Jerry Flintoff praises P. emodi,a wonderful species for which I definitely share his enthusiasm. In addition to having lovely pure white flowers, it has gorgeous deeply cut foliage which, when emerging, has an almost oily bronzed sheen to it. I've grown it here for many years - like some other Himalayan plants, it does very well in the snowbelt. I'd be curious to know how hardy it is without snow cover -I think it's generally rated to about zone 6/7. What have been people's experiences with it? Ellen Ellen Hornig Seneca Hill Perennials 3712 County Route 57 Oswego NY 13126 USA http://www.senecahillperennials.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: <jflintoff@aol.com> To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 10:47 AM Subject: [pbs] re Lutea tree peony - commentary + obovata/japonica > I think the extraordinary old Lemoine tree peony ' Souvenir de Maxime > Cornu ' can be breathtaking. I grow mine on a high bank so that I can look > up at it and enjoy its enormous flowers with their wonderfully shaded > yellow colors. > > Some P luteas I've grown get so tall that it is difficult to see their > flowers. P 'Tria' so far has remained shorter and as the name hints, its > three-flowered stems make for a prolonged display even though semi-double > at most. > > The P japonicas that I have grown have decidedly smaller flowers than > those of P obovata 'Alba' though I must admit that a rose-colored obovata > that I once grew had smaller flowers than the usual > 'Alba' s. The P japonica that I currently grow ( from seed collected by > Kazuo Mori ) is enchanting and preferable to the larger obovata ' Alba' . > > Speaking of white wild peonies, P emodi is incredibly beautiful and the > stems have often 3 flowers. > > Jerry John Flintoff > Vashon Island,Washington,USA > Zone 8 > > ________________________________________________________________________ > AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free > from AOL at AOL.com. > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/