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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