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!!)

The Race for Third

Hard on the heels of P. tomentosa comes P. mascula, the Male Peony. Some years there is no overlap, but this year there is. Which means getting out the paintbrush to pollinate the yellow Woolly one before the bees mess up the genetics. However, down in the shady woodland bed tomentosa rules alone with mascula not even showing colour yet (that is, not yet to the stage of the background bud in this photo). This is a late afternoon photo, with the flower just closing up as clouds move in.

Many others of the round-lobed leaf species are showing colour in their buds and are not too far from bursting forth either.

Spring Reversions

13 April Some peonies are quite far along; these are in the uppermost species bed near the house/walkway. Even the common garden peonies, latest to emerge, are showing their red asparagus-like shoots just about everywhere on the property. The particularily tall plant here (2nd pic) is a Paeonia mascula, nice marble-size buds already showing.














16 April An inch or 3 cm of snow last night, temperature down to -4C. The more precocious shoots (or taller ones if you will) are bent over quite far. Will they recover to full upright?

17 April Sunny and warm (8C-ish) so the snow didn't last long. Question answered, plant seems undeterred.











Last night (18/19April): more of the white stuff, but temperatures just at 0C. At 11a.m. I measured the snow depth at 4 inches or 10 cm with some melting in progress so it might have been an inch or a couple of cm deeper when it fell.


Rhododendron "April Rose", which might actually open in April this year!! Took this pic only because it shows fairly well the amount of snow still hanging around at 11 a.m.





Here, the reason for black or almost black Hellebores! (an orientalis hybrid). The "pitting" in the snow is from clumbs of it falling off the maple tree branches above as it melts.










Red Elderberry, Sambucus pubens, deploying buds seasonally decorated... but most of the decoration has melted off already.










And a collection of species peonies, the next 3 pics. I admit I was expecting to find the tall mascula from above folded flat and was surprised to find that it like most of the less advanced shoots had managed to shed most of the snow and were standing mostly upright. So much for a certain individual's (not me) trite and dysfunctional motto of "No expectations, no disappointments"



















Red maple trees still flowering; if the seed set is reduced by these cold snaps the squirrels will be unhappy (and nursery customers less likely to get a free red maple shoot in every potted plant purchase)

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!!

More of Mascula

A few more shots of the Male Peony, Paeonia mascula. Weather was bright but cloudy which has resulted in an overly bright, almost surreal, tint to the flowers, which I can't fix satisfactorily (the tint, not the flowers!). The threat of showers also caused them to close up a bit.

The second photo is of a group of 4 plants of mascula. To their right, Paeonia steveniana showing one bright yellow bud almost ready to open. To the left, Paeonia emodi in the middle distance and Paeonia ruprechtiana at the left front.

Left rear is a light-pink flowered variant of mascula, close-up of it's flower bud (about a day from opening) is the third photo.

P. mascula is a very ornamental, widespread native of southern Europe: into north-central France and into Austria, around to N Africa (in the mountains): around the Mediterranean. It comprises a complex (or grouping) comprising several subspecies formerly considered of species status. The "type" is native to S Italy, Sicily, Greece and Asia Minor. Populations are somewhat disjunct so it is quite variable. A number of references consider it hardy only to USDA zone 8 but it is happy enough here so is good to Zone 5 or colder; to some degree it may depend on the area of origin of the seed. The true species has 5inch purple flowers, with purple filaments; large sharply-pointed handsome leaves. But it is variable.

Second of the year-- Paeonia mascula

First flower on Paeonia mascula, the Male Peony. (due to the geography of the flowerbed I can't get any closer to it, but I will be able to get a closeup of other flowers when they open.)

Woolly Peony, Paeonia tomentosa, is still in bloom both in the display bed (mostly sun) and in the woodland bed so it is overlapping with another species this year, unlike last year.
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I made a quick visit to the open field where species plants are growing for sale, and found that things are not as far along there as on the home property. This is a first. Worse, some plants have not shown up at all there yet, and many that I had expected would flower this year have no buds. Not sure why... well, that's gardening (and weather effects) for you...

Noses, Shoots, and Deploying Leafs (part 2)

Paeonia mascula, the Male Peony. These are well-developed already, with fat buds.




