Fragrance and Tree Peonies

We planted three Tree Peonies several years ago and have been very pleased with them. These shrubs have been amazingly tough and attractive year round. The foliage is very interesting and helps me protect some shade loving perennials. I also like the dormant stems and next years flower buds and then the blooms just knock your sockets off! One negative thing is that there is no fragrance to the blooms, is there a variety that someone is growing that they can recommend for it's fragrance? Some of you viburnum fanatics should consider planting these gems!

David.... from the land of snow and ice

David, I just walked on water to fell a mature balsam which had turned a burnt organge over the fall and winter, and just in my "view" over the pond. So you can see that spring has not arrived north of the 'frozen tundra' just yet. Really want to try one or two of these Tree Peonies, saw them for the first time north of here in Bayfield: zone 5. Pricey little things: does anyone have a favorite supplier? Ken

Ken, Yupe expensive little buggers....... that's why I want to know a lot about the next cultivar that we pick to plant.

This one has a slight scent, but not a lot, and not a particularly attractive one. I've never heard of any peony with a notably good scent.

Resin

Bud just about to open and gorgeous dew dropped endowed foliage.

Amazing! I was thinking of starting a tree peony thread in the next few days. A nursery where I worked part-time had some of these for sale a few years ago during the Cincinnati Flower Show. They sold like hotcakes. I mean people just went nuts--and, yes, they were expensive! Ever since then I've wanted to grow a few to see what they're all about. Thanks, David, for starting this thread. I'm really eager to hear what people have to say. If the response isn't as good as we like, maybe somebody can go to the Peony Forum and invite folks over to educate a bunch of tree and shrub geeks.

One thing that I've learned about them that I find incredibly fascinating is that woody tree peonies are grafted onto herbaceous peony rootstock! How is that even possible? Why does that work?

Scott

Take a look at Song Sparrow for over 50 different fine selections of tree peonies. Seems like about 10 or so listed fragrance. These folks are great people, and I'm sure (if asked) they'd steer you toward what you are looking for.

Great pics, David and Resin.

I think I am up to about 12 now. I left the most fragrant one at my old house--it had enormous yellow double flowers, and had no label. I got it for $5 so I am not complaining!

Check this out http://www.paeonia.ch/zuchte/Dufte.htm

Songsparrow is a great place to browse--a quick search yielded these fragrant types

'ARIADNE '(DAUGHTER OF KING OF MINOS)
Tree Peonies
$65.00
SOLD OUT | more details



'BROCADED GOWN
Tree Peonies
$55.00
add to cart | more details



'CHERRY BLOSSOMS'
Tree Peonies
$65.00
add to cart | more details



'HEPHESTOS' (GOD OF FIRE)
Tree Peonies
$60.00
add to cart | more details



'ICARUS' (SON DAEDALUS, FIRST MAN TO FLY)
Tree Peonies
$50.00
add to cart | more details



'JOSEPH ROCK'
Tree Peonies
$140.00
add to cart | more details



'JOSEPH ROCK DOUBLE'
Tree Peonies
$140.00
add to cart | more details



'NIKE' (GODDESS OF VICTORY)
Tree Peonies
$75.00
SOLD OUT | more details




'SATIN ROUGE'
Tree Peonies
$60.00
add to cart | more details




'URANIA' (MUSE OF ASTRONOMY)
Tree Peonies
$75.00
add to cart | more details

David~ your tree peonies are beautiful! What a spectacular show they put on grouped like that.

I have one peony that was left here by the previous owner. It almost got shovel pruned due to it's bad smell! Last year it finally actually had a pretty, light fragrance.

One note of caution: I have read that tree peonies should be planted in fall, with the graft union an inch below ground level. Mound extra soil up around them for the first winter. Use divisions with three to five eyes for earlier flowering. NEVER cut back tree peonies. They are shrubs and will not grow back if cut down. When you cut peonies for the house, leave at least three leaves per stem on the plant. Rinse them in the sink right away, lots of times they will have ants feasting on the honeydew. It is not true that the ants are pollinators.

This a great idea for a thread. I want to know more about them too.

Prairie Girl,

We planted our tree peonies in the spring and they started flowering after a couple of summers. I did notice some die back during a very wet year, most likely due to our heavy clay soil. Even after that experience they regrew nicely. There were good directions with them when they arrived and we planted them at the proper depth. The plants had plastic tape located on the stem which denoted the exact spot of the soil level to achieve. While cultivating around these bushes I have found that they have rooted above the graft. I have never picked one of the flowers, sacriledge in my books........ some beauty should only be experienced in the garden.

