More new openings

Paeonia mollis, a "pseudospecies". It is apparently no longer to be found in the wild, but has perpetuated in gardens, coming true from seed. A smaller plant, only knee-high, with soft-textured attractive leafs. The seeds are noticeably different from all other peony species.





And here the first of my various Paeonia officinalis plants to open, ssp banatica.




And Paeonia triternata with it's lovely 2-tone pink flowers and the excellent undulate blue-green waxy foliage. Neither flower nor foliage are apparently consistently unique across variablity of the species, so apparently the population my seeds were collected from is a more worthwhile form.

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 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.

Still More Peony Seedpods- Carpels

For an introductory discussion of these things, see my weblog entry of July 21.
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Carpels of Peonia officinalis subsp villosa.








Open carpels of Paeonia mollis. I was rather suprised to see that the seeds of this species are apparently ripe, since the carpels have opened. However the seed doesn't quite have the look of fully developed seed so it is possible that they are all aborted seed, causing the carpels to open earlier than would usually be the case.