Hi; I'm new to Dave's Garden. I had an unidentified tree peony that was cut down to the ground by "landscapers" during fall cleanup this year. It was my mom's; she had received it as a gift in memory of my dad when he died (he loved tree peonies). As you can imagine, it has a lot of sentimental value to me. It was a May bloomer (Long Island, NY area) with single to semi-double white blooms with lavender (definitely not pink) flares at the base of each petal. It had reached a height of about two and a half feet with a spread of three feet after eight years. Would anyone know the name of this variety? I don't have a photo to aid in identification.
Thanks for any assistance....
Need Help Identifying a Tree Peony
It wasn't dug up was it??? I surely hope not. It should have sent up some new shoots as the roots would be okay. I am not up on tree peonies but there are a lot of people here who are including some vendors. I hope they can help.
And welcome to Dave's Garden I have been visiting here for over ten years and have made a lot of friends and learned tons from everyone. Hope you stick around
Mary
Hi salemsmom- This shrub may well sprout up again. Last year I cut off a tree peony to the ground, that had been squashed in a windstorm and was growing sideways. It grew back up beautifully, although it did not bloom much this year. However, some tree peonies are 'grafted' onto regular herbaceous peony roots, and if this was done too high up on the shrub you might have the herbaceous roots sprout up instead. You will know in the spring. Let us know if it comes back.
'Joseph Rock' and 'Ezra Pound' are two tree peonies that are like what you describe, check them out.
I agree with Pistil. My TPs have been amazingly resilient even if I have to wait a few years for them to revive. If it turns out you don't have viable rootstock of the TP, you will enjoy looking at all the many Rock's Variety TPs to find it. There are single and double bloomed varieties, and some have more curly petals. There is even a common ITOH which is half herbacious that has blooms that resemble it. The story of how Joseph Rock received his plant from a monastery that was later burned to the ground is a remarkable story about survival of the lovely peony tree. Later as trade opened up with China, many other plants of the same species have entered the trade, but I find the way the first one arrived in the US to be way too cool to forget it.
http://davesgarden.com/tools/journal/viewentry.php?rid=317247
Here's my DG journal entry for ITOH peony Cora Louise for your reference.
Good luck with your TP.