Paeonia

Paeonia

Peony, Ranunculaceae, Buttercup Family

How To Say: pay-OHN-ee-uh

Description:
Peonies are prized for their variety of form and color, their exceptional hardiness and their ease of culture.Peonies have been in cultivation in China and Japan for centuries.Individual plants may live 100 years or longer.A few species are grown but most garden peonies are hybrids of Paeonia officialis and P.lactiflora. Colors range from white,cream,yellow to pink and rose to scarlet.
Plants are often classified by bloom time as early-May(April in the South)blooming,mid-May and late-May blooming.Plants can be grouped into 4 categories by the shape of their flowers.Single Peonies have a ring of 5 or more petals with a central ring of stamens (male reproductive structures).Japanese peonies have a ring of petals around a central cluster of modified stamens that are narrow and flat and bear no pollen. (Anemone flowered peonies also fall into this group, but thier modified stamens are more petal like.) Semidouble peonies have several rings of petals around visiable stems.Double peonies have many concentric rings of petals and no visable stamens.

Types of Peonies:
P.lactiflora-Common garden Peony-Chinese Peony
P.offinalis-Common Peony
P.suffruticosa-Tree Peony
P.tenuifolia-Fernleaf Peony

How to Grow:
Peonies require moist loamy,humas-rich soil in full sun or light shade.Plant the thick fleshy roots of herbaceous peonies in September or October.Excavate hole 8-10 inches deep in a well prepared soil.Plce the eyes (buds) no more than 2 inches below the soil surface.Plant each clump at least 3 feet from other plants to allow their mature spread.Mulch the first winter to protect from frost heaving.Protect plants with annual winter mulch in areas where temperatures dip consistently below 0 and snow cover in unpredictable.
Taller selections and most doubles usually need staking to keep their flowers out of the mud.In warmer regions provide shade from the afternoon sun to prolong flowering and to help keep colors from fading. In fall cut the stems to the ground.
Plants may grow undisturbed for years but if its roots get overcrowded or the soil gets impoverished,blooms may be sparse.Lift plants in late summer, wash off the soil and cut the roots into sections with 4-5 eyes each.Use a sharp knife to make clean cuts.Replant divisions into enriched soil.
There are some reasons why peonies fail to bloom occasionally.
-Plants are to small.Peonies may take up to several years to reach blooming size.
-Buds are more then 1-2 inches deep.Lift the clump and replant at correct level.
-Clump is crowded.Lift,divide and replant.
-Buds were killed by winter cold.Provide winter mulch to prevent damage next year.
-Buds were killed by disease.Botrytis, a fungal disease,may cause buds to abort.It can kill stems or may even rot the roots. Destoy badly infected plants or spray leaves and stems with fungicide.
-Buds were killed by insects.Thrips, tiny insects that hide under the leaves and in bud scales, may cause deformed stems and buds. As soon as you see signs of damage,spray with insecticidal soap every 3 days for 2 weeks.
-Plants need fertilizer.Apply composted manure.
-The soil is to dry.Irrigate plants to supply evenly moist soil.
Plants are not getting enough sun. Move them to a site where they get at least 6 hours of full sun per day.
Tree peonies are equally easy to grow. Plant potted divisions in a well prepared, nuetral to slightly acidic soil in full sun or partial shade. Plants are often grafted.Plant them with the graft union 6- 12 inches below the soil, especially in cooler zones where plants should be encouraged to form their own roots. Winter protection is very important North of zone 6 to ensure that the stems are not damaged.Prune plants as needed to encourage good form.

How to grow by seed:
Best results are by germinating indoors.Poeny seeds are ready to collect when they turn intense in color.When pods looks ready to open usually in August or September,harvest the seeds before they scatter on the ground.
You can usually start germinating seeds immediately before they dry out.If they dry out, they will need to go through a simulated winter to break dormancy, spending three months in your refrigerator before you can germinate them successfully.
To germinate a peony seed, place several handfuls of vermiculite in a plastic freezer bag with a ziplock top. Add enough water to make the mixture damp, but not wet. Add 3 or 4 peony seeds. After getting all the air out of the bag, lock it tight. Then leave the bag at room temperature (70 degrees F.) for 3 months to let the seed mature. Then move it to a cooler area, about 50 degrees F. for the new root to develop. In about a week to 10 days you should see the white root developing.
Note that you will get a root only, not a leaf.
Enable a peony seed to grow its first leaf
When the root reaches an inch long or longer, plant the seed and root in a 4" or larger plastic pot in good moist garden soil. The top of the seed should be about 1" below the soil surface. It helps to set the seed in a slanted or horizontal position, so that the root can go down, while the leaf stem can rise up from the same area on the seed.
Lightly wrap the pot in saran wrap to help keep the moisture in without shutting off its air supply. The soil should stay moist, but never wet. Place the pot in the refrigerator for 3 months. Then remove and place in a saucer on a sunny window sill. Remove the saran wrap. Once the pot is warm again, the leaf should come up in about a week to 10 days.

Landscape Uses: For early spring color,combine their red ruby shoots with minor bulbs and forget-me-nots.The expanding peony foilage will shroud declining bulb foilage.Plany peonies with spring and early summer perennials such as Siberian Iris and Foxgloves.Choose tree peonies for a shrub border or plant them with fine textured and small flowered plants.