Kevin,

The web site that you gave has great information, I will happily study it. Did you notice some of the Chinese Tree Peony names? 'Ye Guang Bai' which means..... White Light that Shines in the Night and 'Wu Long Peng Sheng' which is Black Dragon Holds a Splendid Flower.

As much as I love to read discriptions of plants and their fragrance in catalogues I really like to hear other gardeners opinion. I hope that we get comments from someone that has a name variety of tree peony with a divine fragrance...... my guys at their best smell like a vegetable!

I have been looking for one but the price is kind of high. I have 2 areas that are waiting for the Tree Peony to be bought when next in Seattle. So I'll sit and listen to all of your ideas. David which is you favorite so far of your 3? Steve From the Home of Ididarod = Anchorage -13 right now.

This message was edited Mar 19, 2007 8:02 AM

Can DG take scents as attachments to posts? That would be useful if they could be uploaded.

Resin

I'd like to be an early investor in the company that brings that technology to market.

Tree peonies are early leafers - here's the same plant as in my pic above, photo from today.

Means they can get hammered by late frosts, of course.

Resin

Check out my tree peonies! We give them nice burlap coats to reduce wind burn in the winter. And the hybrid tea roses are underneath the styrofoam cones inside the soon to be covered over modified cold frames. The only uncovered shrub, why a species rose, of course.

What's that blue-white stuff on the ground in the pic?

;-)

I want one of those cat in the Hat covers. Way cool. Good Idea on coverage. Would that be a concern in winter using that if it got warmer and wet? We have real winters followed by real wet rainy days. Just wondering. Steve

Resin... Would be nice if we could just have scratch and snif f threads you worked with your mouse.

I love tre e peonies, been wantign some , espcially the red for several years. Just hate the pric e tag on them. Wish I coudl find the catalog again cuz I did se e wher e one company had big sale on them, certain cultivars only, but think you could get 3 different one s for like 45 bucks instead of the normal 60 bucks a piece. All I can remember is it was one of them catalogs that kind a like a generic Parks or something.

I have been lusting after tree-peonies for years. Occasionally, they can be found for 5 - 10 $ at home depot. Van Bourgondien's has "collections" that is the best price any more that can be had. They are probably out of zone for me -- Ive killed every one I ever planted. The bush peonies though are pushing on through -- several I thought had been damaged by construction people are still there forming buds. Little beauties every one. You know all of those Chinese porcelain painters from the Ming Dynasty knew true beauty when they saw it --- and immortalized those tree peonies for ever after --- leaving little ol' zone 8 ladies lusting away for flowers that never will be . . ..

http://www.dutchbulbs.com/bulbs/search.do?pn=-1&searchStr=tree%20peonies

But see Garden Watchdog

I sucumbed to the tree peony spell about 10 years ago- can't have too many, even if the flowers last so short- Klehm's is the only place I've seen fragrance mentioned- mine smell vaguely flowery but not strong- the herbaceous root is just a nurse root- someone mentioned planting an inch deeper than the graft, but several inches is what is most commonly recommended- they should be incouraged to root up the stem. Morning sun exposure is best, because that afternoon sun can really destroy the newly flowers- in fact, I think this is the most important advice you can give someone about tree peonies! I have some "peony umbrellas" for some not so well situated that are sold by Caprice farms just to block afternoon sun! Also, it is really important to pick at least one flower for the house. they often last longer indoors- but should be picked in bud- not opened. one flower on the table is a centerpiece!

ps- i have Nike and know of a Brocaded Gown (both mentioned by Klehm's) nearby- i'll give them the sniff test later this spring!

I have several tree peonies, but to tell the truth just admired them in bloom but never thought to test fragrance. They are all still dormant.

Donna

I wonder David, in your slightly cooler than mine climate, how long these plants bloom for you? I had 2 in my old garden, one that was very fragrant and a purple pink bicolor, and another that was a pure white and a bit less fragrant.

I like them in other people's gardens and would probably seek them out in bloom. But in my fairly warm summer climate (at least, that's how it always seems at tree peony time), they were rarely in bloom more than about 3 days. That leaves 362 days a year that, for me, these plants did not earn their keep. I guess there is a delicacy of sorts with the plants even when not in bloom. But for the most part, 3 days is just not enough bang for the buck, for me.

In northern Michigan, with its cooler summers and later season, I know that herbaceous and tree peonies and the intersectional hybrids (there are some beautiful hybrids between tree and herbaceous peonies if you go for the peony sort of thing, including some lovely yellows which are just luminous) bloom later and significantly longer than they do in S Michigan. Personally, I have never become enamored of the herbaceous peonies either, though I love them as cut flowers. Better grown in somebody else's garden. Just my personal bias....

