All About Peonies

With their gorgeous lush petals and sweet fragrance that herald the start of summer, it's hard not to fall in love with Peonies! There are over thirty naturally-occurring species of peonies. These are all members of the genus Paeonia and thus genetically related. Read on to learn more about the history and varieties of peonies.

The people of China have nurtured and cultivated peonies for over two thousand years. Originally they used peonies as a flavoring for food. But since the time of the elegant Tang dynasty (618-907), they bred peonies for their beautiful flowers and grew them in the imperial courts of China. nThen, about a thousand years ago, the people of Japan also took a liking to growing peonies for their beautiful flowers. In the eighteenth century, peony cultivation and breeding took hold in both England and France.

Because naturally-occurring peony species are genetically related, it means many of them can easily be crossed with one another. So, over the years, hybridizers have produced thousands of different ‘cultivated varieties’—or cultivars—all the plants that today we call ‘peonies’.

• Herbaceous Perennials: Most peony cultivars are herbaceous and typically grow about three feet high and up to four feet wide, with blooms up to eight inches in diameter. These will die back to the ground in the winter.
• Tree Peonies: There are also a number of beautiful woody-stemmed peony shrubs that stay above ground in the winter and are called ‘tree peonies’. These grow about five feet high and are highly prized for their sumptuous blossoms up to a foot across.
• Itoh Hybrids: Toichi Itoh was a skilled Japanese plant breeder and in the 1940’s Itoh experimented with cross-fertilizing tree and herbaceous peonies. The outcome was a totally new class of peony, the lovely ‘intersectionals’ or ‘Itoh hybrids’. Although Itoh hybrids die back in winter like their herbaceous peony parentage, they have also inherited the enormous blooms and finely divided leaves from their tree peony parentage.
   

'Scarlet Heaven' Itoh Peony

Single peonies — such as 'Jan Van Leeuwne,' have one or two whorls of broad over-lapping petals surrounding a central mass of yellow stamens. These are the sophisticates of the peony world.

Semi-double peonies — such as 'Coral Charm,' have three or four whorls of petals, but the central mass of stamens is still easily visible.

Double peonies — such as ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, ‘Shirley Temple’ ‘Felix Crousse’ and ‘Karl Rosenfield,’ have sumptuous spherical flowers that are completely filled with numerous overlapping petals. Some blooms have more than a hundred petals!

Japanese or Anemone form peonies —such as ‘Bowl of Beauty,’ have one or more rows of large outer petals surrounding a mass of miniature petals called petaloids. 

Back in 1923 the American Peony Society started awarding the society’s Gold Medal to peony cultivars that the committee considered truly outstanding—a tradition continued almost every year since. As a result, as of 2016, fifty-six peony cultivars are now designated Gold Medal Recipients.

Back in 1923 the American Peony Society started awarding the society’s Gold Medal to peony cultivars that the committee considered truly outstanding—a tradition continued almost every year since. As a result, as of 2016, fifty-six peony cultivars are now designated Gold Medal Recipients.

Some gardeners become completely smitten by peonies and it becomes a lifelong passion. They collect peonies that show off the different forms, from single, semi-double, double and the Japanese or anemone form. A few may even try their hands at breeding their own new cultivars.

Before long their whole year revolves around that precious month in early summer when the peonies bloom!

Bill Countryman was one such peony collector. Always a naturalist and environmentalist, in 1991 at age 71, Bill decided to follow his true passion and create an outstanding peony collection on his farm, which was nestled in the hills above Northfield, Vermont. Within a decade, and supported by his loving wife Anne, Bill had amassed a world-class peony collection with over 1500 different peony cultivars -- including every Gold Medal recipient to date. Today, the farm is under new stewardship, and every June the breathtakingly beautiful display of peonies at Bill's farm continues to delight all who visit.

An impressive collection of peonies in bloom.