsia Ruffles but it was also saved from extinction by Theresa via the grafting route. She returned a grafted plant and it now grows happily in my backyard garden. Ah, the benefits of sharing. I”m sure this has happened to others. Mr. Daphnis once lost his only plant of Hephestos but David Reath had stock of it via the grafting route and returned a plant to him at the Gratwick Nursery. (Daphnis lives in NYC, hybridized at Gratwicks.)

The original goal of the LH breeding program, to obtain hybrids of great fertility, was actally realized quite early. # 11, a purplish-red single with long stems and nodding flowers, FB about 1980, out of D223 x Chinese Dragon, is very fertile both ways. Crossed with GE and GEx (Golden Experience, A198 in those days) about 20 seedlings bloomed, most with very good fertility. The premier seeder for many years has been # 35, FB 1985, a purplish-red single out of GE x ChD. When pollinated by Zephyrus it produced #158, reg’d as Rosalind Elsie Franklin. It is not very floriferous but it displayed qualities that made it an immediate candidate for breeding. REF has been the pollen parent of many, many seedlings, most of them in NZ or Australia. The best seedsetters can produce 14, 15, 16 seeds per carpelhead. The highest number of seeds in one carpel, that I’ve observed, is four. In a normal 5-carpel flower, that’s 5×4 or 20 seeds expected maximum. I’ve heard reports of more.

Planted 4′ apart in rows 5′ these plants can quickly fill up your garden, esp. when you want to grow other perennials, shrubs, and trees as well. Having no room for more LH’s and unwilling to discard what I had, I put an ad in the Bulletin, # 267, Sep. l988, selling pedigree peony seed, both herbaceous and shrub hybrids. The latter were priced at 10/$20. Not many bought these. Almost none in the U.S. but Derek Irvine, NZ was a steady customer for about 15 years, the McFarlane’s, NZ got some, and Bernard Chow in Melbourne, Australia. Off-hand I’d say 2,000+ seeds were sent out. When color photos of the resulting seedlings began to arrive, and the exact pedigrees were given, I was very gratified. I felt they were still my babies.
I felt regrets that some of these weren’t in my garden, but that may pass for I see now that Roy Klehm is importing many of the Chow Hybrids and the Irvine-Sutherland Hybrids. (Jane and Trevor Sutherland of Southern Charm Paeonies bought the Irvine plants.) One of the Chow Hybrids, Manrico, is alive and well in my garden, a gift-plant from Dr. Chow sent to me a few months ago via Klehm’s Song Sparrow Farm. Cold storage in my refrigerator was needed to fulfill the plant’s requirement for a three-month winter rest. Four other Chow Hybrids survive and bloom in my garden, arriving as scions from Australia about six years ago and spring-grafted here.

My grafting experiences began with Anna Marie (AL-13) blooming on rented land. I thought my elderly landlady might soon go into a nursery home and a new owner might want me off the land without too much notice. So in August, about l984, I took scionwood to the Reath Nursery. David said it should graft well because the stems had matured early, and the outer layer of tissue was developing bark. Scott made 12 grafts. It took him about 30 seconds per graft. Two assistants made sure everything he needed was at hand, all necessary preparations done for him, and that fuel was ready when he ran out of gas. He looked like he was enjoying his work. His grafting method I would describe as “triangular”, two downward cuts and the untouched round surface between them made the end of the scion look like a three-sided pyramid. Hard to explain without a diagram and more difficult for me and most people to do compared to the wedge-cleft method. The next day I did two more, triangular method, and all 14 grew the next year. 100% take. I was elated at the whole process. The next year I had the mother plant in bloom w/o missing a beat, ready to yield more scions, and 14 new plants. Compared to root-division propagation, this was a giant leap for mankind.

Out of 240 LH seedlings, only two bloomed as 3-yr-olds. I mentioned this once to Mr. Irvine and he said he is disappointed if any take longer than 3 years. A 3-yr-old seedling blooms at the beginning of its 3rd year, so only has two years of growth behind it. Derek lives in prob. Zone 7 or 8 with greenhouse type protection, with the plants in containers. In my environment the plants get a 6-month winter rest; they only need three. So if you can provide a 9-month growing period, 3-yr-old seedlings may indeed bloom. Let those who read of 10-yrs-to-bloom take heed. And if you read that the Ito i-hybrids took 13 years to bloom, read my article on that subject in Bull. # 312, Dec. ’99.

Anna Marie has “naked” anthers, i.e. no pollen. This trait was inherited from its seedparent Reath A197. It is consistently passed onto its seedlings and might be appreciated in breeding for dark-colored progeny. AM also backcrosses well with moutans. Pollen from Shintenchi produced three seedlings, all distinctive: Fuchsia Ruffles (registered), Mother Teresa (white, name reserved), and Pink Parrot (not registered). But this is the wrong way to go because there is no yellow influence. If you don’t select for yellow inheritance, one ends up with moutans of hybrid origin. I think one wants hybrid flowers with moutan-like carriage, tetraploidy, a strong yellow influence, and rhizome-tending roots.

I mention the variability of the three AM seedlings because that is to be expected from such a cross. So why would the four Ito i-hybrids be nearly identical? If you look at the sibling crosses from Martha W. by Golden Era, there is variability, not identical seedlings. It simply indicates three of the four Ito hybrids are slight mutations of the original one hybrid. Even the shape of the flower buds, round or pointed, can be considered mutations.

The most memorable moments in the garden are of new people who love plants. Kris Casey is a local lady who was eager to learn grafting. Our first effort was a disaster, the right word for 0% takes. We provided an artificial in-door warm period to heal the graft union, but the medium was way too wet. The next effort was better. The third time was done at Nate Bremer’s Solaris Farm, who got involved despite an already heavy workload with his daylilies. Those grafts were planted in rows in open ground but covered with clear plastic to keep the soil warm and rainwater off. But a bunch sprouted beneath the plastic which prob. was kept on to long. These of course were out of synch with the season and were lost. The next year Nate planted the grafts close together in a coldframe and lifted the cover before premature growth took place. These were easily mulched because condensed into such a confined area. I saw them Sunday, July 16 and they looked great. Hardly any failures.

Theresa Griesbach, no relation to Dr. Bob, first came here June 22, 1997. She was already a peony addict and an APS member interested in, of all things, reblooming peonies, something like the remontant, fall-blooming bearded iris! Well, she was delighted to find a few LH’s reblooming, or late blooming beyond the earlier normal bloom. Thus began a long period of trading plants, pollen, ideas, etc. Despite the ease of grafting she had never tried it. So we held a grafting party of three, with Art Hartman, MI, joining us. He was another peony person encountered in the garden. Later, Theresa used her grafting skills to rescue a few of my seedlings from extinction.

Jerry Zuelsdorf also learned grafting. He overseered some wonderful cook-outs in the garden with gourmet foods that I would
never have experienced before. He now has some of my best seedlings in case I need to recover any lost in my garden. And that can happen easily enough as poor drainage has knocked out a few in the past.

Some years ago I read that the late Bill Countryman named Gauguin as the one peony he would keep in his garden if he could only grow one. For me, it would be Bartzella.

If I had to select the best in various categories, the choices would not be so easy. Lactiflora: Junior Miss gets my vote. Moutan TP: Shintenchi, but there are some awefully good ones out there.
HH: Lemon Chiffon, closely followed by Old Faithful. Yellow Hybrid TP: Age of Gold. Dark Hybrid TP: Iphigenia. David Reath said Eleanor liked this the best for its vigor, floriferousness, and good carriage. I once asked David for his favorite, and he replied whatever he had featured on the cover of his catalog, which that year was Zephyrus!

Lois’ Choice was picked by the American Peony Society (APS) as the 2017 Gold Medal winner and hence also as the 2018 peony of the  year. It’s a quite recent introduction from Chris Laning, not too tall, but with a very special double flower in pink and yellow shades and it blooms early. A really excellent grower it is, very healthy. The buds are somewhat special, not so much to my liking, but they open into perfectly pretty flowers.

