Our first adventure with peonies started almost 40 years ago when we bought a collection of about a dozen varieties. This included:
- Festiva Maxima, large ivory-white
- Lillian Cumin, rose-pink
- Walter Faxon, vivid pink
- Lady Alexandra Duff, blush-pink
- Kelway’s Glorious, white
- Felix Crousse, crimson
- Solange, light pink
We moved our garden twice in the following years, but we still have most of the original plants. As the years passed, we added many new varieties so that today we have over 200.
Among the best are:
- Mrs. Livingston Farrand, dark pink
- Walter Faxon, pink
- Elsa Sass, cream white
- Baroness Schroeder, pure white
- Kelway’s Glorious, white
Le Cygne is a charming white with broad, rounded petals. Also new is Marilla Beauty, a large, double blush-white.
They Are Permanent
We like to grow many peonies in our perennial borders because they have permanence and stay put for years, while some plants must be moved every other year or so.
Peonies have been known to thrive and bloom in the same spot for more than 50 years. Then, too, their needs are simple.
When planting, prepare the soil by digging the holes large and filling the bottoms with compost, well-rotted manure, and bone meal.
After covering with soil, plant the divisions so the eyes are not more than two inches below the surface. Then water well.
An occasional top dressing of compost and a balanced fertilizer worked into the soil around plants will maintain vigorous growth.
Keep plants cleanly cultivated, and after flowering, remove seed pods and cut and burn stems in the fall. Dust around plants with Bordeaux mixture in the early spring, just as the shoots emerge, to prevent diseases.
Brand Introductions
We soon became aware of the Brand introductions and added A. M. Brand, a white, late bloomer with us, and the floriferous Frances Willard, white with a faint pink blush.
This and Baroness Schroeder are a real joy because they produce so many flowers, enough to cut and cut without spoiling the garden effect.
And who would be without Festiva Maxima? Every collection should include this white flecked with crimson, a satisfactory variety in gardens for over 100 years.
Space permitting, add the white Elsa Sass for its velvety texture, stiff stems, and medium height. Keiway’s Glorious, Mrs. Frank Beach, and Mrs. J. V. Edlund are all white show flowers, as is Nancy Nicholls.
There are so many pinks that it is difficult not to slight some. My favorites are Hansina Brand and Myrtle Gentry, and two of the purest pinks are Walter Faxon and Mrs. Livingston Farrand.
Therese and Tourangelle, both light pink, are two older kinds still on top of the list.
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, with long, loose petals of the softest pink, is a joy, and Rose of Tralee, a low grower, is a distinctive pink.
Top of the List
Mons. Jules Elie heads the list of the deeper pinks. Reliable and prolific bloomers are Blanche King, a late, deep pink, and Mme. Emile Debatene, a dark pink.
With us, they have been growing in a rather neglected place for many years but never fail to perform well.
Claire DuBois is an older peony of distinct color, violet-rose, tipped silver, lovely when cut in the bud and brought indoors to open.
Ella Christiansen, Martha Bulloch, and Sarah Bernhardt are all good, rich, deep pinks. Rosalie is a dwarf red, a gem for a favorite spot in the front of the border.
Philippe Rivoire is still our favorite red. Its fragrance is delightful, and while the flower is not large, more are produced than on some of the larger flowering varieties.
Stems are stiff and strong. Longfellow, a rich glowing red, holds its color in the hottest sun.
If you wish a black-red, Mons. Martin Cahuzac, with its silky maroon luster, is recommended. Mendota, the origin of Auten, is a huge, intense red overcast with purple.
Ruth Clay, a newcomer to our garden, is a lively glowing red, one of the latest to bloom.
‘We are also fond of single and Japanese peonies. They are excellent. For borders, they have stiff stems that hold the flowers up well, even after summer storms.
In the single class, Krinkled White and Dwarf Le Jour are good whites, and for pink, there is Helen.
For Japanese reds, we grow Nippon Beauty and Nippon Brilliant. Tora-no-maki is our best Japanese white, and good pinks are Ama-no-side and Nippon Gold.
A Bright Salmon Pink
About 12 years ago, we saw our first early hybrid peony, Laura Magnuson. A young plant, its three bright salmon-pink, semi-double flowers were exquisite.
A few weeks later, we visited with the late Lyman Glasscock and saw the results of peony breeding over the past 25 years, where we saw undreamed of colors—smooth palest salmon, glowing orange-salmon, cerise-pinks and every imaginable hue of red, from brilliant cherry through to the darkest red, in flowers that were single, semi-double and fully double.
These early hybrid peonies were the result of crossing various species, such as P. Officinalis, P. albiflora, P. lobata, P. anomala, P. mlokosewitschii, and others.
Some outstanding pinks are Salmon Glow, Brightness, the brightest cerise-pink; Eventide, a huge, very tall, soft rose-pink; and Flames, a flaming brilliant red.
Among the reds were Cherry Red, Black Monarch, Convoy, and our favorite of all, Burma Ruby, a single with immense flowers, the color of a Burmese ruby.
Turning to the Saunders varieties, we found two desirable whites, Campagna and Chalice. The latter’s flowers measured 12” inches across in our garden last spring.
Professor Saunders originated Laura Nlagnuson and was the variety that inspired us to continue our adventure with peonies. Introduced in 1941, there is still not enough available stock.
Victoria Lincoln is one of the most handsome pinks, a magnificent sight when established. Alexander Woollcott is a semi-double, shining crimson that never fades in the sun.
There are even yellows among these hybrids, such as the creamy yellow Moonrise and Mlokoscwitschi, a small yellow species that can easily be grown from seed. Both are precious additions.
An added advantage of hybrid peonies is that they bloom simultaneously as iris and Oriental poppies.
The low-growing Salmon Glow peony, with the taller, very pale blue iris Sylvia Murray, is breathtaking. These hybrid peonies also divide easily and conic into bloom almost always the year following after separating.
For example, we started with a four-eyed division of the large, double rose-red Bed Charm about six years ago.
Today, we have four large, established blooming plants. This variety, furthermore, has a way of walking off with top honors at shows.
44659 by Marie Fischer