Wednesday, June 14, 2006

An interesting hybrid of Paeonia mlokosewitschii

Sometimes an accidental (i.e. bee-crossed) hybrid can be interesting although not necessarily spectacular. Paeonia mlokosewitschii is a species which hybridizes readily -- and rather obviously when the flower isn't yellow.

This particular plant (bloom started on 31 May) starts rather drab but becomes quite lovely after a few days. I call it "Summit Ugly Duckling" (per Hans Christian Anderson's tale about the ostracized "duckling" which matured into a swan, to the envy of the rest of the ducks. (Summit is my nursery identifier)). Usually it lasts more than 4 days but the continuous wet and a heavy rain turned the petals to mush by day 5 this year.
Oh, by the way, it's a little bit fragrant.


3 comments:

Denis Wilson said...

Hmmmm - interesting.
I prefer it in its early stages. A nice soft pink, by the looks of it.
Does it have Mloko's foliage?
Denis

Leo said...

Day 1 is actually a rather dirty pink, too unattractive for my liking.

Foliage is true mloko in appearance, yes.

Denis Wilson said...

I see now that you referred to it as "rather drab" on day 1. (Sorry, not paying enough attention.)

The photo makes it look like a nice Hellebore, or something. I am afraid I don't go for the blended colours all that much.

But sometimes, these odd plants can have a kind of charm.