Something bizarre happened this year. As I was wandering through my fields of blooming peonies, I passed at a row of some 20 Rozella plants. In between the row of dark pink flowers were three pale pink ones, obviously a rogue division had gotten in. This doesn’t happen often here, but is alas unavoidable from time to time when you work with large numbers of roots and it’s difficult to tell one variety from the other by the roots alone. But upon closer inspection something remarkable was noticed: these three pale pink blooms came from a plant that also had dark pink flowers! Hence it was clear that we had here what from time to time, though not often, can happen to a plant: a mutation. The stems with the pale pink flowers are completely identical to the ones with dark pink flowers except for the color. Same foliage, same height, same flowering period, same bud form, same flower size, same number of petals and so on. All exactly the same but for the pale pink color. The pale pink color is very attractive to my eyes and has larger market potential than the usual dark pink ones. Especially since Rozella itself is a very fine plant with very strong upright stems, very healthy foliage, good bud presentation and very large flowers in large numbers. It was registered by David Reath in 1991 and is said to be a hybrid. The ancestry is not given in the registration details and it looks very much like a lactiflora to my eye, at the very least it increases like the latter. The mutated stems were labeled and in Autumn I carefully divided the plant hoping to cut apart the mutated part and let it grow into a normal pale pink Rozella. Whether I was successful, only time will tell, but at the very least we have something to look out for the following years.

This isn’t the first mutation that can be seen in peonies, although I don’t know of many. The well-known variety Mister Ed, introduced by Klehm nurseries, is a mutation of Monsieur Jules Elie. Whereas Monsieur Jules Elie has dark pink flowers, Mister Ed has both pale pink ones and dark pink ones, sometimes the two colors mixed in one flower. This is quite bizarre and many visitors to our peony fields are fascinated by it. Another one was introduced by Don Hollingsworth, he found a white mutation from the yellow Itoh Prairie Sunshine that goes by the name Love Affair.

The nice thing about mutations is that you immediately know it’s weaknesses and strengths (at least if you know the original variety) and that they can be very nice in a mixed planting where you will have uniform plants flowering at the same time but with different colors.

Of course there may be far more mutations, but many small changes may simply go unnoticed. If only the height is different, then one might think this simply has to to with the soil for example. A different color like Rozella has shown this year is of course hard to miss, but a nice surprise it was :-)

Close-up of the mutated Rozella.

Last year I had the rare opportunity to buy a batch of P. brownii seeds, although with the warning that it would be the most difficult species to germinate. Well, in the first version of this article I was still hopeful about them as two of them germinated, but they have since died, so we had to update the article otherwise… Martin Page, author of several books on peonies, warned about this:

“Paeonia brownii is one of the most difficult species peonies to grow because it needs extremely well-drained soil and full sunshine throughout the day. If you want to try your hand at growing it you should build a raised bed and fill it with a mixture of soil, compost, sand and grit.” 1

The goal of growing this species is using it in my hybridizing program, although chances are small that much will come from it. Galen Burrell, who did much species crossing, only had one seedling from it in his lifetime (with P. peregrina pollen), and it did not survive. 2 There’s no other report of any success with it. It is quite probably far more difficult to obtain an intersectional hybrid (section Onaepia x (Paeonia or Moutan)) from it than it is to make a so-called ITOH intersectional hybrid (section Paeonia x section Moutan) because the differences are far greater still. As Tao Sang, peony researcher, would have it:

“The earliest evolutionary split within the genus Paeonia might have occurred between section Onaepia and the other two sections if the molecular clock is assumed. Morphologically, section Onaepia is also distinct from the other two sections by its small flowers (2-3 cm in diameter vs. > 5 cm in sections Moutan and Paeonia) with fleshy and strongly concave petals.” (…) The divergence time between section Onaepia and the rest of the genus (…) is estimated to be 16.6 million  years ago. 3

If you want to read an excellent longer article about this peony, the following is at your disposal:
Vance, N. “Finding Brown’s peony a sweet attraction” In: Kalmiopsis, vol 19, 2012, pp 1-6

For those that want to try growing this native North American species, it might be interesting to read this account Galen Burrell wrote for the readers of the American Peony Society Bulletin (published quarterly, become a member of the APS if you want to receive this publication)

“NOTES ON OUR NATIVE PEONIES

Galen Burrell, P.0. Box 754, Ridgefleld, Washington 98642
(For P. brownii seed, see end of article)

In August, I made what has become my annual trip to south central Oregon to collect Paeonia brownii seeds. I was a little apprehensive of my chances of finding many seeds, since last year a drought had caused most plants to go dormant by early August, and most plants had not produced seed. This year would hopefully be different since there had been record snowfall and adequate Spring rains. Peony growers, however, say that the year previous is what makes the flowers and hence the seeds for the following year. Anyway, my hopes weren’t too high.

As it turned out, there was no need for concern. All of the peonies were still green — not a sign of dormancy. Most plants had produced abundant seed crops. On one of the largest plants, I counted more than 500 seeds. One flower, on the same plant, had 9 follicles (pods) that contained more than 40 seeds.

Since the plants were not dormant and showed no signs of dormancy it can probably be assumed that Paeonia brownii does not need a dormant period in late Summer. Like Mediterranean peony species it appears that dormancy is an adaptation to dry Summers and not necessarily a requirement. This is good news for those who try to cultivate Paeonia brownii in wetter climates.

I tried to collect a few seeds from as many plants as possible, so that I did not take too many from any one plant. I also planted seeds throughout the colony. For some reason this colony has an abundance of very large plants, but few small plants. By planting seeds I hoped to increase the number of small plants. Besides, sticking my finger in the porous, volcanic soil to make a planting hole was great fun — kind of like planting sweet corn when I was a kid.

I sent most of the seeds I collected to nurserymen, botanical gardens, and individuals in the U.S. and many foreign countries. It seems that Paeonia brownii is a very rare plant outside of its range. I also kept seeds for my own attempts at growing Paeonia brownii.

Last year was my first attempt at growing this fickle plant. Nearly all of the seeds I planted in the Fall came up in late February, but most soon died after producing their first true leaf. The only survivors were those planted in raised beds that had been filled 2 feet deep with 1/3 sand, 1/3 peat, and 1/3 humus-rich top soil. All of the seedlings that died were in clay soils.

I also planted seeds of Paeonia californica in the same raised beds. These seeds came up about 2 months later than the Paeonia brownii seeds, but grew faster.

It turns out that Paeonia brownii needs cold temperatures to germinate (this can be done in the refrigerator) while Paeonia californica does not. Some of the Paeonia californica seeds that I planted in pots this Spring came up in September.

Drainage seems to be the key to successfully growing Paeonia brownii and Paeonia californica. This year I am going to experiment with planting mixes containing different parts gravel, grit, sand an top soil. With a lot of patience and a little luck I hope I can learn how to successfully cultivate our native peonies so these strangely beautiful plants can be grown in gardens. […]4

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Footnotes:
  1. Page, M. “The Gardener’s Peony.” Timber Press, Cambridge/Portland OR, 2005, pp. 40.[]
  2. Burrell, G. “New first generation peony crosses.” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, no 321, March 2002.”
    Full text available online at:  http://www.paeon.de/aps/bull/321/321_burrell.html[]
  3. Sang, T.; Crawford, D.J. & T.F. Stuessy. “Chloroplast DNA Phylogeny, reticulate evolution, and biogeography of Paeonia (Paeoniaceae).” In: American Journal of Botany, vol 84, 1997, pp. 1120-1136[]
  4. Burrell, G. “Notes on our native peonies.” In: The American Peony Society Bulletin, 1993, no. 288, December, pp. 6-7.[]

Ballerina is a peony bred by A.P. Saunders in 1941 from the cross Wittmanniana x Lactiflora ‘Lady Alexandra Duff’. This one is in fact a difficult cross as Saunders himself would put it:

“This (wittmanniana, kh) is a plant which does not do well under the conditions I offer it. It is not widely listed and I think never has been; it was therefore always somewhat difficult to obtain, and this, combined with the difficulty of keeping it growing and alive in the garden, has meant that I have never at any time had many blooms to work with. Added to this is the fact that the cross is not one that takes with great ease, and hardly at all in the reverse direction. M. Lemoine reported to me that he had never had any luck with the reverse cross, but that his hybrids were the result of wittmanniana pollen on albiflora (now lactiflora, kh). He produced four lovely things and gave them lovely names: Avant Garde, Le Printemps, Mai Fleuri, and Messagere; they are not so well known as they deserve to be, although this may be because they inherit wittmanniana’s delicate constitution.”

