Tranquil Dove

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.[↩]