Paeonia 2009

[Ragged Robin]

Probably my absolute favourite herbacious Paeonia, 'Claire de Lune'.  Simply beautiful.

After a rainy walk in the forest your photo lifted my spirits, Jamie, it is absolutely beautiful - like a full moon! Thank you for posting 'Claire do Lune' 

[Sinchets]

One from today in the woodland garden- Tiny Tim complete with crutch- Paeonia banatica (ex Hungary from Phedar Nursery)

[Sinchets]

Flowering today- Paeonia obovata (?)

[Rodger Whitlock]

Flowering today- Paeonia obovata (?)

I think not. My own P. obovata alba is in flower and I took a hard look at it an hour ago. Both the foliage and the form of the flower are quite different from yours. Perhaps you have a hybrid of P. mlokosewitschii & P. officinalis, or something along those lines.

I have some supposed P. mloko. here grown from exchange seed years ago. They show slight signs of hybridity in that they have a slight reddish staining of the normally-yellow flower color. Yours look like they're even more hybrid.

[Lesley Cox]

I wondered about that too. There is certainly some yellow in there and like yours Rodger, my mlok seedlings from a seed exchange have some pink in them. Definitely hybrids.

[Diane Clement]

I wondered about that too. There is certainly some yellow in there and like yours Rodger, my mlok seedlings from a seed exchange have some pink in them. Definitely hybrids.   

I thought there was some doubt about this.  Is the type form of P mlokosewitchii actually yellow?  I have read somewhere that the familiar yellow form is an old selection and that all our garden forms derive from this.  So pink is a possible colour for the species.  Can anyone confirm or dispute this?  Who has seen it in the wild?
Here's mine doing nicely at the moment

[Afloden]

 Hong and Zhou's "Paeonia in the Caucasus" is a great read for anyone that loves species Paeonia. Although most may not agree with his conclusions that the following are all subspecies of daurica; coriifolia, wittmanniana, mlokosewitschii, macrophylla and tomentosa, they found clinal variation and that petal color was polymorphic between and within populations. They even have a photo of P. daurica (pink) next to P. daurica (ssp.mloko-yellow) and variations between the two. The types of P. mlokosewitschii and P. lagodechiana both came from Lagodekhi.

 Even if they are the same entity the geographic ranges of the subspecies do not overlap much from what I remember and they appear different and distinct in the garden.

 Aaron Floden

[Regelian]

Here a shots of what I grow as P. x chamaeleon and P. mlokosewiczii.  The former isconsdiered a hybrid of mlokosewiczii x caucasica, but I am not covinced of the parentage.  All are diploids with 2n=10.  Without flowers, the difference in the leaves is minimal, but distinct enough to seperate them, as with most of this closely related group.  Again, we come back to the question of what is a species?  Clearly, these paeonies are still evolving and hybrid populations exist in the wild.  Most fit the definition of a sub-species, that of being seperated genetically via a physical barrier (mountains), yet interfertile with hybrid populations in the wilds.  They seem to build a gradient.

[Sinchets]

Thanks guys- I bought the obovata from a seed exchange and when it flowered it didn't quite look right to me- I am very happy if they are P.mlokosowetchii, or forms, as I have wanted some of them for a while. As I was saying to Hans a few ages back, most of my Paeonies are from seed exchange seed sown in 2004 and some are flowering now for the first time. I was praying they weren't just going to be double forms of P.lactiflora 

[Joakim B]

I have seen a reddish shoot of a otherwise yellow mlokosewitschii having the "same flowersize and foliage" to the untrained eye, in the botanical garden in Lund, Sweden. Many in Sweden say that the offspring of mlokosewitschii more often then not is pinkish. (might be due to garden hybridization as well). This is the garden report have not seen them in the wild.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Sinchets]

I agree with Jamie as to the question of just what makes a species. I also agree with Diane that some literature on particular species is often heavily biased towards plants that are currently in cultivation, which may have originally in the mists of time all been propagated from one wild plant.
I would like to point out, that I was not implying my post was of P.obovata, hence the question mark after its name. I am always happy to receive more information from people who have been growing these plants longer than I have.
Simon

[Sinchets]

More Paeonies from seed. All names as listed on seed packets.
P. mascula arietina
P. officinalis banatica
a different P. obovata from the same source. I now know this is probably a hybrid.

[Paul T]

Great photos everyone.  Nice to see some familiar to me (I used to grow chameleon but lost it one wet winter) and some I've not grown but want to (mlokosowetchii).  What is there not to like about Paeonia!! 

[Joakim B]

Simon nice plants but there was no double lactiflora among them. Better luck next time
Sometimes the bees are faster than the grower in making seeds so hybridization is part of the game unless there has been very controlled conditions. When the plants are as nice as Yours most gardeners (including me) would be very happy for the nice Yellow You had. In Sweden they would call it mlokosowetchii (maybe hybrid of but not sure) as it is "the most desirable" amongst "normal" gardeners and Yours has a nice yellow.
Well done
Joakim

[Sinchets]

I agree Joakim- some lovely plants have grown from the seed I bought. If any double P.lactiflora turn up I will let you know