Paeonia

Not everyone has looked at it that way. The older popular horticultural
literature takes some pot shots at these naming conventions. That the older
writers felt and expressed some frustration here is not surprising: in the
bad old days, tree peonies supplied by Japanese and Chinese dealers were
evidently routinely mislabeled. See The Peonies edited by Wister. Also,
there was doubtless a bit of class sniping going on, too: tree peonies back
then were for the few, and those getting a neck ache looking up to Olympus
are sometimes known to translate that pain into sardonically colorful
language.

You go on to quote Rick:

"Just as I have seen. One thing that I have noticed is
that the Chinese plants seem to grow better in the
milder areas and the colder it gets the worse they
seem to grow. On the other hand, the Japanese plants
thrive wherever I sell them, and do not have the
complaints that I do with the Chinese plants. That is
why I thought the Chinese ones would do well for
you in L.A."

Now this is getting interesting. In recent years, Chinese-grown tree
peonies have appeared in local shops. Generally they are less expensive
than the Japanese-grown plants (and they appear to be different cultivars).
The Chinese plants are bigger, twiggier plants than the Japanese-grown
plants, which typically are little more than a scion and stock stuck
together. Those Chinese plants are very tempting. When you unpack them,
they seem to be a much better deal than the Japanese-grown plants. There
are often multiple stems and a superficially much better developed root
system.

In fact, take a careful look at that root system. What are you seeing? I'm
not sure myself. The Japanese-grown plants are grafted on lactiflora roots.
These Chinese plants seem not to be grafted at all. Are they propagated by
division? Or are they grafted onto tree peony roots, thus in effect masking
the graft?

In any case, those roots are always cut off at a predetermined length -
about four inches. Presumably, before cutting, they were much longer.
Presumably, all of the active feeding parts of the roots are cut off. The
buyer is left with the stumps.

Watch out! When you buy these Chinese-grown tree peonies, you're more than
likely buying trouble. The tops are ready to surge into growth with the
arrival of warmth, but they have no root system to support them. Nor in my
experience do those stubby roots put out feeder roots easily.

THESE PLANTS REQUIRE LOTS OF TLC JUST TO KEEP THEM ALIVE!

I think history is repeating itself here. Read Wister. The old growers had
in general much better luck with the Japanese-grown plants, too.

John, one thing you might be on the look out for: your LA garden should be
just the place for the so-called winter-blooming tree peonies.

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where Dew Drop on the
Titmouses's Tail and Kitten Scratches on Antique Brocade are not yet in my
tree peony collection.

Jim, et al.
I have a few comments on Peonies here in L.A. I had a
'Mons. Jules Elie' (A herbaceous variety) that
flowered this spring. The plant is a single wisp of a
stem. It attmepted a bud last year but I was out of
town at the time and it aborted for whatever reason.
As Jim said, with this being a herbaceous peony, I had
little hopes of it doing anything. I just force it
into dormancy in the fall and it comes back on it's
own accord when it's ready.
I will be getting some selections of Chinese tree
peonies to try here in LA.

Here is an excerpt from Rick (owner) of Brother's
Peonies:

I have planted a Chinese variety (in OH), 'Wu Long
Peng Sheng', roughly translated as "lack Dragon
Holding Prosperous Bloom". Why is it that only the
Chinese and Japanese have such elegantly worded names
for plants? I think we are missing out on something
here. Anyway, it has struggled along for the last few
years. It has been in the ground for 3 years now. I
have hopes that next year it will reward me with some
bloom.
The only other Chinese tree that I have had (also in
OH) is 'Yen Fin Jin Lin'. It is even smaller than the
above.

I would be very interested in trying some
Mediterranean species here in LA but I have never been
able to find them offered, either as seeds or plants.

One side note about planting, Walters Gardens only
sells it peonies in the spring. I have tried to get
them in the fall for proper planting and they will not
release them. Walters, for those who do not know, are
a large wholesaler in MI that sells trays of 4" plants
to the retail trade. Their stuff is really nice but I
don't want peonies in the spring. It is just useless.
They will struggle for several years just to get back
up to snuff. But, they do offer, at a decent price,
several Japanese tree varieties.

One thing that Jim did not explain in his email was
the reason for planting in the fall. The peony plant
only puts out new roots in the cooler fall weather.
So, that 2-3 root thing that you get in the spring,
will have to support the whole plant for the summer
until it can regrow some fibrous roots in the fall. I
don't know which comes first, top growth dormancy or
root growth. Maybe Jim can answer that question.

I am growing also here in LA 2 tree peonies that have
done OK. They really need to be put into some real
planting mix. I have 'High Noon' a gorgeous clear
yellow bloom and another unnamed purple variety. They
have not bloomed for me as yet though.

=====
John Ingram in L.A., CA.
http://www.floralarchitecture.com/ check it out
Floralartistry2000@yahoo.com
310.709.1613 (cell, west coast time, please call accordingly. Thank you)
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