Paeonia 2013

[monocotman]

Just to confirm what Matt has written - I have one of Will's gansu mudan amongst several other paeonies and it is my favourite.
I should get some more.
It is bone hardy and flowers are just magnificent, huge and really nicely scented.
I bought one that looks like rockii and is called something like bin sha xue lian.
The only thing that mine needs protection from is strong winds - they can break the new growths,
Regards,
David

[monocotman]

I've found a photo of the flower....
I love it,
David

[Gail]

Lovely David. Here's mine - grown from Hardy Plant Society seed.

[Leena]

I would buy a tree peony which is hardy in your climate. Forget all Delavayi, Lutea, Ludlowii, Central Plains & old French (Suffruticosa) hybrids, Northern Germany is already borderline for them. I would go for a good Gansu Mudan (often improperly called Rockii Hybrid). They are perfectly hardy in Berlin, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm, -20C is not a problem for them.

You could also contact Will at Phedar Nursery

Thank you Matt, you are right.
Most tree peonies don't do well in our climate, and still some shops here sell them, and even plants sold here as P.rockii  can turn out to be something else. I like herbaceous peonies more, but it is always tempting to try to grow anything that has a name peony.

Thank you very much for the link to Phedar Nursery, I saw that they also sell seeds, and I think I will go for them. I like to grow plants from seeds, the outcome is a surprise, but not so much when they are from a good source. And I noticed that there are also species Hellebore seeds.

I have a two year old seedling of P.rockii, I bought the seeds from Gothenburg Botanical garden, and I hope it is hardy also here. (I don't know if Gothenburg P.rockii is Gansu Mudan or something else)

[Leena]

The flowers of Monocotman's and Gail's peonies are just so beautiful.

[Maggi Young]

I got seeds of Paeonia sp ex China, 50cm, yellow/red from the seed exchange and the first of them is now showing the root after two months in warm and moist vermiculte.  I'm really happy.
I was wondering if there was a picture of the mother plant somewhere in the forum or if anyone could tell me more about this peony? The seeds were very big, so is it  a tree peony?

 Still working on tracking the donor, Leena.  Stuart Pawley tells me he thought the seeds  were not large enough for a tree paeony and he was happy with the stated 50cm description.

[Lukas H]

Hi there,

I would like my Peony would be as far as yours Matt. But as well as all over Europe in Switzerland the wheather is as ugly as everywhere. I am looking foreward to warm tempretures and Peony flowers.
About Gansu Mudan, last winter all my suffruticosa and ludlowii died back to the ground completely. there were no flowers last year with three weeks of -20° C . But the gansu Mudan's flowered mostly freely without any damage! Only one rockii-suffruticosa Hybrid was affected by the hard frost. The others were as beautyful as ever. Very recommanded to plant one of These treasures.

Keep on hoping for Peony wheather.

Lukas

[Tim Ingram]

Matt - do you know Robert Pardo in France? I met him many years ago at a Plant Show in St. Malo and he grew a wonderful range of peonies, many species and many from China that he lined out in his nursery. I know he visited Will McLewin and exchanged plants, and he gave me the true P. mairei which has done well in the garden. A generous person.

[Hans A.]

I think that Hans in Majorca should also have something in flower very soon.

  - sorry Matt, this year they failed to flower in my garden, perhaps because of the drought last summer?

Today I visited a population of Paeonia cambessedesii in the mountains, I remembered every site of the single plants but I did not remember better to go there with professional climbing equipment (as the few people I saw nearby ). 
This species is very rare in Mallorca and normaly there grow only single or very few specimens at the locations - the visited one  has a better number of plants (already posted somewhere pics from there a few years ago), but it is hardly accessible.  The first plant I found was over - then I only found plants with buds - but finally I had good luck.

[Gail]

Lovely pictures Hans and what a treat to see a wild population of this lovely species.

[ashley]

Wonderful to see Hans.  Thank you.

[Irm]

- but finally I had good luck.

very very lovely, Hans 

[Matt]

Hi Hans

What a shame! Last year it was the cutworm...this year the drought! Yes, the species that like it slightly more moist in summer, like P. mlokosewitchii, have only very few buds also in my garden. We had 8 weeks with no rain in July & August...which is unusual for NE Italy...Mallorca mus have been a desert!

Thank you for the P. cambessedesii pics! Plants in their natural habitat tell more than a gardening book.
It is clear that also this heat loving species likes the roots to be sheltered from the heat by rocks. What is the exposition of the slope where they grow? Definitely not south I think!

M.

- sorry Matt, this year they failed to flower in my garden, perhaps because of the drought last summer?

Today I visited a population of Paeonia cambessedesii in the mountains, I remembered every site of the single plants but I did not remember better to go there with professional climbing equipment (as the few people I saw nearby ). 
This species is very rare in Mallorca and normaly there grow only single or very few specimens at the locations - the visited one  has a better number of plants (already posted somewhere pics from there a few years ago), but it is hardly accessible.  The first plant I found was over - then I only found plants with buds - but finally I had good luck.

[Matt]

Matt - do you know Robert Pardo in France? I met him many years ago at a Plant Show in St. Malo and he grew a wonderful range of peonies, many species and many from China that he lined out in his nursery. I know he visited Will McLewin and exchanged plants, and he gave me the true P. mairei which has done well in the garden. A generous person.

Hi Tim
You are right monsieur Pardo is a very kind and nice man and owns and sells a good Gansu Mudan collectio at his nursery La Pivoine Bleue in the SW of France. I think he deals with the same Chinese grower - Chen Dezhong of Peace Peony Nursery in Lanzhou - who sells plants to Will. Monsieur Pardo always goes with lots of potted peonies in flower to Journees des Plantes a Courson near Paris (17-19 May this year) that is one of the best flower show/market in Europe.

http://pivoine.bleue.free.fr/

http://www.domaine-de-courson.fr/

Matt

[Tim Ingram]

Thanks Matt - it's nice to hear of him again. I have never been to Courson, but we met at a much smaller Show organised by Jean Pierre Jolivot just outside St. Malo and there were some great nurseries there, as well as a very enjoyable feel to the event. Courson would be well worth a visit.