Each Little World

Peonies: Itoh or intersectional hybrids

Tree peonies (P. suffruticosa) have flowers that are so large and layered that they don't seem quite real to me. Like "dinnerplate" dahlias, their size has rendered them useless as an integral part of a garden or a bouquet. They steal the show in both instances.

The old-fashioned peonies (P. lactiflora) that have been growing at my house for the last 50 years have been shaded out by the tree canopy. That's less of a problem for me since I've started growing woodland or species peonies, which flower before the trees leaf out. At the other end of the peony season is my Itoh or intersectional hybrid peony, 'Border Charm,' which just finished blooming this week — done in by high temps and rain.   

These plants are the "result of crossing tree peonies, which have woody stems, and herbaceous peonies, which die back to the ground in winter," according to Klehm's Song Sparrow catalog; the source of my plant. The result of this cross-breeding is that Itoh peonies have the flowers and foliage of tree peonies but die back each year like the herbaceous peonies. The whole plant also tends to be hardier and smaller in stature.

'Border Charm,' for example is a compact plant that only gets about 24" in both height and width. Mine has certainly achieved that in the four years I've had it in the garden. Because of their smaller size, Itoah peonies can easily be incorporated into a perennial border; though I have mine growing as a specimen under a Ginkgo tree near the pond.

The Klehm catalog describes the flowers on 'Border Charm' as single, nodding blooms. I would say they have a layer or more of petals but tend to remain cup-shaped with a dramatic center (above). The flowers don't open out as much as some peonies and definitely not as much as traditional tree peonies. Until this year —  when the first flower to open showed its parentage (below). Whether it was the result of the age of the plant or the long cool Spring or a fluke, I can't say. The other flowers all fell prey to the weather before they had a chance to open wider than usual. So I have to wait until next year to see how they all perform.

 

When I bought my 'Border Charm' peony in 2005, Klehm was selling it for $45.00; now it's down to $39.95 for a 3-4-year-old plant. But that's a steal compared to the price of many of the Itoh peonies which cost up to $90 in the Klehm Song Sparrow catalog. On the other hand, Roger Anderson, an Itoh breeder from Fort Atkinson, has a new one going for $250, while Plant Delights Nursery is offering his introduction — 'Bartzella' — for $150. 

Summer solstice

This may be the official first day of summer, but summer arrived here one week ago today. It was the kind of perfect day you dream about deep in winter: sunny and warm with enough of a breeze to keep the leaves softly rustling and the mosquitoes at bay. I spent it at a baby shower held on a farm in the country not far outside of Madison — surrounded by old stone walls, good food, horses, dogs, prairie grass, and of course, old friends. Meanwhile Mark was in a different part of countryside checking out all our potter friends at the annual Cambridge Pottery Festival. He snapped this photo which perfectly captured the mood of the day.

This may be the official first day of summer, but what's been noteworthy about its arrival this year is the endless Spring that preceded it. We've had an occasional day where the temps shot up into the high 70s pushing the blooming forward; but mostly it's been cool with plenty of rain and soft, cloudy light. It's been hell if you're trying to get tomatoes started, but heavenly otherwise. My rhodie — which had a record 17 flowers last year — had just under 50 this year. The 'Guernsey Cream' clematis had maybe a dozen blossoms last year; 40 this year. It's like the garden has been on steroids (weeds, too). 

This may be the official first day of summer, but I'm still celebrating Spring. The bouquets I made last weekend continue to hold pride of place indoors today. They're not composed of the Astilbes or Astrantias that are coming into bloom. Instead, I'm honoring the last blissful remnants of the stars of the Spring garden: The metallic gold seedheads of the Guernsey Cream clematis (above) and the glazed seed pods of peony 'Burnished Bronze' (below, along with leaves of Hechera 'Pewter Veil,' Cimicifuga 'Brunette,' and Geranium phaeum 'Samobor').

