Paeonia 2017

[Leena]

Gordon, I have P.emodi here in Finland, though it hasn't flowered yet, the buds seem to get frost-bitten easily. I know friends who grow it successfully here, it doesn't tolerate water-logging and gets rot in roots easily in too humus rich soil at least here.

Last week we had temperatures below 0C every night and I protected buds of P.mairei with styrofoam box, so far they look good.

[David Nicholson]

Grown from seed- Paeonia arietina

[Gerdk]

What an attractive plant!

Gerd

[David Nicholson]

Thank you Gerd, it is very pretty.

[ashley]

Paeonia anomala from Irkutsk, Russia.

[Yann]

David your arietina is beautiful

[David Nicholson]

Thank you Yann. It's looking a bit less beautiful today than it was when I photographed it though, lots of wind and short but potent storms on and off in the past two days.

[johnw]

Another P. mlokosewitzii seedling and not at all a bad yellow, so often they are anything but yellow.  It's been so cool it's lasted 2 weeks which is unheard of.

john

[David Nicholson]

This one has been in my garden since 'Adam was a lad'. If it ever had a name it's been long forgotten. Lovely red though.

[Michael J Campbell]

Paeonia lactiflora 'Shirley Temple'
Paeonia lactiflora 'Bowl of Beauty.

[David Nicholson]

Two beauties there Michael.

[Tim Harberd]

   I’d be interested to read about any one else’s experiences with Peony Wilt… I used to have about 20 cultivars here.. They are all affected to some degree, even the tree peony. Some varieties seem more resistant than others.
   Example of damage shown on Wladyslawa. A damaged shoot and a damaged bud. I find the bud damage particularly upsetting. Just when you were looking forward to a beautiful bloom it turns into brown mush. The two most resistant cultivars with me are Nosegay and Earlybird. Can anyone recommend others?
   Any other management tips??

Tim DH

[Gail]

Tim, I grow/have grown many peonies and I think the only one that has never been affected by wilt is Paeonia peregrina (which is also one of my all time favourites with vivid poppy-red flowers much loved by bumble bees).
I contacted the RHS advisory service to see what they suggest about wilt and got this reply;
Control of Peony Botrytis

The recent withdrawal of a number of pesticides available to the amateur gardener has made controlling some problems difficult, particularly for specialist gardeners such as yourselves.

However, all is not lost and there are some chemicals available which may control the disease.  The fungicides myclobutanil, available as Systhane Fungus Fighter, and penconazole, available as Scotts Fungus Clear, can be used to control other diseases on ornamental plants, and may provide incidental control against Botrytis.  The cultural treatments we would recommend include cutting the infected material to ground level, destroying any debris, scraping away the topsoil and dusting the remaining stump and tubers with sulphur dust, before replacing with fresh uninfected soil.  You should note that although copper sulphate (Bordeaux mixture) is still available for the control of Botrytis on some fruit and vegetables, this does not extend to ornamentals

Dr Nathalie King
Plant Pathologist (RHS Garden, Wisley)

That was a couple of years ago so can't guarantee that the product she recommended are still around.

On the whole I don't spray unless I have a particularly special plant that I'm anxious about - I usually cut out affected shoots and cross my fingers; they tend to come back okay next year but it is always more of a problem in wet summers and if you grow peonies in amongst too much competition so there is not good air flow.

Nosegay is not one I've grown but may have to change that having seen your photo...

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Gail,
   Thanks for the advice. I’ve had a trawl through The Peony Database ( www.paeon.de ) looking for pictures and there are a lot of peregrinas!
   One, Paeonia 'Tony Verboom’, mentions botrytis resistance. Its likely to be a hybrid and sterile. Does anyone know if all peregrinas are resistant?

   The guidance to cut out infected material would be impossible.. as would scraping away topsoil. Tho’ I could practice a bit more autumn hygiene.

   Attached, another photo of Nosegay.. which sets open pollinated seed. Nosegay isn’t as pink, with me, as the catalogues suggest… but whatever it is setting seed with must be pinker if not dark red!! (All my other whites/yellows are no where near it.)

Tim DH

[GordonT]

Just as 'Renkaku' was set to put on its best show, a torrential storm blew through and broke off a major branch for the third year running! Salvaged the blooms for the house. This is one of two arrangements I gleaned from the damage. Glad to know from experience that it will grow back even larger next year!