Seed Surprise

Several years ago I bought some Paeonia tenuifolia seed, hand-pollinated from the double form (but the pollen of course from the single form), from a European botanist. Two flowered last year in the "ordinary" blood-red single form, but this year one of three buds was looking very fat quite early on and surprised me by being this bright pink; and then as if that wasn't enough, a fully double form as well. Gorgeous, and almost the size of my hand. Floppy-stemmed yes, but I can forgive it that. The two photos are 3 days apart.

The other two buds this year will be red, and from the size probably single. And there are about a half-dozen plants that haven't shown their stuff yet. So there is still hope for a double red, but even if the rest are all single I'm not complaining-- this plant alone has been more than worth the purchase and the wait.

No stamens, but a full set of carpels.

Interestingly, the double red form is said to be a couple of weeks later to bloom than the single form, but this double pink is about exactly in synch with my single reds. It's probably no surprise that it is at its best during the concluding and exciting week of this year's Giro d'Italia bike race!

Looking at some of yesterday's photos, and today's, how can anyone wonder that I love growing peonies from seed?!

Unrelated to the above: Rain today, so no further developments in the Ugly
Duckling department.

Aaaghhh! Everything's Opening at Once

Peonies, that is.

With the sudden warmth, the garden has been flooded with the fragrance of the Golden Peony, P mlokosewitschii, (no photo today) which is not as sweet as the later lactifloras, different and distinctive but pleasant. P steveniana might be contributing a bit to the overall ambient fragrance of the yard, but it is mostly mloko. And definitely marvelous! I hadn't noticed mloko's fragrance to be so pervasive before-- used to have to get my nose right into it. Maybe all the fresh air from cycling has sharpened my sense of smell. (Or maybe it just takes 20 years to recover from the miasma of fuel, wet paint and dense cigarette smoke which was the atmosphere of HMC Ships back then (I understand they've done away with the ciggies lately, but maybe not))


Paeonia tenuifolia subsp lithophila, a dwarf form of the Fern Leaf Peony. Single flower, and a group of 4 plants.


















Two flowers this year on the newly-named Paeonia x steveniana cultivar "Contador's Triple Crown". You can read about it at the link below; but it isn't for sale... Due to the sudden heat wave the highlight rose edging of the petals is overly faded, and a better look is at the linked page. http://plants.chebucto.biz/plants/PeonyContadorsTripleCrown.html




A pale-pink flower on mloko-like foliage. This plant grown from seed labelled as "Paeonia mlokosewitschii/ wittmaniana/ caucasica hybrid"







And a white, or at least dead pale, form of P. steveniana.

More New Openings in the Peony Department

Paeonia tenuifolia, the Fernleaf Peony, has opened in full sun. The dwarf subspecies in a bed which is a bit shaded in the mornings is not open yet. There are 2 plants in this photo; on the left, a dark red proper species; on the right, the larger plant is probably a hybrid (it has yet to set seed) and has flowers with a more magenta tint.





Paeonia steveniana, Steven's Peony if one must put a common name to it, as open as it will get. A cloudy day today, so the colour is intensified; it is never that intense of a yellow here.








And here it is behind a crowd of Paeonia mascula and some Paeonia caucasica (a subsp of mascula and pretty much identical to my eye.








A few more buds of steveniana, behind a few plants of another mascula close relative, Paeonia kesrouanensis. (More information about this plant, or any other, by looking up earlier posts in the index.)







And unexpectedly, a plant of the Golden Peony, Paeonia mlokosewitschii, a couple of days earlier than expected. And filling the yard with it's fragrance at an intensity I've never noticed before.

Good news for customers, there are about 15 potted plants from seed of this species in bud (will probably open sometime in the next week)-- not all will be yellow-flowered which is why I have to see the flowers before I can sell the plants- at least one looks like it will be magenta (mascula cross), and some may be apricot or very pale yellow, almost white. Can;t wait to see it (but have to!!)

More peonies of course

Paeonia tenuifolia ssp lithophila, a dwarf form of Fern-leaf Peony; today the sun was out so the flowers opened fully.



