Paeonia 2013

[Leena]

Great, now I know, that my Paeonia obovata is subsp. willmottiae, thanks to Matt and Leena!

Thomas, does your P.obovata subsp willmottiae set good seeds?
My normal pink P.obovata sets masses of seeds, but most of the seeds of P.obovata subsp willmottiae are not good (red), or only very small and flat black seeds. My plant was planted in 2006 and only twice I have gotten couple of good fat seeds, and even they have never germinated. I have now again three seeds from last year which developed roots in the early winter, they have not yet come up after the cold period. I hope they will germinate, but I'm not surprised if they don't.
It is a puzzle to me why this peony doesn't set seeds like the normal P.obovata or other species!
It flowers here about 10 days later than P.obovata, and there are no frosts at that time usually, and I have many other peonies flowering (P.anomala, P.veitchii, P.officinalis and early hybrids) at the same time.

[ArnoldT]

Paeonia emodi

[Thomas Seiler]

Thomas, does your P.obovata subsp willmottiae set good seeds?
My normal pink P.obovata sets masses of seeds, but most of the seeds of P.obovata subsp willmottiae are not good (red), or only very small and flat black seeds. My plant was planted in 2006 and only twice I have gotten couple of good fat seeds, and even they have never germinated. I have now again three seeds from last year which developed roots in the early winter, they have not yet come up after the cold period. I hope they will germinate, but I'm not surprised if they don't.
It is a puzzle to me why this peony doesn't set seeds like the normal P.obovata or other species!
It flowers here about 10 days later than P.obovata, and there are no frosts at that time usually, and I have many other peonies flowering (P.anomala, P.veitchii, P.officinalis and early hybrids) at the same time.

Leena, I think, my P. obovata subsp. willmottiae behaves exactly like your plant. Sometimes I found some black seeds, but in most years there are only red ones that are sterile.  But I never collected the seeds, just let them fall down hoping for seedlings ... but never found one. But the sterile red seeds are very beautiful. I have only one plant of Paeonia obovata. Maybe it needs a companion ... Like in your garden there are many other peonies flowering at that time.
Sterile seeds of Paeonia obovata subsp. willmottiae:

[Leena]

Thomas, it is good to know your plant is the same, I had begun to think there was something wrong here.
I wonder how this species can survive in the wild, if there are no seeds (or not much).

This is my plant from last autumn, besides the decorative seedpods, it gets a nice autumn color.

[Matt]

I have one P.ruprechtiana, two year old seedling which I planted outside last autumn. I got some seeds from a Finnish friend who was working in Scotland for a year few years ago and is a member of SRGC, and she had bought the seeds from one of the events (she told me about SRGC and this forum 
So this is all I know of it's origin. Here is a picture of it last year, it doesn't seem any bigger yet.

Plant you seedling in late summer (or even now if the pot is full of roots) - it is big enough. In the pot will never grow well.

M.

[Rob Potterton]

Below our plant of Paeonia tenuifolia in the garden, planted in a rich well drained soil, south facing against a fence. We grew this plant for the first 20 years in pots and exhibited it once at Chelsea flower show (Gold medal), it was then put out to stud about 15 years ago.

[Lesley Cox]

Eat your heart out Rob, Maggi will post a picture in a day or two, to show P. tenuifolia in a Czech garden as we saw it just a few days ago. A very ordinary garden in which it appeared seed had been broadcast and the Paeonia was flowering over an area of maybe 50 square metres, probably hundreds of flowers, a magnificent sight. The beautiful and elegant Olga from Moscow mentioned a white form she had seen recently in the Caucasus. That would be something!

Forgive me please. Maggi and Ian are entertaining me and tolerating my cold-ridden presence for the moment. Lunch was a delicious chicken but the rest of the day has "Macallan" on the label.

[Rimmer de Vries]

P. tenuifolia in a residential garden in SE Michigan blooming yesterday.

[Maggi Young]

Oh Rimmer,  Lesley has fainted - I think it is simply the wonder of the paeony, rather than the Macallan......... we are all pretty impressed, that's for sure!

[Rimmer de Vries]

Unfortunately this is not my yard. But along a dirt road in a rural area.

[Thomas Seiler]

Here comes Paeonia tenuifolia in the garden of friends nearby. It really can thrive, but never with me ...
They also grow the pink form.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Thomas,
I'd never seen the pink form before!
Amazing but I'm still in awe of the plain red one as well!
Thanks for posting, everyone!
cheers
fermi

[Leon]

The P. tenuifolia in my location are just finishing up on bloom.  I grow the red single, red double, and pink single tenuifolia.  Both the single red and double red are wonderful plants and never fail to make an outstanding statement for early spring bloom.  I do not consider the pink form to be garden worthy.  The bloom is faint and does not show up in the garden.  It seems to be harder to grow for most people than either of the red forms however if you give it the right conditions it seems to be happy.  For me the pink form has been very prolific as I have multiple plants in several locations around the yard. 

[Thomas Seiler]

Lucky you, Leon ... maybe you have the right conditions 
Paeonia tenuifolia is a plant from the steppe regions north of the Black Sea. That means hot summers, cold winters and no competition from other plants.
Nevertheless, I think the pink form is charming ... :-)

[Thomas Seiler]

A rare peony from my friends' garden: Paeonia qiui