Peony Season Officially Comences here (meanwhile in Edmonton...)

Yesterday afternoon (a gorgeous sunny cycling +23C afternoon!) the buds were still tight and showing no more colour than in the photos of 2 days ago. This morning, P. tomentosa the Woolly Peony was a yellow ball but not yet open, but by mid-afternoon the sun (although cooler than yesterday) had worked its magic and the first flower was open. 10 days ahead of 2006, 21 days ahead of 2007 (that's according to the previous entries in this blog).




In other good news on the tomentosa front, seedlings of this species are up so in a year or two I will once again be selling this species.




Meanwhile, P. mairei also opened after having had nicely coloured buds for several days (20 days ahead of 2007). However, we can see in the photos that these have some frost damage from the last snow day, more from the temperatures than from the snow itself; this probably retarded the opening of the buds by a few days. The frost damage is apparent in asymetrical petal shapes and in the outer rings of dead anthers (more noticable in the semi-open flower). Stigmas are very small too, as can be seen vaguely in comparison with the 2007 photo.










Glaucidium palmatum also opened over the weekend; this is considered by some botanists to be a member of the Peony family, although a different Genus. Horticulturally I find few similarities, but my analysis is only skin deep.

Meanwhile my sister in Edmonton posted photos of yesterday's wet snowfall which looks close to 5" deep... Strangely, if I recall correctly (and there's no guarantee of that!) Edmonton was having about +20C temperatures in sun during the last wintery blast here.

Another Seed Pod-- Glaucidium palmatum

Several moons ago I devoted a weblog entry to this near-relative of the Peonies-- near enough that some botanists include it in the same family. So I have decided to post a photo of its ripe seed pod and seeds (fortunately the squirrels or whatever had not found a couple of plants; the rest were striped clean). The view is from directly above. Not very similar to peonies now, is it?

A close Peony relative- Glaucidium palmatum

Looking back in time by several days to Glaucidium palmatum. Native to a few of the islands of Japan in thickets and woodlands of mountainous areas. Except for the leaf shape which is more like some Podophyllums (Mayapples) or Maples, it is similar to peonies in effect and habits (some botanists include it in family Paeonaceae, others in Ranunculaceae (Buttercups)); others place it in a family of its own. Rated hardy to USDA zone 4 in some references, and is finally doing okay for me here. Doesn't take as long to flower from seed as the rest of the Peonies, a mere 3 years as opposed to 5 to 7 -- or even more.

A quiet plant with nice foliage, clump-forming and from 1 to 2 feet tall although still short (around 6 inches) when flowering here. Flowers opened at about the same time as Paeonia tomentosa, 14 May and by today only a few tattered petals are hanging on. It comes in 3 main colours: lavender, white and pink.