This may be the official first day of summer, but I've gardened for enough seasons to know that nothing is ever the same in the garden. You can't count on enjoying the same pairings of plants blooming together or your favorite shrub or vine producing more flowers each successive year. Change and uncertainty are what make gardening so frustrating and so enjoyable at the same time. During all these gorgeous Spring days, when others were clamoring for warmer weather, I reveled in the long slow unfolding of the season. I marveled at the lushness of the flowers and the length of blooming. I made myself stop — over and over again — to enjoy this special Spring, knowing I will never see another one quite like it.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 06.15.09

June is still bustin' out all over. The garden is one big bouquet: lush, colorful, fragrant, with buds and blooms coming and going almost before your eyes. I'd complain that I'm exhausted from running hither and yon to see what's different than yesterday or this morning — except that this is what I've waited for and dreamed of all year. 

Carol, who started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, calls her blog "May Dreams Gardens," referring to those winter dreams of the days in May when "the garden is all new again." My June wish fulfillment is pictured below.

The second daylily of 2009 — the Lemon lily — has tall scapes and is sweetly scented with its citrus namesake. This lily (Hemerocallis flava or H. asphodelus, above) is an early bloomer, often appearing in May with the daylily that opens first for me year after year: Dumort's daylily (H. dumortieri), colored the orangey-yellow of schoolbuses. Also blooming H. 'Cricket;' to be followed by about 18 more varieties throughout the summer.

This photo barely does justice to the glowing cerise flowers of Heuchera 'Rave On,' a trial plant I received a few years ago from Terra Nova nurseries. It's a compact charmer with silvered leaves. I never filled out my forms for Terra Nova, so if you're reading this, it's one great little plant! My garden includes 20 different Heucheras of different ages, sizes, colors, and habits. All but a few are sporting airy clouds of flowers. But I'll love them all just as much once the flowers are gone. You know it's all about the leaves with this plant — but that's a different post!

If I love Heucheras, I'm mad for Geraniums with sixteen varieties scattered about the garden. But where most of Heuchers are planted as an individual exclamation point or modest clump of three or four plants, my Geraniums cover the ground in waves of pink and lavender. They are the signature flower of my garden, ranging from the petite G. dalmaticum to the dramatic G. phaeum 'Joan Baker' clocking in at 39 inches tall.  Above is Geranium renardii 'Tschelda' with thick, gray green leaves and velvety purple flowers.

I can see the dark ruby red flowers of Clematis 'Niobe' from the window above the kitchen sink — an unplanned bonus! One of only three Clematis in the garden and the sole one blooming at the moment.

A tiny treasure without an index card in my plant identification catalog. Do you recognize it? Clearly a dwarf, creeping Campanula but it is very well-behaved and does not seem to set seed or romp. Perhaps C. cochlerifolia?

The big clumps of fragrant peonies that had been growing here since the house was built in 1954 have sadly been shaded out. I've planted a few early woodland peonies to avoid that problem but only have three P. lactiflora varieties in my limited sunny areas. This beauty is "Soft Salmon Joy," a single, 28" tall, mid-season peony introduced by Roy Klehm of Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm and Nursery. Roy brought enough plants to give to everyone in attendance at his Oct. 2001 talk to the members of the Wisconsin Hardy Plant Society. As a Wisconsin nurseryman with strong ties to the state, Klehm has been very generous to the WHPS.

This Iris siberica came from my sister's garden in Pennsylvania. It is one of five varieties (out of seven) blooming at the moment in the garden. It wouldn't be June without irises!

Last but never least is my lone rose : Rosa rugosa var. Albo-plena. It is rather a light bloomer (my usual problem of too much shade) with slightly double flowers. It is, however, knock-your-socks-off fragrant and well-worth finding room for in your garden.  

One of three bouquets of June bloomers that I picked over the weekend. Here are the peony and Heuchera mentioned above along with daylilies (lemon on the left and Dumort's on the right), the limey green flowers of Lady's Mantle and a few flowers of Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' in the lower left corner of the vase.

Woodland peonies

Peonies are a sentimental garden favorite whose luscious — almost lascivious — flowers never fail to conjure up memories of other Springs, other gardens. What I love about peonies is also what I hate about them: these beauties can’t seem to hold their blowzy heads up, even in the best of weather.

