Peonies are so beautiful that no garden, however small, should be without one. Today's herbaceous varieties have mostly been bred from Paeonia lactiflora, from Siberia, Mongolia and North West China. Like its actress namesake, 'Sarah Bernhardt' is a star. Its double rose pink flowers are large (up to eight inches in diameter) and delightfully blowsy, with ruffled inner petals and silver margins. Like all peonies, flowering is relatively short - two or three weeks - but the mid-green leaves, up to nine inches long, are handsome and, in autumn, turn glorious shades of orange, crimson and purple. Peonies flop, so surround with hazel twigs or metal or plastic supports as they start to sprout in spring. Once developed, the leaves hide them.
Propagation: Divide in autumn or early spring. Take root cuttings in winter. |
With such a wealth of modern peony varieties to choose from, it's easy to overlook the species, but some are well worth growing. This lovely one comes from southern Europe. Its rich, deep red flowers are four to five inch shallow bowls, made up from five to ten broad overlapping petals. Being single, the flowers have a large central boss of stamens and are carried on erect stems up to 24 inches tall. Its leaves are dark green and consist of up to nine deeply notched or lobed leaflets. Peonies are happy in sun or partial shade and are ideal for mixed and shrub borders as well as herbaceous ones.
Propagation: Divide in autumn or spring. Take root cuttings in winter. |
The original species Paeonia lactiflora has whitish pink flowers. Paeonia lactiflora 'Duchesse de Nemours' is a robust plant with gorgeous double, pure white flowers. At up to eight inches in diameter, they are large and have a pleasing fragrance. Noticeably green in bud, when fully open the blooms have spreading white outer petals and dense inner ones with pale yellow bases. The flowers appear in early summer amid deep green, lobed leaves on stems that grow up to about 28 inches in length. Like all peonies, 'Duchesse de Nemours' resents being disturbed once it has been planted, and prefers to be grown in deep, fertile soil that is rich in humus, and is moist but well drained.
Propagation: Divide in autumn or early spring. Take root cuttings in winter. |
