Peonies

[Branching Out]

Interesting @Branching Out , peonies from seed. I have quite a few this year that have popped up around the yard, surprisingly. Very tiny little plants in odd places; I didn't even know peonies could do that. I have single tree peony, which DH injured a section of a few years ago, and that one section now grows back every year as a herbaceous peony, with totally different flowers and centres. The tree peony blossoms are white, huge with pinkish centres, the part that regrows each year now has now rose pink blossoms with yellow centres, and they're smaller too. I wonder if my mystery peony plants are originating with that altered plant section.

How unusual to have two different forms on one shrub. Is it possible that a seed of a herbaceous peony might have germinated so close to the base of the tree peony that it appears as one plant, but is in fact two? I have never grown a tree peony, and so have never had a chance to closely examine their root structure. Clearly I have a lot to learn where woody peonies are concerned. Whether it is one plant or two it sounds like you get a beautiful display of flowers each spring. https://americanpeonysociety.org/learn/woody-peonies/

Two of the seed packets that I ordered are of Lutea hybrids, https://solarisfarms.com/2021/11/13109/
In reading about Luteas I realize that when you scratch the surface of peony breeding things seem to become complex rather quickly; it's a tad overwhelming. For now I will just sow the seeds, wish them luck, and wait for gorgeous blooms to emerge in the coming years. Simple is good sometimes.

The ripe black peony seeds look kind of like sunflower seeds, but rounder and hard as a rock. I wonder if birds sometimes take them and then give up on them, scattering them around the garden where they can germinate in unusual places. According to the advice of the sage peony grower who facilitates the seed sale each year it is important to not transplant or move the young plants in spring. He says you will lose them. The time to transplant is September. (And apparently non-members can order seeds from the CPS seed sale, https://peony.ca/wp-content/uploads/Canadian-Peony-Society-2024-Seed-List-v2-May-9-2024.pdf )

When I find new peony plants popping up in spring I mark them with a ring of stones, so I don't weed them out by accident. It can take 3-4 years for them to produce their first bloom. Of all of the peonies that have popped up in my garden only two have been noteworthy in terms of the blossom being unusual and really pretty. For the most part the seedlings have produced flowers that are very similar to the parents that already exist in my garden. I have also not done a good job of labelling my plants, and given that I have a lot of them new ones sneak in unnoticed sometimes. If I could go back and talk to younger me twenty years ago I would have suggested better record keeping, right from the start. If I could turn back time...

 

[heirloomgal]

The tree peony had a piece broken off by DH when he mistakenly thought I asked him to change it's location, (I was actually asking him to move something else!) and he drove a shovel right through it's side when he pried it out. That little piece is what grows back with completely different leaves and all. All tree peonies, if ever cut back to the ground in fall or spring, cease to ever be tree peonies again. They will return, but only ever as herbaceous peonies from then on. Even a piece will no longer be a tree peony, it's rather an odd thing and I do wonder what kind of funny breeding is behind this phenomenon. I guess they are made by grafting. Martha Stewart tells a story of how all her precious Japanese tree peonies, ones she had collected over a long period of time from far and wide, were all trimmed to the ground one spring by her gardeners by accident. They thought these were the same as the herbaceous ones. She called the peony greenhouse from where she got some of them from, crying hysterically, and they told her those peonies will be no more. To treat them like regular peonies now.

A little dialogue re:

https://garden.org/thread/view/65972/Tree-Peon-turning-into-normal-Peony/

 

[Branching Out]

The tree peony had a piece broken off by DH when he mistakenly thought I asked him to change it's location, (I was actually asking him to move something else!) and he drove a shovel right through it's side when he pried it out. That little piece is what grows back with completely different leaves and all. All tree peonies, if ever cut back to the ground in fall or spring, cease to ever be tree peonies again. They will return, but only ever as herbaceous peonies from then on. Even a piece will no longer be a tree peony, it's rather an odd thing and I do wonder what kind of funny breeding is behind this phenomenon. I guess they are made by grafting. Martha Stewart tells a story of how all her precious Japanese tree peonies, ones she had collected over a long period of time from far and wide, were all trimmed to the ground one spring by her gardeners by accident. They thought these were the same as the herbaceous ones. She called the peony greenhouse from where she got some of them from, crying hysterically, and they told her those peonies will be no more. To treat them like regular peonies now.

A little dialogue re:

https://garden.org/thread/view/65972/Tree-Peon-turning-into-normal-Peony/

I had never heard of grafting woody peonies before-- who would have thought?? The APS mentions it here, https://americanpeonysociety.org/learn/woody-peonies/#culture

 

[heirloomgal]

Well that is a surprise, these Lutea hybrids can grow back as a tree peony even if the tops die off. I guess it must be because these specific peonies are from seeds, and not grafted varieties. I wonder if these are the only tree peonies that are not grafted varieties? Also interesting- that part of why tree peonies need to be planted deeper than herbaceous ones is so the graft is below ground, to ensure the herbaceous root stock doesn't sprout! Wow!

 

[Branching Out]

The more I learn, the less I know.

 

[heirloomgal]

My now 'Gemini' natured tree peony

 

[Branching Out]

Back in May I stuffed bags and bags of peonies in our basement beer fridge for long term storage. Some were placed in large plastic bags, and some were wrapped in packing paper and then bagged. When I took them out of the fridge those blooms that sat for months in only plastic were covered in water drops-- and often mold. I was able to salvage a few stems, but most had to be tossed out. The ones that were rolled individually in packing paper and then placed in a plastic bag did very well. I had to remove the occasional sepal or petal, but most of these buds were dry and in pristine condition and there was little evidence of black mold on the paper. Next time I will write the date of harvest on the packing paper for each bundle, and the name of the variety as well where possible. I ended up with 45 usable stems, so a successful venture considering that the peonies had been in cold storage for two months. And believe it or not several ants and an ear wig crawled out of the bags as I was opening them!

 

[Branching Out]

If anyone is interested in trying this technique next spring, start saving large plastic bags now. The big plastic bags from toilet tissue work great for the broad blossom ends, and then smaller bags can be used to hold the narrow stems.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

This thread ….What an informative interesting read. You all have some amazingly lovely peony’s posted in this thread. It’s those beautiful peony blooms that spark up my moral after a hard winter .

I have a few peony seedlings that popped up in odd places. One started a few years ago in a crack in the driveway. I haven’t had the heart to dig it out , but it comes up every year. Still curious to see how it does, it’s only about 8-9” high - shrub type.

I have several tree peony’s… and unfortunately I also have ground squirrels . A 28 year old peony was totally destroyed , they eat the roots. It was a 5 foot tall tree peony. I’m still upset about it. So I went on the war path to get rid of the lil pests . It’s taken time they keep movin to different areas. I tried everything . Mint spray works for awhile. They are so trenched in around the perimeter and foundations. Very destructive. They keep me on my toes.

Last season they got in all my pots overwintering and ate all the dahlia tubers and planted hazel nuts or should I say stored the nuts. The next spring all I had coming up from the pots were lil tiny hazel nut seedlings. OMG it’s so maddening. If it isn’t ground squirrels it’s every other ground critter and deer. I try not to let it bother me but geez even plants that are mature … suddenly …boom they are gone. I also use Plantskyyd keeps deer out. I have even seen deer taking bites out of peony’s. When the flowers fully opens they are missing an area the size of a deer bite - chunk missing out of the flower. I tell ya it’s a jungle out there.

This season the tree peony’s left seemed like they are recovering well from the root attacks still spraying the area with mint and keeping it fairly dry.
Ok … my apologies …. sorry rant over…!