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November 2005 Peony Archive 1 (2 - 12 November)
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12 November 2005
Festiva Maxima - what a wonderful name! It means "Big Happy"! As I mentioned with the first photos of this variety, it is a good cut flower. This flower has been in the vase for nearly a week. It opens to this large globular shape, showing the red flecks throughout the flower, which were anticipated by the streaks of red on the bud.
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Festiva Maxima's "Eye". F.M. has its own little surprise tucked inside its petals. As with many of the herbaceous Peonies, especially the Lactifloras, it lacks any stamens. This one has a greatly modified, (or deformed) stigma, on top of a single carpel. It looks like the crest on a Rooster's head ( a "Cock's Comb"). In contrast to the tiny structures in some of the other Peonies, notably Early Delight, this stigma is maybe 5 times larger than those ones. This stigma is very likely infertile, and is becoming "decorative", not "functional" (it does not appear to have the necessary organs to receive pollen, the normal role of the stigma. So, it is almost taking on the characteristics of a petal. I love the way that the red colour of the stigma is reflected in the red flecks in the petals, and the swirl of the crest of the stigma is echoed in the curves of the red flecks.
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This is the height of the season for the Lactiflora herbaceous Peonies. Bowl of Beauty has opened fully today. Its pink "guard petals" in this intense lilac-pink colour have now reflexed back, leaving the creamy staminodes in the centre standing up proudly. A classic Lactiflora variety, in the "Japanese" form category.
I love its bold design, and bright colouration. This is the flower which I referred to, in bud on 8 November, as a "surprise packet", because it appeared to be a solid pink flower - there was no sign of the creamy centre, at that stage.
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Bridal Veil - an old variety released by Kelways, in England. This is one of my father's old plants which I rescued after he moved house - nearly 20 years ago. I did not know its name, and I had assumed it to be an old French variety. It is more delicate in colouring than many of the well known Lactifloras. I like it for its appearance, and for its sentimental value - to me. It is probably the first Peony I ever owned.
I have been searching for a name for this variety for years, and now believe that I have found it, courtesy of Carsten Burkhardt's amazing Peony Database. Thanks, Carsten.
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Duchesse de Nemours is a white Lactiflora Peony, with a greenish tinge. Unfortunately, this particular flower has been weather damaged. I have some others coming on, so I hope for a better photo later on.
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Queen Victoria - being closely examined! This is an old variety, introduced by Kelways Nursery, in England. It has been "discarded" by Kelways, long since. Frankly, I can understand why! However it is of some historical interest.
The flower is identical in appearance and "substance" (or lack of it) to "Early Delight", which I showed on 8 November. I was critical of the weak structure of that flower, and it did not keep well in the vase. More importantly, the carpels of this flower (Queen Victoria) which I am examining in this photo are very similar to those of Early Delight in colour and form, (allowing for the fact that one was photographed as a mature flower, the other is freshly opened). See my photo - "a nest of Pelicans?" - which was a photo of the "eye" of Early Delight, to make the comparison yourself. Is Early Delight a re-named Queen Victoria? I believe so.
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Sarah Bernhardt - three flowers in a vase. What can I say? This is why people grow these Lactiflora Peonies. These flowers are huge, vibrant in colour, and are blessed with a heavy perfume. No wonder it is the most popular Peony for the cut flower market.
These flowers were all in tight buds yesterday, and I took the photograph before 9:00 a.m. this morning. So you can understand how rapidly Peonies can open, when there is a change in the weather. The flower on the left is just opening, and the guard petals are still partly cupped. The top flower is more advanced, and in the bottom right flower, the guard petals are recurved, making the crown of petals appear "bomb" shaped.
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Festiva Maxima. Introduced in France in 1851, this is an absolute classic garden Peony (a Lactiflora variety, of course). It has strong stems, a lovely perfume, and is what people think a 'Peony ought to be. I have put up 2 photos, one in bud and the other as a fully opened flower.
The bud shows typical red staining on the sepals, the green shields which covered the flower before it started to open, and which are now only covering the lower half of the flower. There is also a red stain on some of the outer petals. The red staining tells the trained observer which white Peony this will be, even from the bud.
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Festiva Maxima, again. Now as an open flower, you can see the diagnostic red flecks which appear at random throughout the flower. The colour of the petals is a rich creamy white, not the blush pink one might expect, from the obvious existence of a "red" gene in the flower.
It is a good cut flower, mostly because of its perfume, which is sweet and strong, yet not over-powering. It has good substance, which helps prolong its vase life. This Peony has stood the test of time, and is still popular.
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A nest of baby pelicans? Not quite. These odd little structures are, of course, parts of the flower of a Peony. This is the "eye" of Early Delight, a Lactiflora Peony variety (the full flower is shown below). The little pink structures are the carpels, the female organs of the flower.