The official registration describes it as ‘greenish yellow’ which is quite an accurate description I think. It really is an excellent plant and probably my favorite double hybrid of the early generations (a generation earlier than Blushing Princess and far healthier and easier to grow). I have read reports of it not growing well in the US, but here it is extremely healthy and fast growing. Just look at the picture below to see how a row of this variety looks like (the handsome boy next to it is my little son, now somewhat more of age).

 

Ballerina has quite some good assets: it is very double, of a unique and very attractive color, early flowering, floriferous, healthy bush habit, incredibly attractive bud presentation. In fact the only drawback I could see is that the last 10 cm under the bud is quite lax up until flowering, which renders it useless as a cutflower. That last part of the stem does become stiff after flowering and the flowers don’t hang whilst in bloom, so as a garden plant there’s not a single negative remark. With all the good characteristics it would make a prime candidate for further hybridizing you might think, but after all these years not a single offspring was ever registered from Ballerina. I’ve tried to use it in my hybridizing program, but alas, to no avail. Several hundred crosses have resulted in only one single seed, which hasn’t germinated as  yet. It’s pollen is completely unusable and its seed setting capacities are thus not much better. Still, if ever a seed could be produced that resulted in a plant with better fertility, that might be a very interesting plant.

Some final remarks: it is quite susceptible when it comes to hot water treatment, I’ve lost about two thirds of my plants due to this. And last, but not least, there’s another plant in the trade that goes by the name ‘Ballerina, a double pink lactiflora, so if you need this fantastic herbaceous hybrid bred by Saunders, be sure to order the correct one.

 

 

At first opening Canary Brilliants has a very attractive beige color.

Canary Brilliants is one the finest Itoh-hybrids. This one has been bred by Roger Anderson and was registered in 1999. There are four Itoh-hybrids that I would candidly recommend: First Arrival, Garden Treasure, Pastel Splendour and Canary Brilliants. They all have well formed flowers and are very floriferous, both qualities that I don’t see in many other Itoh-hybrids I grow (although I don’t grow many new ones). Foliage is very good, as with nearly all Itohs. Canary Brilliants is taller than most (1 – 1,2 m) and it also being very wide (1,3 – 1,5 m) means that it is a very substantial plant in any garden. The flowers are slightly beige-orange upon first opening, in full sun, they then change into paler yellow. Rare for an Itoh peony this one also has use as a cutflower because its vase-life is better than most. As an added bonus, the flowers don’t change their color when opened inside. The trick to keep it well then is to remove all the foliage on the stem. It has a really exquisite strong fragrance that resembles that of many tree peonies.

It grows rapidly into a large plant, divides easily and as with all intersectionals, the foliage remains green until frost. Probably the only drawback it has will be the fading of the pretty color in the sun as mentioned above. Growing it in a spot where it does not get full sunlight all day long, might remedy this, or otherwise place an umbrella over it at flowering time.

The pretty enclosed flower buds of Canary Brilliants

It flowers slightly later than most other intersectionals. It has another particular characteristic that we have not seen in any other peony variety. One year our whole field of peonies was completely destroyed because of a massive hail storm at the end of the flowering season (beginning of June here). Not a single stem nor leaf remained after it. Shortly afterwards however it turned out that Canary Brilliants started growing again and after another 70 days flowered again, this time in August at the end of Summer. These were all well-grown plants and although the number of stems and flowers wasn’t as impressive as during the usual season, it’s fair to say that we did have some 4-5 stems on average per plant, with the large foliage that still was very attractive and each and every plant of Canary Brilliants flowered again (some 70 plants in all), there wasn’t a single one that didn’t grow again that same Summer. No other peony variety, intersectional or not, was able to do this. So for those that really want to have peony flowers several months later, it might be an option to mow mature plants of this variety after their first flowering completely to the ground and you’ll have flowers again within a short period of time. If it would work every year again is something we cannot attest to as we have not been mowing them down then several years in a row, but it would be worth a trial of course.

 

Previously published in:

Hurtekant, K. “Foliar Nematodes in Peonies.” In: The American Peony Society Bulletin, March 2014, no. 369, pp. 20-27.

Foliar nematodes in peonies.

Several leaves from Old Faithful, all infected with Aphelenchoides fragariae (strawberry leaf nematode).

Nematodes, very small eelworms (roundworms), live in the ground or in plant tissue and are omnipresent, several millions of them live in every square metre of soil. Most are harmless, but some are not. A well-known harmful nematode amongst peony growers is the root knot nematode (Meloidogyne hapla). In earlier articles of the Paeonia Bulletin, you can find descriptions of this pest and I will therefore not elaborate on it. What I do want to write about is a less well-known nematode species, Aphelenchoides fragariae (Strawberry Leaf Nematode). This is a foliar nematode that feeds on the foliage and buds of several plants of which paeonia is one. There are other foliar nematodes (A. ritzemabosi is another widespread one), but these do not infest peonies, thus are of no concern here.

Dried up bud, due to foliar nematodes. From these infected buds, the nematodes will slowly infect the rest of the plant downwards. When the foliage is wet, the nematodes come out and either swim towards other leaves, or simply ‘jump’ trough dispersing raindrops towards other plants.

Foliar nematodes are quite a problem for peony growers. In the Netherlands, it is estimated that by and large some 10 to 20% of peony flowers are lost on the plants growing in this country.1 When severely infested, more than half of the flowers may be lost.2 In my own peony fields here in Belgium I have had such losses as well. In my experience there are big cultivar differences. The favorite target of the nematodes is definitely Coral Sunset, where I have lost up to 70% of flowers in bad years. Other easily infected varieties here are Old Faithful, America, and Many Happy Returns. I have a strong feeling that hybrids are more prone to be infested compared to lactiflora varieties although there are obvious exceptions to the rule: I also had infested Miss America, a lactiflora variety. I’ve read reports of infested fields of Red Charm, Flame and Karl Rosenfield as well. Some varieties seem tolerant of them: Coral Charm, growing next to Coral Sunset here, has never shown any damage from leaf nematodes. Leaf nematodes are not unknown in the USA as well as has been reported by the American Phytopathological Society: “Aphelenchoides fragariae is found in a diverse range of plants, including ferns, bedding plants, and herbaceous perennials, and has been reported across the United States.”3

Leaf nematodes are very small, some 0.45 to 0.80 mm long and thickness only a small fraction of this, they are thus invisible to the naked eye. You can easily look up an elarged picture of it on the web. They can survive in soil itself, but only for a short period of a few months. They can survive in dead tissue (dried leaves and stems) for up to 3 years and in a living peony they will simply never go away. In a living peony they survive in the buds, not in the roots, during Winter and then move along with the flower bud as the shoot develops. From there they then move to the foliage below the flower bud. This happens when it rains or when the foliage is damp (dew) as they move out to the surface of the foliage and ‘swim’ around to other parts where they enter the foliage again through the stomata (leaf pores), mostly at the underside of the leaves. They move to other plants through droplets of water or through contact of infected leaves with healthy ones. They also travel to other plants through weed leaves and seeds. Some nematodes remain in the smaller buds that will only grow the following year. They can multiply exceptionally fast, on average 32 eggs per female and at 18°C only ten days are needed per cyclus (from egg to reproductive maturity). At this speed several thousands of nematodes can be produced per gram of leaf within a time-span of only two months. One leaf can easily contain up to 60,000 nematodes when heavily infested. There are numerous other plants that can be hosts for them, ferns, phlox and hosta are well-known examples, but also several widespread weeds like groundsel.

Old Faithful, leaf with dead tissue due to foliar nematodes. Nematodes have difficulty passing the veins, so dead tissue usually stops there.

