Paeonia 2011

[Maggi Young]

In my garden seedpods are full every year and every spring it appears that every seed comes up... Twice.

Leon

My heart soars to think of  people with such "weeds" in their gardens as twice sprouting paeony seeds of this calibre! Happy days! 

[DaveM]

As with maggi, paeonies only just getting going here, though P lutea ludlowii has had first few flowers for a week now.

Have been struggling to get a true 'Moly the witch' to flowering size. Had seed many times, most of which didn't germinate - or turned out to be something completely different, or just withered away. I've been waiting for the first flowering of my latest attempt for some years and lo and behold this year there are four flowers. At long last!!!
Wonderful too......

[ruweiss]

Dear friends,
many thanks for your friendly comments. I got the Paeonia ostii 4 years ago as a 20 cm high potted seedling
from a friendly cactus collector(!) and never had to prune it until now.
The P. arietina alba is also a gift from an English plantsman, he told me, that maybe all the plants in cultivation
are from his stock plant. I will do my very best to keep it in good condition.

[Matt]

In my garden seedpods are full every year and every spring it appears that every seed comes up... Twice.

Leon

My heart soars to think of  people with such "weeds" in their gardens as twice sprouting paeony seeds of this calibre! Happy days! 

it is true...the seeds germinate every where...in the lawn as well...even in the compost...and Feng Dan Bai seedlings are likely to flower just after 4 years...no wonder it is so widely cultivated in China.

Dear Maggi...if you want seeds...(how many Kg?) just ask! LOL

The pics were taken on the 13th of April

Matt

[Leon]

Dear Maggi...if you want seeds...(how many Kg?) just ask! LOL

Matt

Matt,

LOL indeed.  That one got a laugh out of me. 

Paeonia ostii root peal is used to treat menstruation (monthly period) pain, hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), blood clots, and stomach pain.  Its reputed to treat hemorrhages, nervous disorders, menstrual difficulties, and, if taken for a long time, it would give vigor to the body and prolong life.   It also relieves blood deficiency (such as fever, skin rashes, and nose bleeding).  The list goes on and on.

If you dig an ostii plant you will quickly realize the medicinal value of P. ostii.  The roots have a powerfully strong pharmaceutical smell.  While the root of this plant treats the ills of more people in the world than any other medicine unfortunately the only pharmaceutical value in the root is the smell. 

Luckily Paeonia ostii saved many Chinese tree peony cultivars.  During Chariman Mao's cultural revolution music, art and anything thought to be beautiful was destroyed.  Individuals that grew cultivars of tree peonies in their gardens would cut the buds off the plant before they could bloom under the pretence that their plant was Feng Dan Bai grown only for medicine. If the plant bloomed and the blooms were not white the plant would have been destroyed and the owner would have been in trouble.

Leon

[Lukas H]

Hello everybody,

About the ostii discussion. I have to look in the evening about pictures. But I have seen and fotographed a wild collected ostii.
The garden of Wädenswil received it as a gift from Gian Lupo Osti personally. But I don't know if it is still alive.

This one is hard to keep alive north of the alps. Very suspectible to fungus, the flowers did'nt open properly and it had stucks in growth. And last it died back to the ground almost every year...
In the flower it looks the same as Feng Dan Bai which is much easier to cultivate and widely available. But I didn't look that propre on the leaves. I hope I have good pictures to post...

All the best

Lukas

[Leon]

In my garden seedpods are full every year and every spring it appears that every seed comes up... Twice.

Leon

My heart soars to think of  people with such "weeds" in their gardens as twice sprouting paeony seeds of this calibre! Happy days! 

Maggie,
I thought you might like to see an area in one of my tree peony beds full of "weeds".  Most are P. ostii but not all.
Leon

[Lukas H]

Here are the promised pictures of the real ostii and the Cultivar Feng Dan Bai.

I don't have a picture of an open flower because there was never an open flower, all these buds died because of a fungus...!

Hope this helps.

Lukas

[Matt]

Thank you very much Lukas!

Very interesting but...those leaves look all the same to me! And even the plant with supposed white provenance seems to have few lobed leaflets. Did you notice at the time any peculiar difference which is not visible on the photographs?

Gian Lupo Osti is still alive...he will be 92 this year...and he has just written a new book "De senectute in horto". Did he not give at the time precise information about his gift to Waedenswil Garden?

Matt

[Hans J]

Here are some pics from a plant which is flowering for me the first time ....it is really interesting  
I have collect some seeds before some years by climbing a mountain in Croatia - normally there grows mostly P.officinalis ...but this plants looks different .
My first idea was that this is P.mascula .....but now I believe this is something from the P.daurica complex  
The leaves looks exactly like my P.daurica ( from W.Mclewin ) ....but they have finished flowering before some weeks - a other strange thing is the flower ....they have basal blotches ....I have never seen before this on a P.daurica.
P.daurica is located in Georgia ....so this is pretty far away  

Any ideas ?

Sorry ...but I have only one single plant  

Hans

[Regelian]

Hans,

do you think it may be a wild mascula-type hybrid or a similar type of hybrid? (P.mascula boduri should have these basal spots) It does have the look of the daurica group, as you say, but these are very close to the mascula ssps. as I understand.  Other than P. mascula, I don't know what other species are found in the area?  Do you?

In any case, a striking plant.  It is in good hands. 

[Hans J]

Jamie ,

it is not a hybrid !!!

On this top of the mountain grows only this kind of plants - the P.officinalis grows far away in other parts of Croatia .
It is shure not a P.mascula ( I know P.mascula from so many populations in the wild )
I believe after the new book of Hond deHuan is P.mascula clear separatet from the P.daurica complex ( mlokosewitchii and other ) -maybe Matt or Lukas can say somthing to this point what is written in this book -I have it not.

I have sometimes found in the wild peonies with basal blotches : P.clusii ,P.broteroi,P.mascula on Sicily ....

Hans

[Regelian]

Hans,
now that IS exciting!  It may well be undescribed, and such a beauty.  Keep us tuned into what goes on.  Hopefully it will self and set seed.

[Hoy]

You are way ahead of me with all your beautiful plant portraits!
Now my first peony has opened - P mairei. I have three plants obtained from Glendoick some years ago and they are all a little different. Only one has opened its flowers yet.

   

[arisaema]

Are any of your clones fragrant? They do seem quite variable, my earliest clone has been in flower for over a week now.