As with Red Charm (7 November 2005 / 2) and Bowl of Beauty, there are no stamens in this flower, just a mass of petaloids (modified petals). Peonies normally have both male and female parts in the one flower. So, to lack stamens is against the natural order of things, for Peonies. But it is precisely because of this "genetic variability", that there are thousands of varieties of herbaceous Peonies, which look so vastly different from each other.
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Early Delight. This flower was somewhat disappointing, but perhaps it has suffered from the enforced neglect caused by my absence for most of this year, through illness. Next year, this plant may produce stronger flowers if it is not struggling to compete against the weeds.
I was not going to show this flower until I realised how interesting the "eye" was, and then I needed to show this full photo, so you could see that I was not "faking" the image above.
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Bowl of Beauty, has had a shower, and is ready to show off! The creamy staminodes in the centre of the flower are showing, as the flower opens up. These staminodes are modified stamens. There is a whole class of Lactiflora Peonies which have this appearance, and they are known as having the "Japanese" form, a style of flower which is apparently very popular in Japan - a nation which loves Peonies.
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Viewed from above, one can now see the structure of the centre of the flower of Bowl of Beauty. 4 greenish-yellow carpels are topped with these amazing fluorescent-pink stigmas. You can see that the staminodes have replaced what would normally be a circle of golden stamens surrounding the carpels. Once again, nature's colour combinations amaze me. Pink, cream, green and hot pink. To peer inside this flower, and discover the tips of the stigmas is like discovering a jewel - well, four jewels actually.
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A group of flowers of Moonrise, in various stages of opening out. Classic "single Peony" formation, with masses of stamens. I love the way the flower on the right has thrown back a petal, showing just a trace of blush pink staining on the petal, which, as you can see, fades to the purest white by the time the flower has opened fully. This plant is so charming, and yet so simple.
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Moonrise shows the classic flower structure of a single herbaceous Peony, in contrast with Bowl of Beauty, above. Moonrise has a double row of crisp white petals, some of which are deeply notched, so as to almost appear as 2 petals. In fact there are 10 petals.
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This is a typical Australian Peony - it is wrongly named! I bought it as "Early Delight", but there is no such Peony. It should not be acceptable for nursery operators to just make up a name - but they do it all the time. Now, if they had bred the plant, that would be within their rights, but sure as eggs, this is a re-named old French or English variety.
It started with a faint blush pink colour, opening to pure white. Classic Lactiflora form. And, as the name suggests, it flowers early (for a Lactiflora). One of these days, I hope to track down its real name.
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Bowl of Beauty is budding up. Wonderful. It is a surprise packet, for it is packed full of lovely cream "staminodes" (modified stamens) inside the ring of bright pink guard petals.
This is the kind of colour which people associate with Grandma's Peonies (i.e., the Lactiflora group of herbaceous peonies). You will see the open flower in a few days time.
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And now you see all Peonies are not the same. This is a lovely pure white flower, a "single", with a sweet perfume. It has a wonderful boss of stamens inside the ring of white petals.
Moonrise is a hybrid - a cross between a Lactiflora variety and a form of Paeonia officinalis, but while this group of crosses mostly produced red flowers, Moonrise is a lovely, sweet smelling, white flower, with just the faintest hint of pink. DJW rating? Exquisite.
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A classic peony, this one - Sarah Bernhardt, named for the famous 19th century actress. This Peony variety has everything going for it as a garden plant - good colour, strong stems & a healthy constitution. It will open to a huge pink "bomb" shaped flower. Sarah Bernhardt is the largest-selling cut flower variety of Peony around the world.
In the photo, it is showing just a hint of colour. This is when the commercial growers pick these flowers for the cut flower market. I have a friend in Holland on whose family farm they cut 200, 000 stems of peonies each season. Many similar farms exist in Holland, the USA, and even some smaller ones in Australia. Visit Joshua Scholten's website to see how hard Dutch Peony farmers work.
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What is missing from the "eye" of Red Charm? It is vastly different from any other "eyes" of Peonies we have looked at previously.
The flower has 2 green carpels tucked inside the mass of red petaloids, but it has no stamens at all. Most of the double Peonies have stamens tucked away amongst the petals, but not so, Red Charm. So, despite its tough, almost masculine appearance, in fact the flower is totally "female", as it lacks the stamens for producing any pollen (the male element).
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Red Charm, fully opened out. The guard petals have reflexed fully, revealing the masses of inner petals. Red Charm is almost the perfect cut flower - it will always open, once the flower starts to show colour.
A few days ago, I gave an artist friend of mine a mixed bunch of Corals and some buds of Red Charm, which I promised her would open. This morning, she rang to thank me for having given her "those ridiculously beautiful flowers". I could not have put it better myself.
"And as the sun sinks slowly in the west, and we wave farewell to the hybrid herbaceous Peonies" .... let us remember them at their peak.