When a peony is infested with leaf nematodes this shows first in some buds drying up or giving deformed flowers. However, this can be caused by a simple fungus like botrytis as well. But botrytis will attack the buds from the outside and then move on inwards, whereas the foliar nematodes work the other way around, so when the outside is still healthy but the bud doesn’t seem to grow, cut through this bud and when the inside has rotted, you know the culprit. Another symptom is deformed foliage, although this doesn’t show in all varieties. Take a look at some pictures of Coral Sunset foliage that show this rather well. After flowering, closer to the end of Summer, the most tell-tale symptom shows: browning of the foliage stopping at the veins (the nematodes cannot move through these when inside the foliage and have to wait for rain or damp weather to come out and cross them). Take a close look again at some of the pictures of infested Old Faithful where you can clearly see this. It’s the stopping at the veins that is the main clue (when the foliage turns brown in large spots that are not delimited by the veins, it’s usually botrytis or another fungus again, which is not unusual).

Coral Sunset. Early in the season the signs are deformed and crinkled foliage. Below infected foliage and above healthy foliage.

Preventive measures to control these foliar nematodes are the following.

-plant peonies that have received a hot-water-treatment (see further).

-plant suspected peonies away from others

-clear the soil from weeds as these can be hosts as well

-remove dried up buds, cut and remove the foliage after it died off

-remove infested plants

When you do have infested plants and you want to keep them, there’s in fact little you can do to heal them. There have been tests with chemical sprays or biological ones, but none seems to be a perfect solution. Abamectin (Avid, Vertimec), Oxamyl (Vydate), Azadirachtin (Neemazal), Imidacloprid (Admire), Methiocarb (Mesurol), Ethoprofos (Mocap), Diazinon, Metam-natrium (Monam), Burkholderia cepacia, Syzygium aromaticum, Peroxyacetic acid (Zero-Tol), Trichlorfon have all been tested and several showed some reduction in the leaf nematode population.4 However, only a few of these are really worth the effort: Abamectin, Oxamyl, Diazinon and Peroxyacetic acid. But none give perfect control because at the end of the growing season the new buds have high populations of leaf nematodes again. It’s obviously very difficult to target leaf nematodes that are already present in small buds that will not grow this season but only the next. Next to that the nematodes live within the foliage, not on the surface of it. As peonies do have rather thick leaves, the chemicals cannot easily reach them. Either spraying needs to be done when the foliage is wet and the nematodes move around (although they will never do this all at the same time) or the chemical has to be systemic, moving through the plant itself. Another problem is that not all chemicals have a registered formulation everywhere. Oxamyl (a systemic chemical available here under the trade name Vydate) only has a granular formulation in the Netherlands and must thus be soaked into the ground before the plants start growing or at the beginning of the growing season. This was one of the best products in a comparison of different chemicals there, but still gave no perfect control. Here in Belgium Oxamyl is available as a liquid formulation as well that can be used as a spray during the growing season itself. According to the label, three sprays following shortly one after the other should be effective. I duly tested this and indeed after three sprays (after flowering) this year no single living leaf nematode was found in the foliage of my heavily infested Coral Sunset and the browning between the veins of the foliage has not returned for the first time. It remains to be seen whether the ‘sleeping buds’ are healthy however, but another round of three consecutive sprays shortly after the growing season begins next year will show if I do get the same proportion of flowers lost or not. I will gladly report on the results next season.

However, in the long run it would be great if there were some effective curative biological control as chemicals are more or less unhealthy and their use may be further restricted. The biological extracts above (Azadirachtin (from the Neem tree), Burkholderia Cepacia (a bacteria), Syzygium aromaticum (cloves)) are no match for the nematode population. From personal contacts I have been informed that garlic extract could put off foliar nematodes, although I have not found anything about this statement anywhere else. It deserves a trial at least. Another as yet untested cure could be a hot water drench where one drenches water of 90°C (195°F) over the plants in the field. This has been tested in hosta and ferns.5 Since peonies are usually planted with very little soil above it and have no foliage in Winter, it might be a good way to kill off the nematodes present in the buds close to the surface. It remains to be seen whether it will work and whether the plants themselves will tolerate this.

The best solution so far is still preventive: a hot-water-treatment. This means the roots are kept for some time in hot water which kills the nematodes but spares the plants. The temperature and duration are very important here as too hot may as well kill the roots themselves and too short or too cold may mean not all nematodes are dead. The usual way to do this is as follows.6 First you put the peony roots in water which has a temperature of some 25°C (75°F), then you heat up the water until it reaches 43.5°C (110°F). You keep the water at this temperature for at least an hour and at most two hours (larger roots take somewhat longer than small ones to reach the required temperature, thus best to give larger roots the longer treatment). Then immediately the plants must be removed from the water and cooled down very fast either by putting the whole lot of them in cold water for an hour or so, or continually spraying them with cold water until they have cooled off sufficiently. It’s also a good idea to disinfect them afterwards with a fungicide like Thiram. Do not cool them back immediately for longer storage just above freezing, better to plant them immediately or if not possible keep them for some time at temperatures around 10 to 15°C (50 to 60°F), only gradually cooling them down over the following weeks then.

A lower water temperature and shorter duration are insufficient to kill all leaf nematodes. If the water is kept at 45°C (113°F), root knot nematodes will also be killed. But still higher temperatures above 45°C will damage the roots.7 To keep water at such constant temperature, one will have to heat up a large amount of water where temperature rises and drops happen only very gradually, and keep the water moving around. In the Netherlands this is usually outsourced: some professional companies do this hot-water-treatment for the growers. Special machinery is made for this.8 The hot-water-treatment is given after harvest of the roots, thus usually September, October and November in the Northern Hemisphere. From December onwards chances of damage are higher, especially in hybrids that seem to tolerate the hot-water-treatment less easily (a phenomenon I have noticed personally, Soft Salmon Saucer, Sunny Girl, Old Faithful, Coral Sunset were severely damaged up to the point where they never grew again). Many growers know that roots of some hybrid varieties are more difficult to store over Winter, it is my opinion these are also the ones that are most susceptible to damage from the hot-water-treatment. Most research on hot-water-treatment of peonies has focused on lactifloras and a few officinalis cultivars, I know of no trials with hybrids of other ancestry. Lactiflora varieties definitely take it more easily. Thus, to work with hybrids I would advise: keeping them for a few days at a higher temperature, maybe 15-25°C (60-75°F)9, treating them soon after harvest and at only 43.5°C for an hour, cooling them off very fast after this and, if possible, planting them immediately (within a few days). The hot-water-treatment is standard practice in the Netherlands and has thus been sufficiently tested to say it is a safe way to get rid of leaf nematodes.

It is not easy to contain this pest, but it is not impossible at least. The author hopes that other growers will share their experiences so that we may all learn from one another. Any remarks about this article are greatly appreciated as well.

Addendum to the article about leaf nematodes.

A very recent development and possible future solution is the so-called Controlled Atmosphere Temperature Treatment (CATT). This happens in gas chambers where the mixture of air can be changed at will (air consists of oxygen (O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N)). This is currently under investigation for strawberries, but plans exist to trial it as well with herbaceaous plants like peonies. It is somewhat comparable to the hot-water-treatment as a combination of lower oxygen and higher temperatures are combined for some time to kill the nematodes and spare the plants. At some 40°C (104°F) and under the right air mixture it is possible to kill all root knot nematodes (M. hapla) in strawberry plants. As this is a lower temperature than used with the hot-water-treatment and leaf nematodes are easier killed than root knot nematodes, it would not be unexpected if this turned out to be a safer way to get rid of them.1

1 Van Kruistum, G., Hoek, H., Verschoor, J. & L. Molendijk. “Controlled Atmosphere Temperature Treatment as sustainable alternative to control strawberry tarsonemid mites and plant parasitic nematodes in strawberry plants.
In: Acta Horticulturae (ISHS), 2012, vol 926, pp. 601-608.