Same plant but on a cloudy day; this is meant just to give an idea of plant form. Windy and rainy weather a few days ago have twisted the stems a bit, and with the leafs fully out on the overhanging tree branches these are somewhat more shaded than they would like.
Flower of a seedling of tenuifolia proper, seed from a J Halda collection near Vidin, Bulgaria.



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Paeonia mlokosewitschii, the Golden Peony, opened today in the datum beds although it has been open for a few days already in another bed. This is the palest yellow any of my mloko's have shown as, and is growing in the woodland bed.

From the same seed lot and in the datum bed, a couple of apparent hybrids of mloko. The buds were photographed yesterday, and the opening flower this morning.

I wrote "apparent hybrids" because to the best of my knowledge plants from wild-collected seed do not show these shades of colour, but they are not uncommon in plants grown from garden-origin seed, where cross-pollination with other species is possible.

Although unusual (but perhaps not uncommon among mloko hybrids) and interesting the colour is not exactly the cleanest and I was getting myself set to sell this plant off this year. But the fragrance!! oh my, has convinced me to keep it around: a strong scent of allspice and orange. Strange, didn't notice any scent to it last year.
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This just opened, Paeonia officinalis ssp villosa. Apothecarie's Peony. Similar in flower to P mollis, but taller and with different foliage and seed shape and etc.


And here a closeup of the flower of the Caucasus Peony, P. caucasica.




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Final pic today, the carpels of P steveniana just after the rest of the flower parts have been shed. Still an interesting show with the red pistols... Totally hairless, which is where the synonym P wittmaniana forma nudicarpa came from. If I'd been thinking I would have a pic of P. tomentosa's woolly carpels for comparison.

A few more peony first blooms of the year

Paeonia caucasica, the Caucasus Peony (although there are many other species from the Caucasus)



Paeonia tenuifolia ssp lithophila, dwarf form of the Fern-leaf Peony. Flowers close up when the sun isn't on them, but in sun are wide open.


Paeonia kesrouanensis, very similar to Paeonia mascula. The species is from Asia Minor (Turkey to Syria); my plants are grown from seed collected from plants in cultivation and so may not be true to the species.

A group of 4 kesrouanensis; some steveniana behind them.

A busy day in the sun by the peonies

A sCycling Scaturday for me, riding into the Annapolis Valley (but avoiding the Apple Blossom Festival events) where it was strangely cooler than at home due to a northish breeze off the Bay of Fundy. Took a few pics of the morning beauties before I left, and found a whole palate-able tribe of colour on return.

First a few closeups of Paeonia mascula, the Male Peony, in a few colour variants. Of note, not much bee activity and so the older flowers (not photographed) have a heavy sprinkling of pollen on their lower petals-- usually the bees cart this stuff off to their hives. The first mascula is typical of the average of my plants. Second is the pale variant whose bud was shown yesterday; a superbly interesting centre, with the yellow anthers forming a nearly perfect sphere. The third is a slightly darker colour than the first.





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Yesterday a bud of Paeonia steveniana, Stevens' Peony, sneaked into the frame of a photo. By this morning the bud had swelled significantly, so I took a photo of it, expecting it to probably be in flower by the time I got back. As you can see, it was (a bit of a green tint to the thumbnail, as can be seen on the golfball, but the full-size image is pretty close to correct). More to follow soon, but this is the forerunner. Lots of insect activity inside there! Also in the evening, took a pic of an interesting variant of steveniana which popped up in my seed lot, having a red rim on the petals (or at least it did last year in the field. It is now in one of the home beds where I can keep an eye on it and appreciate it properly!)


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Closely related to mascula but from a different region, Paeonia kesrouanensis opened a few buds while I was away.



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And in a surprise move, one plant of Paeonia mlokosewitschii, the Golden Peony, burst into bloom today (every bud but one!); again a green tinge to the thumbnail but not to the full-size image. This is in a different bed from the main display group (datum group); the datum plants of this species are not yet in bloom. This plant is also one with green foliage instead of the blue-green with purple stems that my other mature plant has.

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Finally, a (probable hybrid of) Fern-leaf Peony, Paeonia tenuifolia, opened today as well. This too is in a non-datum bed. (The thing about non-datum beds is that it is hard to relate the relative sequence of blooming when sun exposure and soil compostion are different between plants of different species. Probably only of concern to pedantic folks like me...)