Steven's Peony, Paeonia steveniana, also going great guns and with fat buds already formed.



The very interesting Paeonia triternata. Mostly green, blueish tinge, not much red or purple in the leaf even at this early stage. Distinctively furled.


One of the subspecies of the Apothecarie's Peony, Paeonia officinalis ssp villosa just showing its nose.



And the enigmatic Paeonia mollis.

A few more peony seed shows

These will all look rather similar, as the species here are all closely related within the "Paeonia mascula complex (or grouping)". Photos are all from 31 August, and the pods had mostly been open for 2 days to a week at that time.

(For more information about the species presented, you will find it in the June/July archives.)
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Paeonia caucasica.






Paeonia ruprechtiana.

Paeonia mascula.

Paeonia kesrouanensis.

Peony seedpods- carpels

The seedpods of Peonies are called carpels. They are generally large and obvious, and can add some summer interest to the foliage groups of peony clumps. Some become quite outstanding in the fall when the seed ripens and the carpels open. Of course, not all the flowers will develop a seed pod, as there is sometimes a failure to pollinate for reasons of weather etc. And not all flowers of a species will have the same number of carpels, so where you see two they may actually have from 1 to 4 or sometimes 5.

The next few postings will show photos of carpels of most of my species. I've separated them by the general characteristics of the plants. Some of them are very similar, some are quite distinctive. Photos were all taken on the same day.
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Today's photos are of the Mascula-type grouping.

Carpels of Paeonia mascula.






Carpels of Paeonia tomentosa.






Carpels of Paeonia ruprechtiana.

Another look - Paeonia mascula

Is this marvelous flower a hybrid peony or within the range of variation of the species Paeonia mascula? I know not ... as a gardener I really like it no matter what, while the purist in me would really like to know what label to stick on it.

And here is a fully developed flower of P mascula. Quite huge, and blowsy in texture, a noteable show.



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In one of my other worlds, the Canadian Under-20 men's soccer team has just finished a 3-game friendly series against Brazil's team. In one of the ironies of soccer, yesterday's match ended 3-1 for Brazil but 3 of the goals were scored by Canadian players, and only 1 by a Brazilian. Other end, guys. Oh, forced errors. Never mind my wry dig, it was a good go by our guys and I was fairly impressed by the skills and soccer sense of our team. The game has come a long way in a relatively few years here. Sure, not up to the class of Brazilian skills but quite respectable. Fun to watch. Game 1 was a 2-1 Canadian victory and well won, game 2 (not televised) was reportedly a near thing but ended at 3-1 Brazil.

A bit of comic relief provided by the commentators in game 3 when, after the ball pinged around off players from both teams for awhile, "Australia comes away with the ball". My word!, three-sided soccer? Australia's participation in the game was confirmed to us later when they were reported to have launched an attack towards the Canadian net (yeah sure, gang up on the underdog) which was foiled by our defence and by the commentator's hearing what he had said (and correcting it, darn). Apparently the Australian national soccer uniform deludedly dares to be a near? look-alike of the Brazilian...

Another species, another colour- Paeonia mascula

Today's beauty is Paeonia mascula, a very ornamental, widespread native of southern Europe: into north-central France and into Austria, around to N Africa (in the mountains): around the Mediterranean. It comprises a complex (or grouping) comprising several subspecies formerly considered of species status. The "type" is native to S Italy, Sicily, Greece and Asia Minor. Populations are somewhat disjunct so it is quite variable. A number of references consider it hardy only to USDA zone 8 but it is happy enough here so is good to Zone 5 or colder; to some degree it may depend on the area of origin of the seed. The true species has 5inch purple flowers, with purple filaments; large sharply-pointed handsome leaves. (Apparently a hybrid often masquerades as mascula? I lack the ability to count leaf hairs and interpolate colour shades sufficiently to say if mine are the true thing or a hybrid.) I have a couple of pinker flowered plants which are not quite open yet, you'll see a pic of them here later in the week.

First flower opened 2 days ago.


My plants of mascula are about equally vigorous in all of my 3 growing regimes (or areas, if you prefer) although shorter in the open field, but are not as vigorous as those of tomentosa. This photo is of the group (4 plants) in part shade; you can see a bit of variation in flower colour.