1 Vegter, B. “Explosie van bladaaltjes in snijpioen kost miljoenen.” In: Vakblad voor de bloemisterij, 2011, nr 29, pp. 34-35.
2 Saathof, W. “Bladaaltjesbestrijding in pioen vergt breed pakket maatregelen.” In: Bloembollenvisie, 2013, October 18th, pp. 22-23.
3 Kohl, L. M. “Astronauts of the Nematode World: An Aerial View of Foliar Nematode Biology, Epidemiology, and Host Range”. APSnet Features, 2011. This is probably the best general introduction to foliar nematodes. Full text (with an up-to-date host list and good pictures of foliar nematodes) available at:
http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/foliarnematodes.aspx
4 Jagdale, GB & PS Grewal “Indentification of alternatives for the management of foliar nematodes in floriculture.”
In: Pest Management Science, 2002, vol 58, nr 5, pp. 451-458.
LaMondia, JA. “Efficacy of Insecticides for Control of Aphelenchoides fragariae end Ditylenchus dipsaci in Flowering Perennnial Ornamentals.”
In: Journal of Nematology, 1999, vol 31, nr 4S, pp. 644-649.
Saathof, W. & R. Van Gastel. “Bestrijding bladaaltjes in pioen.” HLB: Netherlands, 2013, Feb 15th, 45 pp. www.hlbbv.nl
5 Jagdale, GB & PS Grewal. “Effectiveness of a Hot Water Drench for the Control of Foliar Nematodes Aphelenchoides fragariae in Floriculture.”
In: Journal of Nematology, 2004, vol 36, nr 1 (March), pp. 49-53.
6 Van den Berg, H. & P. Van Dalfsen. “Warmwaterbehandeling vaste planten.” PPO: Wageningen, 2003, 17 p.
7 From an APS publication: “Dipping nematode-infested roots in hot water for thirty minutes at one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit (49°C) has been suggested as a control measure. Tests of this treatment on hundreds of peony roots some years ago killed every plant. Untreated controls of the same variety all lived.”
In: Wister, JC. “The Peonies.” American Peony Society: Hopkins MN, 1995, p. 130.
8 To have an idea, a company that makes such machines is Akerboom. The machines are well described on their website with video, text and pictures. www.akerboom.nl
9 A higher pre-soak temperature is sometimes used with other plants (lilies for example) to reduce damage, it has not been tested with peonies but I assume this will work with them as well.

This double white lactiflora peony from an open pollinated seed from Carl G. Klehm is arguably my favorite double white lactiflora that can be used as a cutflower. I got a few seeds from Carl G. Klehm that grew into mature plants, but this was the only remarkable one. It’s no good as a garden plant unfortunately. The foliage is not particularly attractive (somewhat open and the very lower part of the stem has none), but most importantly during rain and wind the open flowers will be too heavy for the stems to carry them well.

But as a cutflower I know of no better double white. We’ve just summed up the cons that make it unfit for your garden, but here are the pros as I see them:

-it has a rose-form flower and not a bomb-form, the former is generally preferred over the latter

-the buds are quite large, not as large as Bowl of Cream, but far larger than Duchesse de Nemours

-the buds are pure white in bud and are closed, thus bud presentation is excellent

-the stems are very tall, easily reaching over 1 m and thus the requested 60 cm can easily be cut, leaving enough foliage for good growth of the plant

-a large number of stems, before digging and dividing it had 19 stems

-the flowers are pure white with a hint of yellow towards the base of the petals, very occasionally there are some red markings present


-the flowers are large

-they have a very, very strong agreeable fragrance. Although it cannot compete with the double pink Myrtle Gentry, the absolute queen of fragrance, it surely ranks among the most fragrant whites.

-no matter how tightly closed the buds are when cut, they will always open well

-there are 2-3 sidebuds on average, but disbudding them is discouraged simply because these sidebuds will also open perfectly well. The following picture shows a flower that was cut when then the main bud was still closed. That main flower opened well, but to my surprise then, the sidebuds also opened as well, from the first to the last, although less double; something I had never seen before. This is extremely important for a good cutflower, there are only a few peony varieties that always open well from tight buds (and many of those tend to have a short vase-life unfortunately, not a problem here). When florists are surveyed about the good and bad about peonies, one main issue always comes to the fore: peonies that don’t open well. The main offender is Sarah Bernhardt, which has to be cut rather late. A customer that buys a peony that doesn’t open well is unlikely to revisit… So peonies that always open well have a bright future ahead if you’d ask me.


-it propagates readily, the first time dividing it (Fall 2017) gave me 12 divisions (some small, some large)

-its flowering time is rather early, just after Miss America

It’s fair to say that we have high hopes for this one. I’ve provisionally named it ‘Serendipity’ as this one was in fact only found by sheer accident, I was not trying to find a double white, but here it is. Of course we’ll need to observe it further the following years to see whether it’s not overly susceptible to diseases, and if it’s reliable from year to year.

If you know of an excellent double white variety that you think of as excellent for cutflowers, I’m always happy to hear about it. I grow quite a few double white varieties, but it seems there’s always something to nag about (pink buds, too short, lax stems, needs to be cut when nearly open, too few stems, etcetera, etcetera…)

Peony Addicts,

Red Windflower (RW) is registered — APS 1986-96 Checklist, pp 22,23. Sdlg 76LSW-3. Laddie x Sparkling Windflower, the cross made in 1976. I thought of the name first, then tried to make a cross that would produce something worthy of the name. All the progeny were on the short side, so I settled on this one, -3, as the best for the name. None had the height, laterals, or grace of the Windflowers, and so I sometimes regret using-up the name. I no longer grow Sparkling Windflower, but if I had it, I would backcross RW to it and try to originate something more like the Windflower clan. And then search for an adjective to replace “red”. RW is rather widespreading. Fertile both ways. Presumed tet. I have one or two plants left in the garden after splitting two years ago. Nate Bremer may have a few. Walter Good has some,

A sibling from the same cross made several years ealier, LSW-1, has single red flowers, Laddie-type foliage, is very vigorous, has attractive foliage and looks especially good in the early stages of growth. I grew that one selection in the same spot for about 20 years under the increasing shade of a magnolia only a few feet away. After finally dividing it, Nate received some plants and made the cross LSW-1 x Tolomeo tenuifolia #4. He recently informed me that 29 seedlings are budding for this season. I presume the seedparent is a tet; I don’t know anything about Irene’s seedling. It sounds like it would be a dip, but then what accounts for the fertility of the cross.

Another sibling is LSW-6. This had Laddie-type foliage and short, stocky stems. I used its pollen on Roselegance to obtain RELSW6, to be registered as The Little Corporal (TLC). It has a large single red flower on a short stem, with the larger foliage typical of Salmon Dream. Nate has it, but otherwise it has had no distribution. It is a good seedsetter with tets, and I have mailed out seeds last season. Should have more this year. The progeny are moving away from any Windflower traits. It has 6 or 7 species in its family tree, according to research by Don Smith.

For anybody wanting to produce Windflower-type plants and flowers, I’d certainly try to get stock of Sparkling Windflower, and breed for white, pink, red, yellow, coral shades.

Bill Seidl

Early Windflower

A very distinct peony with very beautiful foliage and nodding flowers. Very floriferous and fast growing.

In the Peony Addicts forum

Roberto Gamoletti
Message 1 of 2 , Apr 28, 2010

Dear all
The subject of Windflowers has been discussed in the past but I think that a brief updating or summary would help the interested breeders.
If I well remember Late Windflower has been reported as being a fertile pod parent even if the percentage of resulting seeds is low. Does it make any pollen?
Red windflower is pollen fertile but can be used as pod parent?
Roberto

Robert C. Johnson
Message 2 of 2 , Apr 29, 2010

Roberto,

I can only speak about Late Windflower, but here it will make a few seeds every year if I put tetraploid pollen on every single flower that opens. So far I do not have any seedlings, but if I keep getting 4-5 seeds every year I am sure to have some sooner or later.

Those in climates where it does not freeze almost every night as it does here, may get more seeds than I do, but my current sense is that it is *not* a fertile tetraploid.

The parentage of Late Windflower is Beresowskyi x Emodi. As I understand, Beresowskyi is closely related to Veitchi.

Early Windflower is Veitchi x Emodi, and as I understand they look almost identical, with “Early” blooming a week or so ahead of Late.