Though many gardeners seem unaware of them, there are other kinds of peonies which don’t have this problem. I’m not talking about tree peonies which literally grow into a woody, small tree with dinner-plate size flowers. I mean the progeny of wild peonies from Japan, Turkey, Mongolia, the Himalayas and other romantic locations. Sometimes they’re also referred to as species, mountain or woodland peonies.

Paeonia obvata willmottiae, of Chinese origin, has cerise pink flowers that glow against its crisp green foliage.

Whatever you call them, these peonies are members of a complex family and I find it’s easy to get confused, if not entirely lost, when trying to figure out their parentage and origins. Suffice it to say that most of these are very early blooming, herbaceous peonies that die back each year just like the more well-known border peonies (Paeonia lactiflora). But many of these peonies can take a bit of shade, like that at the edge of a woodland.

Most are single flowered with petals that are silky with a faint crinkled edge reminiscent of the deckle on handmade paper. They range in color from white through mauve to pink and intense reds.

This woodland peony, Paeonia obvata var. alba, emerges with bronze foliage.

I’m currently growing five varieties: Paeonia anomala, P. japonica, P. obvata var. alba, P. obvata willmottiae, and P. vetchii. The obvatas and japonica (planted in 2006) all flowered for the first time in the spring of 2008; all on May 7th. The anomala and vetchii plants are still too young to flower; they need at least another year to mature.

Paeonia obvata var. alba

I’m still very much in the process of learning about these plants. For example, one article that I read noted that Paeonia obvata var. alba is often confused with P. japonica which has similar flowers but blooms later. I definitely agree that the flowers are similar but both my japonica and obvata bloomed at the same time this year and last. In fact, they opened at practically the same instant.

Paeonia japonica in bud.

The flowers of both are ethereally beautiful but the leaves of Paeonia obvata var. alba are extraordinary. They emerge the most amazing soft copper color and stay that way until just after the plant blooms. Now they are slowly turning to green which is the color the leaves of all my other peonies have been from the first.

But as beautiful as the leaves and flowers are, the obvata seed pods are a brilliant blue-black and as Klehm's Song Sparrow catalog notes they  “glisten against a red backdrop.” Quite a spectacle, I can assure you!

The petals of Paeonia japonica flowers are silky white with a faint crinkled edge. 

Alas, you will have to do a little searching to find these peonies. Even the Klehm family, who have been breeding peonies for generations, only offer a couple of varieties of such peonies — and then not every year. In 2007 they had P. japonica and P. obvata in their Song Sparrow catalog and on their Web site, but I could not find either of them listed this year.

Plant Delights Nursery, another of my favorite sources for interesting and unusual plants via the mail, has P. japonica and two varieties of P. obvata in their 2009 offerings.

Paeonia japonica

 

I’ve discovered most of these less common peonies at Seneca Hill Perennials, a nursery in Oswego, N.Y. with a terrific assortment of plants. For example, the 2009 catalog (available on-line only) lists 6 Hepaticas, 17 Cyclamen (a particular specialty), and about two dozen species peonies. For many of its listings, Seneca Hill offers younger and smaller plants that make for an economical purchase. Your credit card takes less of a hit but the catch is that you may have to wait a couple of years for these plants to attain flowering size.

Paeonia obvata var. alba (both photos directly above)

Prices, being tied to size and age of plants, also vary widely. My 2005 Seneca Hill P. vetchii cost $8 and the anomalas were $12 each. The 2006 P. obvata var. alba was $10 from Seneca Hill while Klehm’s P. obvata cost $29.95. It is worth noting that both plants are of a similar size now and both bloomed for the first time the same year.

Paeonia obvata var. alba (above) and Paeonia japonica (below) going to seed.

My advice is to simply go looking to see what you can find and then buy what you like. I’m completely smitten with these beauties whose delicate looks belie their hardiness. I can’t do better than turn to Reginald Farrer who captured these unsung plants so perfectly, “Let all those peonies that are too wild and small to cope with the bloated beauties of the border, have their acknowledged place in the garden, in some fitting corner of deep hollow or high cool ledge.”

Don’t despair if you have neither hollows nor ledges. My peonies are doing just fine at the edge of a clump of old Austrian pine trees and a young Washington Hawthorn.

Parts of this column about species peonies previously appeared under my byline in The Capital Times.