I'd guess the one in my pic has a flowering season of about ten days to two weeks. Never timed it, though, so that's not certain. I'll try and remember to time it this May.

Resin

Yes David, my tree peonies have a short bloom period. I will see how long they last this year. Our weather can be in the 50's or the 90's in May...... we bounce all over the place, also wind might play a role.

Much that is of beauty is ephemeral...... I like to stop and smell the roses or tree peonies along the way (even if they turn out to have no fragrance!).

Don't get me wrong....there is a lot to be said for ephemeral beauty in the garden......those incredible moments when the garden is just beyond belief......and many of those are fleeting.

But for me, the tree peony moments are just TOO fleeting, and the plants don't do much for me the rest of the year. I have plenty of roses. Most of those that make the cut in my garden have a good solid 8-10 weeks of bloom. Or they have a very solid June bloom and another solid one in September - December. So yes, stop and smell the roses indeed. I do.

And I sure HOPE that I can give a tree peony or two to my neighbor, because at their moment, there are few flowers that can remotely compare.

Seriously, look up those yellow intersectional hybrids if you are a peony fan. Reath's (Reith's?) nursery, Vulcan, MI (in da UP, it's cold up dere....) is a peony heaven and sells hundreds.....including many many named tree peonies, herbaceous, and intersectional hybrids.

I like the georgeous beauty that has a fleeting moment because it gives me the opportunity to surround plant with an accent plant or two. So when it is in its moment I can invite my garden friends up and they think I am a spectacular gardener. LOL If they miss it the accent plants make it accectable to enjoy anyway.

Soferdig: Do you have tree peonies and what do you accent them with? Do you put them in a composition, or lined up in a row, Like Mary Poppins?

He uses geraniums, right?

David, I think you can spare a few spots for Tree Peonies in you new 5 acre garden! Maybe I will gift you one. he!he! You will have to kill it to get rid of it... :)

My local nursery has them on sale (21 dollars) bare root.
pink, red, purple.
Anyone want me to buy some and send?

I bought 4 a week ago, and they are doing good so far.

Christie

No my wallet hasn't given me the opportunity to have these specimens yet. The two beds I plan on putting them were built last year and somehow I went with the perenials first. (Lots of divisions in my garden). But I have placed some upright Cimicifugas lateral to the empty locations on two of them and a changing annual in front. I like the complemtary effects of dramatic color differences. I also plan on some clematis to fill the bush with color when the peonie is quiet. If my tree peonies (that are on sale LOL) are Red, pink or whatever I will choose a different annual underneath. I also have a carpet of different trifolium repens to feed nitrogen to the bushes I plant. Not real visible when annuals in full swing but great for the soil.
Vicki you are a demon. My wife would put geraniums in both locations but these are in beds I CONTROL. :] We have each 2 beds that we privatly chose the plant types. Cause we know that women don't know how to make the right decisions. Oh boy is that going to get me in trouble. LOL

This message was edited Mar 22, 2007 3:34 PM

Soferdig, have you ever actually planted clematis to grow into a tree peony? Just curious. My impression of tree peonies is that they are relatively slow growing. Having planted a lot of clematis on a lot of shrubs, I would think that there is a fairly big risk of swamping the peony with the clematis. Maybe the smaller nonclinging integrifolia types. But if one pays fairly big bucks for a nice hybrid tree peony, I would want to get it pretty established and fairly good sized before planting a clematis on it (and my guess is that would take some time).. And even then, watch out. Pairing them with even fairly vigorous shrubs like elders and viburnums can even be tricky if one is starting with a 2 gal size shrub.

I am not talking from experience here, I have never tried a clem on a tree peony. My experience with herbaceous peonies is that they never like to be crowded. That is one reason I banished them my old garden after 15 years of trying to figure out how to do it. They just don't like crowding, period, need to have their own space -- and my old garden was all about crowding, may the best plant win. Tree peonies may be different, but the average clematis is bent on taking over the world, and usually will duke it out and win with neighbors who don't have a certain amount of vim and vigor.

We have native clemitis here that are not vigorous at all and after the tree peony is 5 to 7 yrs old is when I will use the clematis. They bloom without excessive leaf and light flowering. They are in the woods everywhere here and I have planned many to be used in my native area and special plants.

I know this is an old thread however, David_Vermont, would you know if established tree peonies mind being moved? I have one that out grew its location and I would like to move it.
Thanks
April

Alas, David_Vermont no longer subscribes so he won't see your post here.

You might try sending him a Dmail...

Sorry you missed the Peony coop that was running. Good prices, 8,9, 10 dollars. Good selection.