And no, Late Windflower does not make even one grain of pollen in my experience, which means that you do not have to bag the crosses to prevent self-pollination.

Before we go any further, I think we must mention Sparkling Windflower.

Sparkling Windflower = Early Windflower F-2 It is a Saunders seedling of Early Windflower and another unknown parent. So far it has yet to make a seed in my garden, but it’s pollen is very useful on tets. In my admittedly limited experience, even first-year seedlings with Sparkling Windflower as the pollen parent will exibit distinctive foliage.

Red Windflower does not have quite the same pure parentage as Late and Early Windflower have, even though they are involved. Late and Early have only two species in them, while Red Windflower has four….or five.

Red Windflower = Laddie x Sparkling Windflower. Or to be more specific…

R.W.= (Paeonia officinalis Otto Froebel X Paeonia tenuifolia) x ( [Veitchi x Emodi] x [??] )

Red Windflower is presumed to be tetraploid, and is apparently short in height, whereas Late and Early are both tall but quite graceful. I do not know if Red Windflower is currently in commerce, but Bill S. may have it.

As an aside, Carnation Bouquet = Blushing Princess x Sparkling Windflower.

At this point in time, Carnation Bouquet may be the only other commonly available member of this group of peonies which have Late or Early in their background. Like the others, it has distinctive foliage, and seems to like sand. It is a fertile tetraploid, generally never makes pollen, the majority of it’s carpals are in the process of turning into petals, but if you find ones that are well formed they will make seeds.

I may be wrong about this, but it is possible that only Late and Early have the habit of making many ( sometimes as many as 6-7 ) small outfacing flowers along the length of each stem. This type of flower placement is *very* attractive and one goal of breeding would be to continue this graceful plant habit into further generations, but in other colors than white.

Late and Early have the reputation of not always being winter hardy. But where I live, once they have come up, the plants and flowers seem very resistant to our many spring frosts.

Those who have not grown Late or Early should give them a try. They are particularly attractive, have a long bloom season, increase stems rapidly, and unlike some other peonies, seem to have an affinity for sandy soils.

Bob Johnson


A single-flowered yellow peony bred by Harald Fawkner. Superb plant, dark green foliage, tall upright stems, very floriferous. The colour might be best described as ‘lime-green’ as there is surely some green cast in it. The colour is a favorite of many visitors to our peony fields and the plant is quite simply a standout. We do not know of any better single flowered yellow peony and it is a standard that all new peonies should be compared to. Ancestry is unknown, it was registered in 2003, after first flowering only in 2001. Quite fertile as well, thus a great subject to use in any hybridizing program. Great Northern is a direct descendant, as is Old Southgate, both bred, registered and introduced by Harald Fawkner as well.

 

 

 

 




A peony with wonderful flowers, but the stems are far too weak unfortunately.

 

 

Al Rogers was named after the American nurseryman who wrote an excellent book about peonies. It is an outstanding lactiflora cultivar. Rather short, it is standing perfectly upright and is extremely floriferous. the flowers are average sized, well formed doubles. The foliage is dark green, it is a healthy plant and a fast increaser. What is also remarkable about this cultivar is that the average two to three sidebuds are all on the same height as the main flower, so the plants look filled with flowers when blooming. For the average garden this might arguably be the very best double white peony. As a cutflower however the length of the stems and somewhat smaller size of the bud will render it virtually useless unfortunately.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/peonyaddicts/conversations/topics/571
Bill Seidl on Januari 26th, 2011:
In the current, 2011, listing of peonies available from Hollingsworth Nursery, are listed several new cultivars, incl. ‘Allan Rogers’. I am pleased that this peony began its life in my garden. In the early 1960’s, only lactifloras (except for the double red form of officinalis) were present in my garden, and I planted mixed seeds from these plants. Of the resulting seedlings, only one was saved, labeled “L9” …. “L” for “lactiflora”. I remember it as a rather low-growing, floriferous, loosely double white.

In the early 90’s, when he was still working on his book, Allan flew into Milwaukee to visit Roger Anderson’s garden (Fort Atkinson) and mine (Manitowoc). Here, two plants of L9 caught his eye. So I dug one that fall and sent him the divisions. A few years later, that area of the garden was flooded and the remaining plant died. (Along with many other seedlings. Later, a series of ditches and berms steered flooding waters to a low area where Purple Loosestrife and Buttonbush now thrive.) I did not hear anything about L9 for many years except a question from Al asking whether it was a hybrid. I answered in the negative. He may have seen something in the foliage that did not indicate 100% lacti parentage.

So it was a pleasant surprise to receive photos of L9 growing in Al’s garden, photos sent by Piet Wierstra, owner of Oregon Perennial Company, who wanted permission to name it after Al. A few years ago he sent me a division, so I am happy that it once again is blooming in its first home.

Bill Seidl, Manitowoc, WI, Zone 5

Silvia Saunders was the daughter of professor A.P. Saunders. A.P. Saunders was arguably the most influential peony hybridizer of the 20th century, his daughter took over his nursery to distribute his plants after his death. She regularly wrote articles in the American Peony Society Bulletin, this is one of those articles wherein she describes what more could be done from future hybridizers. Many of the points she made in 1970 are still valid today.

THE PEONY IS WAITING FOR YOU!1

From a Correspondent

A friend with whom I carry on somewhat heated discussions, tossed into my astonished lap the other day the statement that “Well, of course Man hasn’t really ever ‘Gotten to Work’ on the peony, has he. He’s never really done anything at all to improve it” “What?” I exploded. “Never done any work on the peony! What ARE you talking about? Why, didn’t the Chinese work for centuries, and end by completely transforming the undistinguished little paeonia lactiflora from Outer Mongolia, into one of the Glories of our Western Gardens? And you call that “nothing”?”

“Certainly I call it Nothing, he came back. “Nothing, compared to what might be done; what remains to be done. After all, that’s only one species. We believe they didn’t even do any crossing—any species crossing, that is.” “And what about Tree Peonies? again I retorted, feeling that here I really did have the better of him. “Same thing, he replied quietly. “Again, only one species: P. Moutan. Of course it’s a splendid thing. One of the best plants we have. But just look at what remains to be done: the Vast Terrain of unfinished business.” “But the hybridists, I pressed on. “You don’t count Lemoine and Henry‘? You don’t count Auten or Saunders or Glasscock? And now Mr. Ito of Japan, who’s made a really revolutionary discovery. They’ve given us a host of perfectly gorgeous hybrids, both herbaceous and tree.” “They certainly have,” came his prompt answer, “and what have we done with them? Nothing at all. Absolutely nothing. We’ve just let them sit there, for 30, 40, or even 50 years. Untouched. Why, we could have been making new generations from them all this while. Do you realize there are only about ten second-generation plants, and maybe five of the third generation? What’s wrong with us, anyway? Haven’t we got any Curiosity? It only takes four or five years for a generation. Where’s our Ingenuity? When I think of all this wasted material and these wasted years, it makes my blood fairly boil. Why, just think of the hundreds of men that have created roses by the thousand, iris by the tens of thousands, and hemerocallis practically «by the million—I don’t get it. I simply don’t get it.”

I couldn’t of course just sit there and let him go on. He was getting quite impassioned, but perfectly confident in his statements. So in the end we got out pencil and paper and began to list the improvements that might conceivably be made in the peony—I still thinking that maybe we might find three, possibly four “To my amazement, when we’d finished, we‘d toted up ten. Ten ways that -the two of us had thought of, right off the cuff so to speak, to improve our beautiful peony; the plant that we all think of as Practically Perfect. ‘

Here they are. We jotted them down, not in order of importance- each person will presumably have his own Priority Listing—but simply as they occurred to us:

1. Blooming season of the peony to be lengthened. It’s only about six weeks’ duration now. At both ends: earlier into the spring, and later into the summer. Is there any good and valid reason why the peony could not bloom all summer long. like the roses of England?

2. Blooming season of individual plants to be lengthened, from its present one week (or two, if you have a huge clump and a very cool two weeks). Methods of accomplishing this might be: greater durability and substance in the petals themselves, and (perhaps more effective) many side-blooms to each stem. Mr. Auten‘s Vincennes, I understand, has “side buds on the side buds.”

