Are These Peonies?

My grandmother painted this still life from flowers in her garden. I always assumed they were peonies, but could they be roses?

The painting is from the 1960's. Did I read somewhere that yellow peonies are rare and/or a recent introduction? (Except for tree peonies?)

I would like to plant a memory garden for her based on this painting, and I know nothing about peonies. Help and potential IDs based on the painting would be appreciated.

If they are roses, I am sorry to have wasted a whole thread and your time.

It is difficult to ID the leaves, but they certainly look like peonies to me.
This yellow friend is a tree peony. I will post a few others

They're all peonies!

I vote peonies

I agree that they are peonies. Is is possible that your grandmother "colorized" the yellow ones from a variety that might have been more of an ivory color? Same for the rather purplish ones? There are so many varieties of different colored double peonies that it would be hard to identifiy them specifically. Just to name names, Sarah Bernhart and Mons. Jules Elie are ubiquitous pink varieties. You have a wonderful picture to remember your grandmother, always.

I agree with Rosemary. There's a lot to be said about artistic license (as well as cataracts, but that's another story).

As I looked over last photos from 2009 and 2010, there were roses, peonies, and even anemones that could easily be confusing from different angles.

I remember seeing the arrangement she was using, and that it was from life and not a photo. But my memory of those days is practically as black and white as the TV shows of the time. I really don't know how accurate the color was. It could have been cream.

Any suggestions are welcome about what type of peonies resembling those in the painting were available in the 1960s--and still are today. Of course the memory garden selections don't have to be exact. And, as I said above, I am quite the peony newbie. I'm depending on you for suggestions.

I probably won't be planting the garden for awhile (what time of year do you start them anyway?), and meanwhile I'll look through old photo albums to try to find one of her back yard.

Thank you for responding. Please keep the suggestions coming!

Peonies are not exactly plants.... They have their own personality and special requirements, and they bloom when they feel like it. Once established, they flourish and provide years and years and years of unadulterated beauty for about 2 weeks each year.

You will most likely buy a bare root with somewhere between 2 and 7 eyes. It needs to be planted so that it has not more than 1 inch of soil on the top. Then you need to wait. If you plant in the fall, you will see growth in the spring, but not too much - about 1 shoot per eye. They second year you may get a bud or two and they may actually open or may not mature. Don't be discouraged. After that, you will probably get blooms in increasing numbers around Memorial Day.

By virtue of your location, I suggest paying a visit to the flower show:
http://www.theflowershow.com/ShowInfo/index.html

There is a reliable vendor, Peony's Envy, from Bernardsville. They exhibit at the Connecticut show and will probably be in Philadelphia since it is much closer (it's worth a phone call). They sell healthy, more mature bare roots and are extremely knowledgeable and helpful.

By the way, have you gone back to your grandmother's old residence to see if the flowers are still there? If the succeeding owners never pulled them out, they might still be there. Don't forget, they only bloom mid-May to mid-June, so you have to catch them in the act. And if it rains when they're in full bloom, forget it. It always pays to cut the stems and bring them in if you think it is going to rain. They might have even been cuttings from someone else's yard!

By the way, I love her painting.

Thank you for all your help.

Unfortunately, after my grandmother's death in 1976 my father and his brother sold the house (over my protests) and I have not been able to see it since. It is in a part of Trenton that is considered unsafe because of gang activity. At least that is what my current (married-into) family says. I long to go back there and knock on the door anyway. In broad daylight. With friends. I don't think things are as dangerous as they are made out to be. Anyway, going back there is not something I can do at this time without risking the scolding of my family.

It might have very well been a neighbor's pickings. I am going to Google the satellite picture.

Maybe I'll consider writing them a letter....(I certainly know the address!)

Thanks for your info.

You are close to Reath's Nursery in Michigan. He is great, has huge tubers. Mine always bloom the summer after I plant them (which is always in the fall). And that is despite of going into a frozen 2' home with dirt warm from the garage around it. I usually put some azomite and fertilizer in the bottom of the hole, fill in with about a foot of dirt, then bury the tuber with about 1-2" of dirt over the buds. I guarantee you will not be disappointed in his stock. I pay $40 postage just to get his plants up here to Alaska. Silly I guess but we all have our favorites. wished I lived closer. Oh, he doesn't take credit cards so I just send a check. His father was a hybridizer and developed one of the most beautiful yellow Itoh (intersectional), Garden Treasure. You are also fortunate to live near(er) some of the other best peony nurseries in the country.

I guess in the lower 48 things look closer. Michigan is at least 1,000 miles from the east coast.

You probably know the geography near Trenton, but you could also call the Trenton PD and ask them about neighborhood activity.

It took me 2 years to look at some peonies about 2 miles from here because I kept missing the window of opportunity. You can tell they are endearing. After all, they give only a couple of weeks of pleasure, and still they are desired. I understand tht you can pick tight buds, wrap them in damp paper toweling and refrigerate, and they'll keep for about a month. Haven't tried it.

Sorry but Garden Treasure is Don Hollingsworth's not Reath's. Reath did Lemon Chiffon which still sells in the several hundred dollars when you can find it.

Thank you, cathy166 and mstella. Because I live within easy driving distance of Peony's Envy nursery, I will probably visit during their open house this May. Maybe I'll bring the painting, or a scan of it.

