Delicate but tough: Paeonia obovata

A woodland peony from Siberia, this species has ridiculously thin stems, and yet they are strong enough to stay upright all winter here, despite wet snow that levels most other peony stems. The relatively small flowers of the seedlots I've grown remain globular, the one in the photo is as open as they get (until the petals fall off).

Here is a group in the display bed.





One of my plants in the woods had the crown of the root exposed by erosion last winter. In spring it looked like it had had the biscuit, but eventually a single stalk emerged from it. I've since covered it over with more soil and mulch. (photo from 6 May)

I was also surprised earlier this year by the flowering of two plants of Paeonia obovata var. alba which were growing in 1-gallon pots (that's supposed to be a transition size for one year only but the transplanting "schedule" went all awry the past few years and a lot of plants are still languishing in the small pots). Due to their location in pot farms they warmed and developed earlier than the plants in the display bed, blooming a few weeks ago. To avoid confusion I decided not to post the photos until the rest of obovata were in flower.

The flowers are from different seed sources (both are from plants in cultivation, the first from a seed exchange, the second one generation removed from a wild collection); note the difference in the colour of the stamens in the second one. Flowers in both of these are larger and open more widely (almost flat) than the rest of the obovata I've grown.

A few late noses and shoots, and another first flower

Paeonia humilis, also classified as a dwarf subspecies humilis of the Apothecarie's Peony Paeonia officinalis, is just coming up in the display bed next to the Fern-leaf peony. But it was just transplanted here last fall from the open field, so it may normally be earlier.

And also in the display, a.k.a. datum, beds the Siberian Paeonia obovata is just now starting to shoot. It looks decidedly weird surrounded by 2-ft tall peonies in full leaf and ready to flower! The shoot on the right already has a small flower bud sitting on it.
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Meanwhile beside P. mascula the somewhat similar Paeonia ruprechtiana has opened today.

This species ranges from SE Europe to the Caucasus. My plants are from seed reportedly (3rd hand) wild collected in the SW of the Republic of Georgia (Not Georgia USA, but over in the Caucasus region.) Its' natural environment is woodlands and mountainsides in the subalpine zone and lower. Here it is equally vigorous in part shade as in my woods; I don't have any in the open field.

I'm using the name on the label the seed arrived with. Distinctions between some of these very similar species and subsp are often beyond my ability effectively to apply the botanical descriptions of the books to the actual plant sitting in front of me.

Peonies Progress (3)

At last an appearance by Paeonia obovata, from a wild population in Siberia. This species is always the last to appear here, and in fact most of the plants are not even showing this much yet.

The Largeleaf Peony, Paeonia macrophylla, similar to Paeonia steveniana, just emerging and also more advanced in leaf deployment: two plants right beside each other in the same bed.






And the promise of flowers real soon; the buds of Paeonia mairei coloured up and soon to open. This plant is growing in a pot, and so is somewhat ahead of where it would be if I had planted it in a bed.

Noses, Shoots, and Deploying Leafs (part 4)

This one looks an awful lot like the Fern-leaf Peony (Paeonia tenuifolia) but is in fact Paeonia kartalinika (classified by some as P. tenuifolia ssp biebersteiniana). Botanically, the difference is longer leaf segments on kartalinika; horticulturally the difference is that this is a plant of scrub and open forests, whereas tenuifolia is mainly a plant of the grasslands. I've also noticed that tenuifolia has buds readily visible by the time the shoot reaches this moppy stage, whereas on my kartalinika the bud wasn't apparent until 2 days after this pic. But that's probably not a useful distinction even if it is broadly applicable!

Well-formed shoots of the Caucasus Peony, Paeonia caucasica. Good-sized buds already. There is some variation in the degree and shade of reddish-purpleness tints of the leafs between plants.

Slowly enlarging leaf buds of Rock's Peony, Paeonia rockii or Paeonia suffruticosa ssp rockii, possibly the hardiest of the tree peony species. My other tree peony species aren't yet budding out, but should be close to it.

A few noses of a young plant of the Siberian woodlander Paeonia obovata. Older plants of this species are still keeping their heads down, here. Maybe they know something the rest of us don't...

And everyone's favourite, the Golden Peony Paeonia mlokosewitschii. These went from 0 to 8cm overnight, literally (a bit of a heat wave here the past few days-- great cycling!). More purpley than any other species, especially at this stage.

Most of the rest of the Peony seeds, somewhat overdue...

All these photos were taken at the end of August... I almost got them posted last week but the Blogger site got hung up. And then more good weather descended and miles and miles passed under the tires of my road bike... Anyways, here they are at last. One species has yet to open its carpels: Paeonia lactiflora, the Chinese Peony, which is predominant in the ancestry of most of our, dare I say common?, "garden peonies".


Carpels of Paeonia mlokosewitschii, the Golden Peony, had taken on an interesting and showy red tone. (These have since opened, but not until about a week ago. Photo to follow)


Paeonia obovata, the third-last of my species to show its seed display.





Paeonia macrophylla, close kin of Paeonia steveniana (some might say identical or close enough to it) but a tiny bit later to ripen seed.



Paeonia officinalis (in this case, subspecies villosa). Not so exotic and showy, but on close inspection the inside surface of the carpels are satiny reddish in tint. None of the officinalis mob here have had the bright red aborted beads; rather theirs are tiny, shrivelled, and brown. Only the viable seed has any size to it.
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An interesting development during an Argentine football (soccer) match I was watching on tv today: one of the Ball Boys got red-carded and ejected from the field (well, the margins of it anyways!). The kids had been taking their time in giving the ball to the visiting team when they had won a throw-in.

More Peony Seedpods- Carpels

For an introductory discussion of these things, see my weblog entry of July 21.
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Today's photos are of the Asian species I have.

Carpels of Paeonia anomala subsp intermedia

Carpels of Paeonia veitchii.






Carpels of Paeonia obovata. Very distinctive.





Carpels of Paeonia lactiflora (plants from wild-collected seed) These are smaller because they are less weeks from flowering.

From the forests of Siberia- Paeonia obovata

Flowers of this species just opened today in my "datum" partial shade bed but have been open for 2 days in the woodland bed (usually plants in the woodland bed open a few days after those in the datum bed). I don't have any of this species in the open field. Photos were taken in the woods, because high winds elsewhere was blowing the flowers around too much to capture.

Photos of the flowers of obovata usually show a more flat open flower in softer pink or in white, but my dozen or more plants are all uniform in having flowers that retain the globular shape (those in the photos are as open as they get) and also in their dusty light rose colouring. Probably an issue of geographic origin of the seed: mine were grown from seed collected wild in forests near Vladivostok in Siberia.

Opulent foliage, late emerging compared to other species, green from day one until hard winter frosts. Note the ridiculously thin (or even emaciated) stems. Thin, but tough. These are the only peony stems that remain standing here through all the weight of wet winter snows. They do sometimes fold to high winds during the growing season, but apart from lying down the folded stems continue to perform their job as a food conduit.

Outstanding display from seed pods when they open in late summer, reds and blacks in interesting shapes which really illuminate the woods.

Paeonia obovata is native to a wide swath of Asia, including Siberia, Manchuria, China and Japan; it grows in woodlands and scrub in the mountains.
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This is the last of my species to flower except Paeonia lactiflora, the progenitor of the Garden Peonies. Other than obovata, there are still blooms on veitchii and peregrina, and some of the lactiflora hybrid peonies have started to open. Soon the "pure lactiflora" cultivars of garden peonies will start as well and will give me peony flowers until about the 9th of July, give or take a few days.