Episode 1: Peony

Latin name: Paeonia

This first episode of Our Plant Stories is inspired by Maisie McCadden, who as you can see from this photograph, created the most amazing hanging baskets. It was one of the first things that Lynne told me about her mum as a gardener.

Lynne and her sister Gilly had strong memories of playing while their parents gardened and Gilly became a garden designer. You can follow her work on Instagram @gillymccaddendesign.

Lynne had a very particular memory of a peony that was special to her mum and that they were not allowed to go near or to touch or pick. She was desperate to know what it was.

In this episode, Claire Austin provides the answer to Lynne’s question. She has written the most beautiful book, simply called: Peonies. She runs a nursery called Claire Austin Hardy Plants, and the website is full of wonderful plants that you can buy and lots of further information for plant lovers too. For beautiful pictures of plants you can also follow Claire on Instagram @Claireaustinhp

Paeonia officinalis ‘Rubra Plena’. Photograph courtesy of Claire Austin

List of the plants mentioned in this episode.

Click on the links to see all the plants and a fascinating article about Itoh peonies, on Claire’s website.

Alchemella mollis - one of Maisie McCadden’s favourite plants and the first Latin plant name that the sister’s learned - and which always made them giggle.

Herbaceous Peonies:

Paeonia officinalis ‘Rubra Plena’ - the one that Maisie McCadden grew and Lynne has now planted her own bare root peony - see bottom of the page.

Paeonia officinalis subsp. ‘Anemoniflora Rosea’ - one that only grows to about 2 feet wide by 2 feet high and has lovely foliage, so I could grow this one in my small garden.

Paeonia ‘Shirley Temple’ the plant that Claire says will grown in half shade and is fabulous for cut flowers, it has big white blousy flowers.

Intersectional Peonies: these were created during the 1970’s by a Japanese peony enthusiast called Dr Toichi Itoh so they are also known as Itoh peonies. He wanted to create a yellow peony and these are a cross between woody tree peonies which are often yellow and herbaceous peonies, so as Claire says “they have the benefit of both”.

Tree Peonies - that we may have seen but not realised they were peonies. They have very deeply divided foliage and when the leaves fall in Autumn, there will just be lots of sticks. Claire described it as being ‘more like a rounded shrub’ and advised us to look at the back of some grand garden borders if we want to find them.

Paeonia delavayi. this one has little red flowers

Paeonia delavayi f. lutea. this one has little yellow flowers

HOW TO GROW

This is a starter guide to how to grow a peony. I would advise you to look at Claire’s book and website for more information but here are a few key takeaways from the podcast.

What and where to buy

If you want to get the maximum choice of varieties then buy from a specialist nursery where they will have a few hundred to choose from.

If you buy in the Autumn, Claire’s advice is to buy bare root, which will generally give you a bigger root with more eyes - from which it will shoot in the Spring. You can plant bare root from November till the end of January/middle of February, maybe a bit later in Scotland. If you can’t wait till the Autumn, you can of course also buy in a pot, but they tend to be a bit smaller.

How to Plant

This is key as Claire tells us in the podcast. If it’s a herbaceous peony, plant it no more than 2 inches (3 or 4 cm) below the surface of the soil. “If it’s any deeper, the poor plant can’t produce enough top growth to produce flowers.”

If it’s a tree peony , they’re often grafted so plant them 4 inches deep or 10 cm.

The other reason they won’t flower, a question Claire was often asked at Chelsea Flower Show, “is because they are dry at the roots, they really need moisture in Spring, if they don’t have moisture in Spring, the buds will won’t fill out and will just be little brown hard nuggets. This is also why you don’t plant them in too much shade because tree roots might take up the moisture. If your peony is not flowering, move it, in Autumn."

They don’t like very wet ground and they’re a bit shy of very dry ground initially, but they will grow in almost any soil apart from bog. Though in the UK they flourish in sun, in America where it can get very hot they will grow under dappled shade where the canopy gives them a little protection from the heat.

Don’t fertilise them, especially with freshly produced manure as it will rot the eyes. “If you do want to fertilise peonies but really I see no real reason why you should, you put a ring of compost around, away from the central crown of the plant. Otherwise you will kill it. I always say when people plant peonies, don’t do anything, just plant it! It’s a plant of the wild essentially.”

Sadly this may not be one for pots because you need to keep them watered. Because of their long livedness (remember they could last for 100 years) they put down roots which could be 3 foot across. So if they are going in a pot it would at least need to be a half barrel. However there will be plenty of plants in this series that you can put in a pot.

Aspect

The advice is that they are better grown in full sun but Claire does have a Paeonia ‘Shirley Temple’ growing in half shade that has 30 flowers on it each year.

Myths

That you can’t move a peony. Clearly you can because they have been transported all over the world! But Claire suspects this is because “if you divide them too small when you move them, it can take forever for them to flower. So they look like they sulk”.

Finally

“If you are having an issue with a plant think, ok, what does it want? It’s just like a child, why’s it screaming…needs feeding!”

Further Reading

You might want to take a look at the Hardy Plant Society - loads more wonderful information.

Lynne’s new peony emerging this week.

I do hope that you enjoyed this first episode of Our Plant Stories. Let me know what you think in the comments. Perhaps you have your own peony memories or stories or recommendations that you would like to share, feel free to put them in the comments. Next week we have a story about a passionflower, inspired by a grandmother who had a habit of taking cuttings!