September 2005 Peony Archive

30 September.

This wonderful colour is known amongst peony lovers as "Peony purple" - and, yes, the colour is correct. This bud belongs to Paeonia officinalis - the wild European Peony, which is native to the European Alps. Unlike the Tree Peonies, this small plant dies down completely each winter, then sends up totally new stems, leaves, and flowers, all within about 6  weeks, each spring time.

A fresh Tree Peony bud. It will open blush pink, then fade to white. This bud is perfectly formed - and full of promise!

"Chinese Dragon", fully open, showing its wonderful golden stamens.

Three of the last flowers on P. ostii, or Feng Dan Bai. I love the simple beauty of these huge white flowers. Anni tells me that they have survived wild winds and rain in the last week. They do this by closing their petals to protect the pollen, when rain comes. As long as the pollen is "fresh", the flower will open again in sunshine. After all, flowers are the sexual organs of plants; designed to attract bees, and to be pollinated. That is their real purpose.

27 September 2005.

"Fushakin" - this is a new flower for me, and shows that it is worth waiting years for tiny plants to mature to flowering size. This plant is a Japanese variety. It is clearly related to the "Paeonia rockii" group of Tree Peonies, as is "Destiny" which Anni photographed last week. However, this plant has a much stronger colour - a wash of strawberry over a white base. I love it. Next year, it may produce double flowers (flowers with several rows of petals).

I have been away from Robertson for treatment related to a type of cancer. That is why Anni has offered to take these photos. I cannot wait to be able to return to Robertson to see the plant - in the flesh.

"Chinese Dragon" is a beautiful colour, but difficult to describe. It is not as purple as cerise, nor as true a red as crimson. It has a large black flare on each petal, and a bold boss of golden stamens when the flower opens fully in the sun. The petals are highly glossy, making it a delight to see, but difficult to photograph accurately. It was one of the first of the hybrid tree peonies bred in America by Professor Saunders (1948). It was the first black-red hybrid, so it was a totally new colour in large flowered Tree Peonies, at the time. Its foliage is much more finely divided than the large-flowered Chinese and Japanese Tree Peonies, and has a bronze-green colour. New leaves are pinkish.

21 September 2005. These are photos of some Tree Peonies which I grow in Robertson, NSW. These varieties have simple flowers, close to the wild species which originated in China. They are the earliest of the Peonies to flower.

The first flower  is a single white Tree Peony known in China as "Feng Dan Bai". I love how Anni's photo has captured the voluptuous way in which the flower opens to expose its dark red carpel and the yellow stamens to the attention of foraging bees. This plant is grown in China in huge crops for medicinal purposes. It is known officially as Paeonia ostii.

The second plant  shows dark purple flares on its petals, which reveal its ancestry as including Paeonia rockii, the most famous of the Chinese Tree Peony species. This plant is uncommon, but huge old plants of it may be found in gardens in old gold mining centres in Australia, notably Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine in Victoria and Bathurst, Tumut  and Orange in New South Wales. The best explanation for this unusual distribution is that seeds of this plant may have been brought to Australia in the 19th century by Chinese gold miners, presumably as a medicinal plant. This plant is known by the varietal name of "Destiny". It opens blush-pink, then fades to white, accentuating the dark purple flares.

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