They also have a lovely website with illustrated instructions on planting and care. The picture of the ingredients they mix together for the planting hole shows native dirt that is an exact visual match for my awful pale clay. So maybe what works for them will work for me:

http://www.peonysenvy.com/care_tree.html

I chose the tree peony page because I'm chasing yellow!

Then in the fall (maybe this year, maybe next) I'll go back for a bare root or two. I'll also check out your suggestion, mstella, of Reath's in Michigan.

By the way, my sister-in-law, who just retired from the Air Force, was stationed in Alaska for several years. She was in Wasilla when Sarah Palin was mayor. She loved the state...and Sarah. (Is there an "h" or is it Sara?)

Do you really have weeks and weeks of uninterrupted nighttime?

This message was edited Mar 1, 2011 7:11 PM

I found a website where people who are thinking of moving to a geographical area can ask residents of that area what they think about it. Someone was asking about my grandmother's township (which borders Trenton), and the responses gave a particular set of blocks where there was so much trouble that the police did their best to just contain it within those blocks. They posted something like "if you go beyond X street the rest of the township is okay." Unfortunately, my grandmother's house is within those troublesome blocks. Of course these are the unofficial opinions of the residents, but I'm going to respect their observations and stay away.

There was a chapter in a cut flower information book I saw that told of a supplier who did something like that in order to provide her customers with cut peony stems throughout the rest of the summer.

AH3815 - sorry, I didn't mean to imply that David Reath developed Garden Treasure, only that I purchased it from Scott Reach. I also purchased Lemon Chiffon and Mackinac Grand from him the fall of 2009, both bloomed spring 2010.

nisiNJ- Sara Palin's name has no H; as to night, it rather depends on where in the state you live. It is rather large; so if you live on the arctic coast, then yes, you have weeks of barely dusk; in the interior where I lived for 37 years, the winters are dark a lot compounded by severe ice fog that cuts out what little light you may get in the shortest days (say 2 or so hours of what you might call day); I live in Anchorage now, and after Fairbanks, I don't notice it so much. When I was working I noticed only that when I went to work at say 6am, it would be pitch black, and then after a while the sun was up and shining at that hour. It is so gradual, just + or - 2-7 minutes each day. But along about January/Feb you really start getting 'cabin fever' for both sunlight and warmth!! We get the bright sun like today, but it is only +7 degrees with a fierce wind. Don't want to be out in it.

I guess I do think that Michigan is close to New Jersey. I have to fly 3000 miles to get to the next biggest town, e.g. Seattle. So it just seems like you all can just hop into your car and buzz to the next huge town.

By gosh, AH3815, you are right. I DID say Reath hybridized Garden Treasure. I was thinking of Lemon Chiffon as you said. Sorry. Peonies just make me giddy. lol

NisiNJ, just to let ya know, could be grandma was using what is referred to as artistic license. Have to use a secondary color such as the yellow to differentiate between petals, or would look like a big blob, lol. Have taken a few painting classes, guess that makes me dangerous (lol, just kidding). Oh ya that painting is gorgeous, what a wonderful heirloom. Just a bit of background on peonies, they can live for 100+ years, and they used to be part of a womans dowery in Japan. Love, love, love peonies, one of my all time favs. If intrested a nursery that I use is mail order; Gilbert Wilde & Son, Sarcoxi, Mo.. They have both a web site and catalog. They are known for their peonies, daylilies and iris. I have personally ordered from them. 10 peonies came in a crate, no kidding a wooden crate, they were huge!!!! They said were going to be 3-5 eyes and were more like 10+. They ship in fall, which is the best time to plant and had many blossoms the following spring. Have also bought local bareroots before (usually in spring, most only have three eyes and take years to grow into a decent sized plant.) Probably is Festiva Maxima, is older variety and very common back then, still widely sold today, also is very fragrant!!! Pink might be Sarah Burnhardt also another fragrant variety!!! Also might add that some peonies don"t have fragrance, if thats important, read description of variety wanted. The catalog I refer you to does list fragrance, height, bloom time (E, Mid, Late ), that way can lengthen bloom time to a month or more. Gosh I don't s'pose you could tell I love peonies and grow many of them,lol. Also need to warn you, they get ants on them, not a problem tho. they are after the secretion on the plants, is sugar based and ants love, they don't harm the plant either. First time I bought a peony from a nursery guy asked me if I wanted to buy some ants so my peonies would open, I looked at him dumbfounded, and he just laughed. Said he was joking that they would find there way to the plants on their own. My all time fav is Duchess de Nemoures, a white which is extermely fragrant. You could possibly write to the home owner and ask for a piece for your garden if they still have it but beware after about 5 years plants root system is BIGGGGG. Once dug some peonies after about 4 years and used 3 shovels around plant and still broke handle, worked for hours to get those babies out of the ground.tee hee. anyway, Good Luck, Kathy.

The sugary secretion brings the ants, and the ants get rid of the other pests. Nature's blessing in disguise. Have to admit that I think there are more ants on double peonies than singles. Tree peonies don't exude the same sap.

Thank you Kathy..and Cathy.

How do you get rid of the ants if you want to bring blooms inside for a bouquet?

You should only find ants on or near the blossoms. You can flick them off or shake them. Cut them and submerge in water. They cannot breathe under water and should float to the top.

That works for anything that is buggy. Even those tiny bugs you cannot see.