Tree Peonies 2009

[Hans J]

Thank you for all your compliment ....

"The people in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you, just rattle your jewelry"   
( quotation from John Lennon )

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Fabulous flowers and plants Hans ! 

[Brian Ellis]

Help please!  Our P.delavayi has started suckering all over the place, mostly where it is definitely not wanted.  What is the best way to get rid of the suckers without damaging the plant?

[Joakim B]

Lovely plants and photos.  
Brian I have seen a plant being cut down to just some 5 cm or so in the botanical garden in Lund. I do not know why they did it but It came back fine and after a few years it is getting big again. It might be that it got too big. From this I presume that it will not hurt the plant if You cut some of the succers.

I have small plants that have been stept on so that they need to start from scratch again and that they do but those really are set back so this is only to be done for big 1.5 m high plants with many stems coming from under ground. I think they new growth came both from the old cut stems and from under ground. They had two and only did this with one of them.
They seem to be able to take quite an abuse.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Joakim B]

Here is the tree peonia that blew down a few weeks ago.

The first one to bloom in the garden but hopefully there will be more.
To pictures just to illustrate the difference in lighting have on the colour.
Most are looking good and the last weeks of rain have done the plants good. I also watered them before so this is the best the plants have looked since they entered in the garden.
This plant was grown in a shade house at the garden center and lost most of the foliage when I planted it out in the open garden. Now it takes sun quite well.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Susan Band]

Brian,
People are always looking for this. Mum has one which is hemmed in on two side by a wall so can only sucker in one direction. She just pulls /digs off the suckers to give to friends. It doesn't seem to mind this at all.
Susan

[Lesley Cox]

You can also use a sharp spade to cut down hard and deep, then lift out the sucker. It will probably have roots but if not, heeled in it will quickly make some. The main plant doesn't mind at all.

[Paul T]

Brian,

I wish I could take a few from you.... my delaveyi is struggling to live, putting up a leaf or two each year only.  Other ones do fine, but not the delaveyi for some reason. 

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks Joakim, Lesley and Susan.  I shall certainly attack it with vigour and pot up the suckers for plant sales.  I was reluctant to do so in case I lost it as the scent is so incredible.  Sorry I presume you cannot accept the plants in Canberra Paul

[Paul T]

Brian,

Nope, only seed.  It can be so frustrating at times when people are talking about this and that as weeds, when I don't already have them here.    Just a dreadful case of collectors envy... or should that be collecting envy..... or maybe non-acquisition anxiety... or how about..... 

 

[Joakim B]

Paul can it be that it like more water/ or the cooling effect o watering?
I have watered more and so has the weather man and they do look much better than last year. Maybe they are less heat tolerant than the other types. They do take very cold climates so may have problems in the other end?
I have them in clayish soil  but very well drained since the neighbour garden 10 meters below and only 1.5 m away. In the summerhouse in Sweden it grows close to the house so is very well drained and sometimes need extra water.
I do know that they get big roots of that are straight like a carrot rather than branched, at least for the not so big ones, so if Yours are pot bound this may be part of the reason, for not so good growth?
As You know I am far from an expert so evaluate the comments I have and see if You think they have any substance.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Paddy Tobin]

Hans,

Back to P. jishanensis, the first photograph you posted of these tree paeonies. I was just showing them to Mary and noticed a bumble bee in the middle of the flower. No, I don't wish to know which species of bee just that the bee gave scale to the flower and it strikes me that they are very big. How wide are these flowers?

Another question for you: are there many tree paeonia cultivars available? I grow only two species but would not object to giving garden space to other plants.

Paul,

I only grow the more ordinary Paeonia ludlowii var. lutea and P. delavayi. Both of these are extremely easy from seed, indeed seed about in the garden, P. ludlowii var lutea particularly so. This is just in flower now and this is followed by a huge seed set - can you receive them in the post?

Paddy

[Hans J]

Paddy ,

you are right - this flowers are bigger than perennial peonies ....
I have just looked with a scale :
herbaceae peonies : 5 -9 cm in diameter
tree peonies : 8 - 12 cm in diameter

Yes many tre peony cultivars are avilable -but only few species !
The chinese people use this plants for breeding more than 2000 years !!!

To the nomenclature :
The correct name is P. ludlowii .....this is not a subspecies of lutea !!!
P. ludlowii is the biggest of all peony .
The other yellow flowering is P. delavayi v. lutea is much smaller.
Sometimes is it difficould with P. delavayii and P. delavayii v. lutea - both grows on the same locations .
The true P. delavayi makes not suckers !!! but they make always a lot of seeds .....
It is a problem to get a real P. delavayi v. lutea .....if there is seed aviable so this is mostly P. ludlowii
There exist also a other species . delavayi v. angustilobia - ( P. potanini is a synonym ) -this plants exist in some colors ( yellow ,red ,white ) and they make a lot of suckers .....

Sorry it is all a bit tricky with species peonies 

[Brian Ellis]

Hans, are they all so well scented?

[Hans J]

Brian ,

I have not testet all ...
What I know is that the best parfume have some old P. lactiflora cultivars ( p.e. 'Edulis Superba' or 'Festiva Maxima' !
Some P. lactiflora are also used by producing Parfume