Crash course in Paeonia

In one of our only full sun locations on our property we have a 5 year old Lilac "Bloomerang". We have enjoyed it but as we completed more of our gardens further beyond this lilac it is now the case that when are on our deck or inside behind the sliding glass patio door it blocks our view of some of these gardens that you can't see from this shot (see below).

If I trim it then the # of blooms and reblooms is greatly reduced. And so my partner has agreed to replace it.

It is always exciting for me when some space is freed up for a new addition ;).

As previously mentioned this actual spot is one of the few places on our property that is full sun.

My partner wants a peony and I know nothing about them and have resisted their allure as what seems to come to mind for me is the 'stereotype' that they bloom with incredible flowers one day and then with a good rain and or wind all is lost. (I apologize in advance for this over simplification)

I am so looking forward to hearing your thoughts re possible choices of a peony for this spot. (Or maybe you think it isn't the best idea choice and could recommend something else.)

Are there some outstanding varieties you can recommend?

If we go the peony route we don't want a huge one but one rather more compact as I don't want it to take up that whole front curve as I have other plans i.e. plants in mind for the border.

Thanks in advance for your patience and experience.

After doing lots of reading I think we want a red flowered extra floriferous peony that is more likely to not flop when in bloom and we don't want it too large or too small. Would "Blaze" satisfy these requirements? What others would work?

This message was edited Jun 8, 2015 2:42 PM

Hi Rouge-
I don't have any red peonies, but did invesitgate this issue some years ago.
I have 2 tree peonies-these would be bigger than you want. I have a Bartzella Itoh Intersectional hybrid peony. It is yellow, has a prolonged bloom time, and never flops. Needs no support. In addition the foliage looks lovely until late fall.
In my reading, I recall a few things-the first is that in general with herbaceous peonies, the singles stand up better, as they are less heavy and catch less rain (not always true, Bartzella is a humongous double). In general the Itoh hybrids (hybrids of tree and herbaceous peonies) seem to be sturdier, with longer bloom time. But there were many ordinary peonies that seemed to stand up.
When shopping, I went to my local peony farm (A&D Peonies) in the spring, and the owner showed me his peonies after a rainstorm. That is how I picked Bartzella. They mailed me the peonies in the fall, the proper planting time.
I had read a magazine article titled something like "Peonies that stand up" or something like that.
The American Peony Society has a list of peonies "Award of Landscape Merit", which is given to peonies with the qualities you are looking for, it should give you some ideas. How about 'Early Scout' which is red and shorter? Here is a link:
http://www.americanpeonysociety.org/awards/award-of-landscape-merit
Let us know what you decide.

Excellent 'Pistil'. Thank you for the information. For sure "Early Scout" is still on my list even though I picked up a small specimen of "Blaze" yesterday. Right now I am having difficulty finding ES within an hour drive of us.

rouge21....check out Song Sparrow Nursery on-line. I think some of their rock peonies might suit your situation. Also, they are outstanding at answering questions. I have a small, red one that I love. It is only about 20 inches high. I also have about 30 "regular" peonies and find that the single and Japanese forms hold up much better in the rain. I have a white one (Krinkled Linen, I believe) that I love and several medium pink ones but they are quite tall.

Also, Martha Stewart has a blog and she has a huge peony garden and she has some nice information and pictures. She bought hers from Song Sparrow too. It is the Klehm family and they are breeders. There are so many I'm sure you could find one to fit.

I also have a row of four or five different red ones (from Song Sparrow) and Red Charm is quite lovely.

I just looked on their website. I have Crinkled Linens (incorrect spelling above), Cytherea, Hot Chocolate and Terrific Gal--all highly recommended. The one I think I have that is a rock peony--more what you're looking for I believe is Memorial Gem.

How many hours of sun? My tree peonies definitely prefer morning sun and then some relief from at least dappled afternoon shade.

I think Blaze is OK. I have and enjoy it, and it is often sold in garden centers as a full bush, though you can buy a larger selection of peonies in root form. Have you thought about when you want it to be in bloom? If you google "Peony Project" you'll get some information about that. If I could only have a few red peonies, my choices are Burma Midnight, Buckeye Belle and Mahogany. These are in the deeper red color range which pleases me for its ability to blend with other colors. Red Charm is the standard by which all others are supposed to be judged. It is more of the classic bomb shape. Mine is not ideally sited or it would be better. There are so many wonderful cultivars, I'm sure you won't go wrong.

Having been on a peony binge at one time, I have to say there is the choice between having some that are amazing but blooming for only a short while or those with staying power under rains and wind. However, you do have to mainly hope that you'll like looking at the green leaves because that's what you get most of the year.

Speaking of looking at green leaves most of the year, my peony leaves are losing their color. They are in wine barrels and had healthy blooms this year. Are the leaves supposed to get yellowish in the middle of summer? I wonder if a nitrogen-based fertilizer would put some color back into the leaves.

No, not normally, but perhaps someone else ahs a better sense of this. Is it possible they aren't getting enough water? Are the roots fully established? I don't know whether you gain by adding nitrogen since that doesn't normally help the blossoms, and the 10-10-10 level of fertilizer is usually recommended in spring and/ or fall. I'd check to see if you have a Ph problem that makes them have iron deficiency. I'm accustomed to adding a ton of lime this time of the year because where I live the plants are subjected to acid rain and the soil always goes acid. Also, the only ones that look a little yellow in spots here are doing that because I severed the roots by digging around too close.

They might be too dry. I actually thought the yellow was because I was over-watering them. I dug into the soil a little today and it did seem dry, so I watered them extra. Now I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it doesn't make it worse. I will move on to your other suggestions if this doesn't help. But I'm not sure how long it will take them to recover if it was not enough water. Maybe not until next year. I've been away for a number of years; they matured (in wine barrels) while I was gone and had a lot of flowers this spring, but I don't know their habits other than that or what kind of care they had. I hope I don't kill them! I'm sure they'll be fine next spring. Thanks for your notes, Rosemary.

You're welcome. They just might not be extremely developed next year, but peonies are long term plants. What they don't deliver now, they can still do later as long as the root is alive.