3. Color range extended, although this isn’t the most crying need of the peony. Yellows introduced into the herbaceous. “Flares” to be made more striking, as in the tree peonies and some of the herbaceous hybrids. Variegations, such as flecks, streakings, etc. Two-color blooms, as in many of our “Jap” types, introduced into the double herbaceous. I saw in a big bouquet recently a double white peony with large black outer petals. It was really a black iris lurking behind the white peony, but I suddenly thought: “Why not? Two-color doubles. As we have in the Jap types, and in the modern dahlias.”

4. Foliage more varied. Present peony foliage is remarkably monotonous und “Same.” Species with unique and lovely foliages that could be used: Mloko (jade gray- green, and lovely matte surface; purple stems); Daurica (triternata) with its riffled edges;- Emodi, with fern-like leaves; Tenuifolia with its asparagus-like leaves. And the Tree Peonies with the most elegant foliage of them all. We’ve never bred for foliage, have we. Always for flowers.

5. Quality of petals of the herbaceous improved till more shimmeringly silky, like the tree peonies. Even the lutea hybrids haven’t this shimmering quality.

6. Height of peonies to be more varied: more very tall kinds, trained up a post, as in Italy; more very dwarf kinds for the modern small garden.

7. Fragrance should be greatly improved. The yellow species P. lutea is the only peony that smells really delicious; rather like a waterlily.

8. Disease-resistance should of course be worked for, during all these other programs.

9. Climatic Range should be extended: into the South; the moist; the shade, etc.

10. Soils. Peonies should be made to accept a wider variety of soils: more acid, more sandy, etc.

11. Seeds should be made to geminate always the first Spring.

12. What about the stoloniferous habit of P. tenuifolia and P. lutea? Could this be made into anything useful?

There, we’ve set down not ten but twelve ways, any one of which would definitely improve our peonies. So, now that we see where some of our directions lie, nothing remains but for Man, that is Us, you and me, to roll up our sleeves and get to work. The time is Now. You and I have to start hybridizing, for that is the way most of it is to he accomplished. And we who work in peonies have one great advantage over our friends in iris or “hems.” There are so many of them, and they’ve introduced so many thousand new varieties of those plants, that your chances of coming up with something really new and worth introducing are not much better than about -one in ten thousand. Whereas in the peony, so little has yet been done that all of us have a good chance—say one in a hundred—of bringing forth a new kind that will really be an advance on the old.

Even if you are not in the Peony Society you may still write -either to me, or far better to E. L. “Roy” Pehrson, whose address you’ll find at the end of this article. Either of us will tell you how best to lay out ten dollars this fall on peonies that will be useful in hybridizing. You’ll probably have to buy one or two fertile lactifloras, an F-2 or an F-3 herbaceous hybrid or two, possibly a species, if you wish, and perhaps one or two lutea (tree peony) hybrids. These should start anybody on the right road. The December 1968 Peony Bulletin (one dollar. Address at end of article) gives full and simple directions, in case you’ve never done it.

I see it all just ahead. We have splendid men now working, either actually on the breeding, or in exploring new paths such as chromosome counting, that may lead us into hitherto unknown terrains. Daphnis, Fiala, Pehrson, Reath, Wissing, to mention only five, and these only in America. We don’t even know what the Japanese are doing at the moment; I’d look for closer ties with them. We have the work of the past hybridists to build on, so we needn‘t try to excuse ourselves simply because we are 60 years old or more; just take up where our predecessors left off. Research would almost certainly reveal that all the great breeders did most of their important work after sixty. And all that is spadework now over and done with. We can start in right there. We know now that yellow lutea hybrids can be crossed onto lactiflora, so we don’t need to put ourselves through that back-breaking, eye-blinding chore of counting chromosomes of hundreds of tree peonies; it’s been done. Our present men are telling us every day which lacti‘s have viable pollen, and which set seed, so we don’t need to spend precious time on the useless ones.

The Explorers are just as valuable in their laboratories as the Hybridists out in the sun. Will our Chromosome-counters tell us, please, just exactly what it is, in the rose, that enables one plant to bloom for two months or longer? What exactly is it that causes Dwarfness, or tall- ness?What is it that makes some seeds need their warm period ahead of their cold (dormant) period?

So please don’t ever let me hear again: “Oh if only I were younger! Here I am over sixty!” Nonsense. You’ll be one of our most Useful People. Write letters. Help in planning a Show. There’ll be many ways of having a part in this great new Movement.

Let us all get to work in some way or other, on the Peony. Who knows? In twenty-five years—that’s only the twinkling of an eye, horti-culturally speaking—we may completely transform the Peony into the Plant it Should Be.

 

Footnotes:
  1. Saunders, Silvia. “The Peony is waiting – for you!” In: American Peony Society Bulletin, no. 196, March-April, 1970, pp. 27-29.[]

Buoy Master is a single white, bred by Harald Fawkner from Sweden, that is early. It stands up well to bad weather and has foliage all the way down to the ground. It’s a bee-magnet when in flower. The buds are pure white and it’s floriferous. Many good characteristics thus and I’ve used it in my hybridizing program to good result so far.

 

 

 

 

 

 


William Seidl
Message 1 of 3 , Mar 17, 2009

In paging thru the new Checklist 97 – 07, I came across the entry, p8, Christina, reg. 1999 by Hermann Krupke of Ljung, Sweden, from the cross Otto Froebel seedling x Coral Charm. (I could not find Otto Froebel in Part IV. Alphabetically, it should appear on p154.)
Mr. Krupke says ” Pollen fertile; so far no seeds”. I would consider its pollen valuable on Lemon Chiffon to obtain possibly coral/orange double hybrids.

The most interesting information is that the pollen came from Coral Charm. I have never known CC to be fertile in any direction, it being a triploid. Occasionally I hear reports of its fertility but never see any evidence of that, except for Christina. Does anybody out there have evidence of CC fertility? The closest thing to fertility in my garden of any of the triploid coral hybrids is Pink Hawaiian Coral, which has produced ruptured seeds that did not germinate.

I have a photo of a smiling Mr. Krupka standing alongside Christina, the peony. The picture came off the Internet atwww.pspaeon.dk/images/Krupke.htm in May, 2007 but I now have trouble getting there.

Bill Seidl

William Seidl
Apr 3, 2008
Peony Friends,

Luriel, in Denmark, has directed me to the Japanese email address www.shikoku-garden.com where one can find a page entitled “Peonies For Shade”. Therein are listed P. japonica, P. obovata, and P. o. ‘Flame’. All these are listed as hardy to Zones 4-8 but these numbers do not correspond to US Dept. of Agriculture zones. When looking at the Japanese zones for Hokkaido (provided on this website) one finds they are native to areas where the average January temperature is 10-25 F. (-12 to -4 C.). That’s two zones warmer than my USDA zone 5. This nursery specializes in rare or lesser-known plants, ships overseas, and they are wholesale.

For those of you in this group who ordered herbaceous hybrid seeds, not to worry that I haven’t mailed any yet. These seeds should require a summer-long warm stratification period before root-germination occurs. Still, I will get to it soon. [ I like to avoid situations where the plants grow out-of-synch with the seasons.]

I hope the ashes have washed off Carsten’s head. To find the meaning of “coriacea” all I had to do was consult my English dictionary to find that “coriaceous” is an English word with Latin roots, meaning “leathery; tough”. Just like “intersectional” is an English word with Latin roots.

About blue peonies. Consider that hybridizers of daylilies (Hemerocallis) have taken species colored only in yellow or fulvous orange, without eyezones or picotee patterns, and single in form, and developed doubles, dark eyezones and lighter water-marks, and in an arrary of colors — white, pink, red, black-red, purple, lavender. The eyezones (flares) are so large that they cover most of the base-color and contain within them several bands of color. Some of the doubles are not just stamens converted to petals, but are crested doubles where extra petals arise from the mid-ribs of the three normal petals, leaving the stamens and pistil intact. The edges come in yellow, orange, red, purple, white… and some breeders are working on green picotees.

