Hello Yuri,

Welcome to the site, I hadn’t expected posts in Russian, but the translation option seems to work well and I’m able to understand what you’ve written. I’m very glad you’ve said something about your favorite whites. The only one that I grow of those you mention is Carl G. Klehm (pictured left). That one is currently a favorite for many growers (and many cutflower growers) thanks to its enormous and perfectly formed flowers. When they are fully open it’s difficult to find anything as beautiful as that one is. It also has very pretty large pink buds that are quite attractive and the foliage is deep green. The only drawback I found was that, although the stems are very sturdy, when it rains and the wind blows a lot on the open flower, the stems will not bend, but break under the very heavy weight of the flowers. But that is of course under very adverse weather conditions. Normal rain or wind is no problem and it also ranks very high here. If yours is only a first year plant (but when bought from Ruud Warmerdam, you always start with excellent large divisions), I’m sure it will impress you even more the following years as it gets larger still.

The two others I haven’t grown nor seen. When somebody talks about Alice Harding it’s usually the shrubby peony which is being referred to (mostly when talking about the first intersectionals), but yours is the lactiflora version of course. The missing carpels or stamens are nothing unusual I would think, not all flowers on the same plant are equal, definitely not when you have a young plant (you mention ‘first bud’), the color should be more or less what it should be. The registration file says:

ALICE HARDING (Lemoine, 1922) – Double – Flesh Pink – Midseason. Medium height. Sweet fragrance. Large. Broad evenly rounded guard-petals of delicate flesh-pink, flushed darker on the reverse, surround a cupped center of long, irregular petals of creamy white; stamens concealed in the collar; center-band minutely marked with crimson. Fairly floriferous. Stems and foliage good. On June 8, 1922, this variety received a special prize, offered by Mrs. Edward Harding, and awarded by the Societé Nationale d’Horticulturex de France, for the best French seedling peony.  It is said that Lemoine considers this his best introduction.  It is clearly a very beautiful flower. Midseason.

That description fits the image you posted of it. The registration mentions ‘stamens concealed in the collar’, thus they’ll probably show up in later years when you have a more mature plant.

All the best,
Koen Hurtekant