Whew!!

Growing Peony shoots

(photos from 12 May)

Yes, it's true-- a flower bud on a Paeonia emodi!




Looks like a bad hair day for this Paeonia mollis.




Paeonia triternata showing off it's fresh green naturally wavy leafs, well on their way to be deployed. Fantastic!



One of the Dr. Seuss critters, Paeonia kartalinika, a close relative of the Fern-leaf Peony (P. tenuifolia).

Noses, Shoots, and Deploying Leafs (part 5)

This is the last part of this series of pics from 8 May. Whew.

Fern-leaf Peony, Paeonia tenuifolia, at home in a grass swarm. Not planned; the grass came later (as it is tending to do in all my beds. Why oh why do we insist/persist in using creeping grasses in lawns?! (why do we have lawns at all?)

And here, probably a hybrid of tenuifolia, or maybe just a variation on the species. Whichever, it's also enjoying the grass. And while writing that, it has just occured to me that the grass may help to moderate soil moisture in winter here and thus break the plants out of their habit of decline after wet mild winters. Hmmm, time will tell.

Pre-2000 we used to have cold winters with dry snow; back then Paeonia anomala or the Anomalous Peony used to be way ahead of the garden peonies and the other species I was growing back then (which were only a few, and none of the very early ones). These days it choses to sleep in and in fact is not showing yet in most locations around the property. Note the sections of crown and roots sitting proud of the soil. Several plants of this species have adopted the bareback approach to life almost since they were first planted about 12 years ago. I don't bother covering them up.

And finally showing up today, the noses of the traditional Chinese Peony, Paeonia lactiflora, forebear of most of the garden peonies. More slender than any (?) others, and redder. At last something familiar-looking to many! This plant is grown from seed collected in the wilds of Mongolia or northern China (again, the intrepid Halda).

Missing in action (well, inaction really!) is Veitch's Peony Paeonia veitchii, and several tree peony species. They're just not starting yet.

A brief note to those who check this site daily, I have made 3 postings on the evening of 10 May, all dated 8 May: parts 3-5 of this theme. (the reason for messing with the dates is because of the date of the photos)

Fern-leaf Peony- Paeonia tenuifolia

This species is always a visitor-stopper when in flower and often even when it isn't, despite the fact that it isn't really suited to the wet maritime climate at my place and so never achieves the vigour that it shows further west in Canada. It's not easy to find, and my first plant purchased some 12 years ago has turned out probably to be a hybrid (second and third photos). A few years later I was given a piece of the proper thing (first and third photos) and more recently have been getting results from purchased seed. The first of the seedling batches, a dwarf form called subsp lithophila, has started flowering this year (fourth photo onwards).

The flowers are blood red with a striking eye of yellow anthers. First bloom here in my datum bed (part shade) was 31 May this year, although plants in the open field were two days earlier and my older plants in a more exposed position were another 2 days ahead.

Foliage is very finely divided (less so in the hybrid which is the plant further from the camera in the third photo) and outstandingly so. Plants grow to 1-2 feet tall, perhaps half that in subsp lithophila. Here, perhaps due to the wetter climate, it can tend to be a bit recumbent (eg 5th photo) but normally stems should stand upright. It's only fault is that it is the one peony most likely to go dormant in late summer in hotter and drier locations. I'm usually spared from that though.

New growth usually appears quite early, but are not bothered by snowfalls that come later to cover them. Young shoots look rather like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, and at that stage it is easy to see that this peony tends to form a spreading colony rather than the tight clump most other peonies grow as. When happy it can grow to carpet an area several metres across.

P tenuifolia is native to southeastern Europe, from Yugoslavia into Russia, the Crimea, the Ukraine, Turkey and the Caucasus. It grows mainly in dry grassy areas, although also occuring in open woodlands, and enjoys a bit of limestone in the neighborhood.

Here, it lacks vigour in my woodland bed (definitely pushing the envelope!) and is best with as much sun as it can get. Care needs to be taken here over its drainage. It does much better in the colder prairies of Canada than it will ever do for me, but it is worth the effort of proper siteing to have even a small clump of it.