Blue color is another objective. Some see a little blue in the purple/violet eyezones. They believe true blue will occur here rather than in the base color. Many have named seedlings with “blue” in the title, but everybody agrees they are shades of lavender. The late Steve Moldovan spent a lifetime breeding daylilies, always hoping to obtain the elusive blue. Only a year or two before he died, he said true blue appeared in the eyezone of a seedling. He named that seedling “Piece of Sky” and it now sells for $300.

So where did all these traits come from? I have read that all of evolution is driven by the engine of mutations. Mutations that don’t help the plant survive are not passed onto the next generation. Slight mutations in color wouldn’t help much in a plant’s survival, so most would be lost. But when noticed by a plant breeder, that plant would be saved as a parent for the next generation. You know the rest of the story.

One of the ancestors of ‘Piece of Sky’ has a very dark eyezone, black if you will, not just a dark purple as is common. Tag pointed out that there might be some connection here with the potential to produce blue.

Years ago, Roy Pehrson sent me a black-red seedling, herbaceous hybrid, with the parentage marked as “Sable/Eclipse”. ‘Eclipse’ has a black-purple flower and is from officinalis Rubra Plena x coriacea. This should be a tet. Sable is a black-red lacti, single, so the S/E seedling from Roy should be a triploid. I crossed it with Saunders’ 16350 F2 (since named ‘Blushing Princess’) and obtained a blackest-red seedling, 74H120-2, which must be tet as it crosses well with other known tets. It is double, and should be given a name sometime. One of my only two plants was dug by Nate Bremer last fall and divided. It had a nematode infection and Nate gave it a hot-water treatment. So he may have it for future distribution.

Now consider a possible connection between black and blue. (I’m not thinking of black-and-blue bruises.} Coriacea has given rise to lavender in ‘Lavender Strain’ and to black in ‘Eclipse’. Lavender is certainly a step toward blue, and black flares are in the background of H. ‘Piece of Sky’.

Coriacea is rose-pink and shows no sign of blue. But its very limited use in breeding, so far, would seem to indicate it has some hidden genes that might contribute to lavender, lavender-blue, and blue colors. Small incrumental mutations toward blue might eventually produce the real thing. Outside of the scientists’ laboratory, what other course might one follow? Are there any lavender-colored species out there? or lavender herb’s hybrids?

Coriacea and 74H120-2 or some other black-red should be combined. Coriacea pollen onto a later-flowering, white lactiflora should be tried, even thought triploids would be expected. Lavender Strain pollen onto white lactiflora (or ‘Sable’) could produce a tet of desirable color.
LS is triploid, and so an unreduced gamete onto diploid lacti would produce a tetraploid.

In P. rockii and its hybrids, the flares are very dark, almost black. Perhaps this indicates a potential to blue. In daylilies, some Florida growers raise 10,000 to almost 40,000 seedlings per season, with bloom the first season. With so many plants to choose from, it is no wonder that they can find so many incremental deviations toward some new objective. If blue is one of those objectives, they may well succeed. With peonies, we have no such advantage.

Blue is a rare color in flowers. How did it come about? In eons past, did some lavender or purple flower mutate toward blue? And was some insect, moth or butterfly, drawn to the blue color and thus insured its survival?

btw, I once joked with another hybridizer that 74H120-2 was so black that I intended to buy up all the black-red seedlings that other breeders had, then stomp them to death so that only mine remained. Like some fellow did with tulips during the tulip-mania in Holland.

The petals of this plant are marred by pollen. Even the double flowers have interspersed stamens. A backcross to Sable would produce sterile triploids… and no pollen. The pollen is quite whitish, but it is still viable. I no longer have Sable and don’t hear much about it. It would be too bad if it becomes extinct.

I neglected to mention earlier that ruffling, to the extreme at times, is common in modern daylilies. This again is an added-on trait, the species being quite plain-edged. Ruffling has been increased in small increments for so many generations that one breeder, Patick Stamile, said matter-of-factly in describing one of his 08 introductions “Ruffling is dominant over plain petals”. I replaced “ruffling” by “doubleness” and felt that one could say, about peonies, that “Doubleness is dominant over singleness”. This is especially true if the doubleness extends back several generations. Think of the parentage of htp ‘Alice Harding’ or ‘Waucedah Princess’. In each, one parent was the lutea species and the other a double Japanese moutan, but the progeny were very double.

By the way, wouldn’t ruffling — and picotees, too — be great when added onto some peony flowers? You younger hybridizers should work on this in your spare time.

Bill Seidl, Zone 5b, -15 to -10 F. (-26 to -23 C.), Manitowoc, Wisconsin

From Bill Seidl:

Seedling DPSW-1 is Carnation Bouquet. The “DP” stands for “Double Pink”. I had decided to use pollen of Sparkling Windflower (Silvia Saunders had reported it was a tet) on all the double pink tet HH that I had. The object was to see how the very precise stamen-ring of SW would translate when converted to petals. I only got as far as Saunders 16350-F2 (later named Blushing Princess by Al Rogers). CB was only one of two plants, and nearly trashed. It was drowning in a sea of quackgrass when I casually picked a flower for a bouquet. The recipient of the bouquet pointed out that it was “different” and asked its name. Thus alerted, I recalled the plant’s location and gave it TLC thereafter. I called it “Louella’s Carnation” until a garden visitor said the whole clump looked like a bouquet of carnations. This cross ought to be repeated with other colors so that CB has companions in white, red, and yellow. SW is available, I’m sure, from several specialists and Song Sparrow. As a parent, CB sets occasional seed. Theresa Griesbach once reported pollen production on a single-form flower. This is rare. When not well established, the double blooms thin out but I’ve never observed any reversion to stamens.

This selection from Pink Vanguard x Lavender Baby has potential as a cut flower.

(more…)

One of the very best Pink Vanguard x Lavender Baby seedlings. Semi-double to double. Large flower. Sturdy upright stems, large flower, good and healthy grower. Nice deep green foliage down to the bottom of the stems. Average length.  (more…)

In our humble opinion this variety is currently the best early double white peony.

(more…)

Grown together with P. daurica ssp. coriifolia, this one is clearly different, (more…)

Grown from seed I’ve bought from Will McLewin, the mother plant was a mlokosewitschii-hybrid plant he named ‘Fedora-Mloko Hybrid’. It has some brethren, but this is the healthiest, prettiest and strongest grower, more so when compared to mlokosewitschii itself. Pretty foliage, lots of flowers, rather short growing and early, it is very good as both a garden and breeder’s plant.

Our favorite Paeonia species, Paeonia mascula ssp. hellenica is a short growing plant with outstanding foliage and extremely pretty flowers. (more…)

A rather rare peony that has only recently (1995) been described.  (more…)

From Mallorca (Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea) comes P. cambessedessii. Although it is sometimes offered by peony nurseries, it is extremely rare in the wild.

“As far as we [Hong, ed.] are aware, the species is growing at a few sites on Mallorca, on a small island, Cabrera, and on Menorca. In 2001, we visited the port of Pollença of Mallorca and found a population with only about 100 individuals near the tunnel. This species is surely one the most endangered peonies.”1

It has different foliage, especially the undersides of the leaves with their purplish colour. The upperside is greyish green. If flowers very early here (somewhere mid-April). It tends to grow extremely slow unfortunately, although this may be because the climate I grow them in is far from the Mediterranean type. After four or five years, when you dig the plant up, you’re usually only ending up with one small rootlet, so propagation isn’t easy for this one, thus growing it from seed is probably the way to go. Frost doesn’t usually kill it, but constant wet feet during Winter might be fatal.

Hong describes it thus:

“Paeonia cambessedessii has three distinct characters:

1) glabrous throughout;
2) leaflets 9 or even fewer in number, never segmented;
3) a large number of carpels, which easily distinguish it from all of its allies.

The species has the smallest number of leaflets in the genus, and the greatest number of carpels in section Paeonia. Another characteristic of this species is the mostly purple colour of the lower side of the leaf.”1

1Hong, De-Yuan. “Peonies of the World. Taxonomy and phytogeography.” Royal Botanic Gardens: Kew, 2010, pp. 151.

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