Paeonia 2020

[Carolyn]

Leena,

P. x smouthii is really beautiful, I haven't seen it before. Do you grow your paeonies in shade?

[Leena]

It is a hybrid P.tenuifolia x P.lactiflora, much taller plant than P.tenuifolia and seems to be easy to please. It grows in full sun.

In shade or part shade I have P.mairei, P.obovata, P.japonica, some P.anomala, and P.daurica types. In full sun are P.officinalis types, and P.lactifloras. Quadruple hybrids are some in sun and some in part shade, mostly they don't require so much sun as lactifloras to flower.
Peonies and irises are such big plants and take all the sunny places in my garden, and most of the garden is semishade or shade. So even though I love peonies, I don't have enough room for them and there are much more places for shade plants.

[Carolyn]

Thanks for the info, Leena. I have 5 or 6 plants of P. emodi in part shade and only one (the one in the sunnier spot) has several flowers this year. I am wondering whether to move the others to a sunnier place, or maybe just feed them? (I don't usually....)

I have grown several P obovata in shade but found it did not flower well. The one I have in full sun produces lots of flowers, but they don't last long in the sunshine, especially this year, as the spring has been so sunny. I moved some to a sunnier position last winter, so I will see next year if that helps.

I have 4 plants of P. tenuifolia which I grew from seeds from the seedex. They have flowered well this year and the foliage gets better and more finely divided each year. Such a good plant.

[Gabriela]

Paeonia x smouthii yesterday in the first picture, very similar is Paeonia x hybrida in the second. It is a naturally occuring cross between P.tenuifolia and P.anomala. The peony flowering with one flower behind it is P.mollis.

Beautiful and interesting to hear about P. x smouthii - always something new to learn! I understand it is also a bit fragrant, a trait from lactiflora.

[WSGR]

Gabriela - fantastic collection. I'm so taken with P. mascula!

[Leena]

I have 5 or 6 plants of P. emodi in part shade and only one (the one in the sunnier spot) has several flowers this year. I am wondering whether to move the others to a sunnier place, or maybe just feed them? (I don't usually....)

I don't have big P.emodi, so I can't say what you should do, but I once had 'Early Windflower' and it grew better in a sunny place. It then died one winter.

My P.obovata flower well in semishade, but like all single early ones, not for long.

[Leena]

Early peonies go over so fast. They are wonderful though when in flower.
Here is another picture of P.x smouthii, it already over now.
The second picture is from my P.wittmanniana, or what I have gotten as such. It is not mlokosewitchii.
It's flowers are very very nice pale yellow, but the colour doesn't show in pictures. Very vigorous and good peony, which also has seeds.
The last peony is a one I have grown from my own open pollinated seeds of P.obovata ssp willmottiae, and obviously bees have been doing their work and I think this is cross with P.anomala which flowered at the same time and also it looks like intermediate between the two. I have five of these sister seedlings, all flowered already last year and are similar, and not one of them produced seeds so they are sterile hybrids. Flowers are big, about size of my palm.

[arisaema]

The last peony is a one I have grown from my own open pollinated seeds of P.obovata ssp willmottiae, and obviously bees have been doing their work and I think this is cross with P.anomala which flowered at the same time and also it looks like intermediate between the two. I have five of these sister seedlings, all flowered already last year and are similar, and not one of them produced seeds so they are sterile hybrids. Flowers are big, about size of my palm.

That's fascinating, any chance you could show a picture of a leaf? Any fragrance? It looks an awful lot like P. mairei, which, coincidentally, is native to the area of China where obovata and anomala meet.

[Leena]

That's fascinating, any chance you could show a picture of a leaf? Any fragrance? It looks an awful lot like P. mairei, which, coincidentally, is native to the area of China where obovata and anomala meet.

Now that you mentioned it, the leaves do look like P.mairei.  P.mairei is shorter plant, and flowers here two weeks before either P.obovata ssp willmottie or P.anomala. P.mairei is the first peony to flower here in spring.
I took pictures of the leaves. P.mairei leaves have thicker texture than leaves in my hybrid, and leaflets are slightly wider. P.mairei leaves have no hairs in the underside but my hybrid has some short hairs (like P.obovata ssp willmottiae). In my hybrids most plants have shiny leaves but one hasn't. The flowers have very faint fragrance, but it is nice.
Flowers of my hybrids open more pink, and they fade during flowering.

[Gabriela]

Early peonies go over so fast. They are wonderful though when in flower.
Here is another picture of P.x smouthii, it already over now.
The second picture is from my P.wittmanniana, or what I have gotten as such. It is not mlokosewitchii.
It's flowers are very very nice pale yellow, but the colour doesn't show in pictures. Very vigorous and good peony, which also has seeds.
The last peony is a one I have grown from my own open pollinated seeds of P.obovata ssp willmottiae, and obviously bees have been doing their work and I think this is cross with P.anomala which flowered at the same time and also it looks like intermediate between the two. I have five of these sister seedlings, all flowered already last year and are similar, and not one of them produced seeds so they are sterile hybrids. Flowers are big, about size of my palm.

All beautiful Leena. The hybrid is gorgeous!

[arisaema]

Now that you mentioned it, the leaves do look like P.mairei.  P.mairei is shorter plant, and flowers here two weeks before either P.obovata ssp willmottie or P.anomala. P.mairei is the first peony to flower here in spring.

Yes, it was the first to flower in my garden too, long before the other two. Thank you for the pictures, it really is stunning! You got me wanting to dig into seeing if there are any genetic studies on the relationship between the three, it's been too long since I looked at a peony paper.

[Leena]

Thanks Gabriela.

You got me wanting to dig into seeing if there are any genetic studies on the relationship between the three, it's been too long since I looked at a peony paper.

I should look into the papers, too.  It is very interesting how the leaves look like P.mairei leaves.

[GordonT]

Peony season got ahead of me this year, and I missed getting a photo of the first to bloom (Paeonia mloksewitschii). Molly was followed by rockii, and I am over the moon happy that the second seedling bloomed this year, and turned out to be a classic white, in contrast to the bright pink form that had its debut last year. They both are growing very well. It has been very windy and hot lately, so everything is going over quickly. The last blooms of 'Jan van Leeuwen' are beginning to shatter today.

[fermi de Sousa]

Paeonia cambessedesii in the rock garden
cheers
fermi

[Maggi Young]

Paeonia cambessedesii in the rock garden
cheers
fermi

That's  a  great plant, fermi!