POEL

Nothing lilliputian about
flowers of tree peonies

LAST WEEK I talked a little about herbaceous or peren-
nial peonies and only briefly mentioned the tree peony
(paeonia lutea and p. suffruticosa).

They are not as widely grown
as their smaller cousins, but they
should be. They possess larger,
more numerous, more colorful
flowers over a longer flowering
season and, although more dif-
ficult to propagate, they are every
bit as easy to grow.

Tree peonies may be considered
trees in the garden of Gulliver’s
Lilliput, but they barely make it
to woody shrubs in mine.

As the average height spread is
seldom greater than five feet (1.5
m), it is difficult to group these
members of the butter cup family
in with the lumber producers.

As with their herbaceous cous-
ins, tree peonies offer us a wide
selection of colors. They range
from white through many exciting
shades of pink to red and on into
the lavenders and purples.

P, lutea contributes its natural
yellow to generate brilliant shades
of yellow, salmon and myriad
sunset tones.

There is nothing lilliputian
about the size of the flowers.

Some varieties can produce
single or double flowers up to 12
inches (30 cm) across. More nor-

Geoff
Tobiasson

OVER THE GARDEN GATE

mal are sizes that range between
four to six inches (10-15 cm) in
moderate abundance any time
from late April until mid-June.

Tree peonies are best planted
when they will receive at least six
hours of direct sun (whenever the
sun chooses to get direct).

Try to avoid an eastwest-facing
location as the bright spring sun

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on the morning after a hard frost
could result in damage or the
destruction of flower beds.

Water well in excessively dry
weather.

Although they will grow in any
moist but well-drained soil, they
prefer those that are fairly high in
organic material,

When planting, try to dig the
holes at least 18 inches deep and
wide and incorporate liberal
amounts of bonemeal and com-
post or composted manure in with
the excavated soil as you set them
in, Mulch with compost and feed
with bonemeal in mid-March.

To promote a good display of
healthy flowers remove spent
blooms before they begin setting
seed. Prune them back to live
wood in early March.

Many of the named varieties are
propagated from grafts.

Make sure that the graft union
(usually detected as a swelling two
or three inches — 5 to 8 cm —
above the soil line) remains at
least two to three inches above the
soil.

As p. lutea comes to us from
China and p. suffruticosa from
Tibet, we should not be too hasty
in thinking of them as yet another

See Hybrids page 419

prearene

Bes alah

Sa
NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

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