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Two Corals together. Coral Charm on the left and Coral Sunset. The comparison is interesting. Not only is C.S. much larger, and less pink, the way in which it holds its petals is different. C.C. is distinctly "cupped", whereas, C.S. rolls its petals backwards.
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One last look a Coral Charm in its prime. It will be a long time till October 2006, when the next CC will flower in my garden, but I'm counting down the days already. This is still the most stunning flower, of the hybrid herbaceous Peonies, in my mind.
Can I really choose between them? Some I can leave behind, but Red Charm at its prime, or CC, or Coral Sunset - that is a hard choice. In the words of Stephen Stills: "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with!"
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The "eye" of Coral Charm shows the very hairy carpels, with bright coral pink stigma (the curly tips), which are there to receive pollen from any passing insect. This flower has 5 carpels, but the number is quite variable between different flowers, especially in hybrid varieties like this one. The large golden stamens are loosely held on long orange coloured "filaments" (the little legs which support the stamens). The pollen is ripe on this flower, and it is about to start to drop onto the petals, and onto any insects crawling around inside the flower.
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Lady Alexandra Duff is the first Lactiflora peony to open fully, this season. The lavender pink outer "guard" petals have reflexed back completely, to reveal the mass of light pink petals inside the flower. This "powder puff" appearance is typical of the old-fashioned Peonies. She is sweetly perfumed, as are most of the Lactifloras (but not all).
"Lactiflora" is short hand for all the thousands of varieties of the Chinese herbaceous Peony, Paeonia lactiflora. It is an extremely variable species, which has been cultivated by the Chinese for hundreds of years. There are thousands of named "cultivars", in many different shapes and colours.
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Here you may see the differences between the tones of pink in the "Coral" hybrids and the Lactifloras. L.A.D. shows well enough what I mean. Her colour is described as "blush pink", but it has definite tones of lilac and mauve in its pigmentation. The corals got their colour from crossing a clear red flowered Peony with a white coloured Lactiflora. The true red flower brought in the red tonings, with a lot of yellow in the pigmentation. The red tone is unstable, and the flower fades through all shades of coral, to a rich cream, which is the base colour of the petals.
The traditional "Peony Purple" colour, which we first saw way back on 30 September, in P. officinalis, is also present in the Lactifloras, in their traces of mauve pigmentation, even in the soft pinks such as L.A.D.
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Just to show you what I mean about the corals fading to cream, this is the same flower in both these photographs - 6 days apart.
I first photographed it as a giant apricot/pink coloured flower, just after it opened.
It has been quite hot in Robertson, and so the flower has not lasted as long as it might have done, but the fading to cream happens anyway. It is part of the amazing complexity of these flowers.
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Coral Sunset - this huge Coral hybrid is spectacular as a fresh bud. It is a rich apricot colour, and grows tall and strong. It is very exciting watching it burst open. The flowers are heavier and fuller than its sister plant, Coral Charm, and show more apricot (and much less pink) than she does.
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A vase of Peony pleasure. To me, this is the high point of the spring season, when Red Charm, Coral Charm, Coral Sunset and Coral and Gold are all blooming together. These are all hybrid herbaceous Peonies, although Red Charm has a very different bloodline from the three "corals". The contrast between these hybrids and the "old-fashioned Peonies" (the "lactiflora" varieties) will become obvious when they come into flower.
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Coral 'n Gold. This is a lovely, cupped single flower, reminiscent of Flame, but more subtle in its colouring. It is a large, elegant, deeply cupped flower, especially at this half-opened stage. As with Coral Charm and Coral Sunset, it will fade to a rich cream colour after a few days.
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Shimane Hakugan has opened out fully now, to reveal the perfect white petals and the wine-coloured sheath, inside the ring of golden stamens. It is looking slightly fragile now, but it is a truly spectacular flower.
Anni has it in a vase, surrounded with 3 Red Charm flowers. The dark red herbaceous Peony flowers pick up the colour of the "eye" at the centre of the larger, pure white Tree Peony. A perfect floral composition!
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Lady Alexandra Duff is the first of the "Lactifloras", the so-called "old-fashioned Peonies", to which I have made a few references. It was bred by James Kelway, in 1891. Kelway was Britain's most famous Peony grower of his time. It will open from this tightly packed, shell pink bud, to a lovely flower of soft blush-pink guard petals, with a mass of paler central petals.
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2 November 2005
Marchioness - another Hybrid Tree Peony. It was registered by Professor Saunders, in the USA, in 1942. It is a "suffused" colour, a cream base, washed with rose or lilac venation. As with many other peonies, these pink or bluish tones are unstable, and fade, so the flower appears more creamy as it matures. It has delicately fluted petals, with dark red flares at the base of the petals, and a good boss of golden stamens.
Professor Saunders' own comments were: "Heavenly flower. Soft yellow, suffused with strawberry pink. Beautiful style and substance."
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