Paeonia 2011

[Regelian]

Leon,

quite a collection you have going.  I rarely see the Daphnis group offered, and then it is a top dollar affair.  Nice to see these.  Do any of them set seed?

[David Nicholson]

very nice indeed Leon

[Leon]

Jamie,
Yes, a number of the Daphnis hybrids are fertile.  Unfortunately I have not had good luck getting seedlings to survive and large enough to bloom.  I get a number of seedlings up but most are lost the first summer.  I have begun to plant seeds in pots rather than sowing in the ground.  I hope I will have better luck.

 I set a goal a number of years ago to try to get a complete collection of Daphnis peonies.  I do try to get some each year.  It is getting harder.  Most plants I am missing are more rare and some are available but never seems to fit into my budget. Many of my plants are from scions that I was able to graft and grow.  By my count Daphnis registered 48 cultivars.  Some of them you just never see.  I fear that two of them may be totally lost. These are Nassos Daphnis (D-361) and Medea (D-360).  Many will argue that Nassos Daphnis is not a registered cultivar.  I would think someone has these growing in their garden but they may no longer have them named.  I will post more photos as other cultivars begin to bloom.

Leon

[David Nicholson]

Paeonia lovers who haven't found it before may find this Site of interest.

http://www.linwoodgardens.org/Linwood_Gardens/Home.html

[Maggi Young]

Paeonia lovers who haven't found it before may find this Site of interest.

http://www.linwoodgardens.org/Linwood_Gardens/Home.html

 and this one, also......http://www.paeonia.ch/zuechtere/Nasso1e.htm

[Lvandelft]

About this peony the only reference I can give as coming from Roy Lancaster and I presume that P. rockii
is a parent and that I like it very much?

Paeonia Sandrine

[Regelian]

A favourite hybrid, 'Athena', opened this weekend.  Very precocious, very beautiful.  Plus a shot of P. anomola.  Great substance on this seedling.

Athena
anomola

[ruweiss]

Many years ago, I sowed seeds from a P. tenuifolia, but the resulting plants did not look like mummy.
I suppose, that the (bumble)bees carried pollen of other wild peonies to this plant, maybe from P.mascula,
and think, that the result is quite showy.
P. ostii is the most vigorous tree peony I ever grew.
P. mlokosewitschi is more cream coloured as the picture shows, my camera seems,to have some problems
with yellow.

[Maggi Young]

If anyone who has not yet discovered the beauty of paeonies sees these pages, their hearts will be captured instantly, I am sure!

So far I have only the first flowers out on P. lutea.... but other buds are getting fat.

The day I have a clump to rival that magnificent P.  ostii is the day I will be breaking open the champagne!

[johnw]

Rudi - I think your ostii is the most beautiful peony I've ever seen.  And the foliage is so delicate and almost bamboo-like.

As it's also native to Gansu it should be very cold hardy.  How high up does it grow in Yunnan?  Did you grow cw seed?

johnw

[arisaema]

P. ostii is completely hardy here, John, you shouldn't have any problems with it

[Lesley Cox]

A couple of pictures of one of the tree Paeonies from the garden this morning I believe I may have spelt this wrong it is Hanokisoi

'Hana Kisoi' I think.

[Matt]

Hi Rudi,

Great plants!

I had never seen the albino version of P. arietina! Stunning! Where does it come from? From wild origin?

Do you prune quite hard your P. ostii to keep it so compact?

Matt

[Matt]

Rudi - I think your ostii is the most beautiful peony I've ever seen.  And the foliage is so delicate and almost bamboo-like.

As it's also native to Gansu it should be very cold hardy.  How high up does it grow in Yunnan?  Did you grow cw seed?

johnw

What we grow in our gardens with the mane of P. ostii is likely to be a plant originated and selected in cultivation, not in the wild. The Chinese, who call it "Feng Dan Bai", grow those plants quite extensively (in fields!) to harvest the roots. Calling those plants Paeonia ostii it is a bike like calling the wheat we see in the fields Triticum aestivum. After so many centuries (millennia for the wheat!) of cultivation those plants are likely to be only a selection of the species...a kind of "domesticated" species (if not a hybrid!).
Of course few plants of so called P. ostii were found in the wild...but in the same way one can find wheat growing in a woodland...on the side of the roads...or even in the stones between railways tracks!...this doest mean that those plants are from wild origin!

Lukas H. has information about a plant of apparently wild origin brought back from China by Gian Lupo Osti...which is quite tender...Lukas may be you have more to tell us about this!

Matt

[Leon]

Feng Dan Bai, is very likely to have some hybridization in its heritage.  Most specimens of the cultivar Feng Dan Bai shows some degree palmation in the leaflets.  Pure species P. ostii should shows no palamtion at all and all leaflets should be more toward a lanceolate or narrowly ovate form without any lobes.  I have a few plants in my garden that I obtained as P. ostii but all show some degree of plamation.  It is very difficult to obtain a good plant of the species.  Since Feng Dan Bai is grown by the hundreds of hectares in China the seeds are easily available.  This cultivar is generally seed grown rather than being grafted. 

In my garden seedpods are full every year and every spring it appears that every seed comes up... Twice.

Leon