Tree Peony: a Regal Treat From The Orient

The photo of this Tree Peony flower is courtesy of Garden Daily. Click on image to visit that site.

The Tree Peony is a slow growing shrub with a very long life. As the national flower of China, it is not uncommon to find plants there that are over 100 years old still producing hundreds of flowers each season. This shrub will outlive the gardener who plants it. If you are planning to add it to your garden, make certain that it is well placed for posterity.

Tree Peonies bloom two weeks earlier than ordinary peonies [that are really far from ordinary] and produce flowers ranging in size from 7 to 12 inches wide. Blooms are borne on woody stems that do not die back at season’s end and do not crack in heavy rain. Another contrast with ordinary peonies is that these flowers bloom in a wide range of exuberant, vivid colors that include bronze, yellow, purple, wine, and green.

This shrub will eventually grow to 3 or 7 feet tall and 4 to 5 feet wide depending on the cultivar, but that growth will take decades. It is hardy to zone 4 with winter protection. Place it in a well-drained location with a loose, deep soil with a pH of 6.5 and 7.5 in full sun to part shade. New shrubs should be planted in the fall, because, unlike any other plant we know, this one develops most of its roots in the autumn. Newly planted shrubs require a moist soil until they are about two years old. That is also the time when they will require pruning every spring. The tree peony needs fertilizing three times a year.

Because it develops so slowly, some cultivars of the Tree Peony can cost up to $300.00, although many are priced under $50.00 each. There is an extensive choice of flower styles and colors available from on line nurseries and specialty growers. Adding a tree peony to your garden design is treating yourself like royalty.

Hydrangea Cousins Annabelle and Incrediball

This great shot of Annabelle is courtesy of the Extension Dept. of the University of Minnesota. Click on the image to learn more. Hydrangea Annabelle is the flowering shrub we gardeners dream about. It is brutally hardy, blooms reliably year after year, and just like a perennial, it increases in lushness and size with each season. Unlike a perennial, it does not need dividing to maintain its vigor. Just plant it and forget it. This shrub isn’t very fussy about soil and will tolerate heavy shade or full sun. At the end of the season, cut it down to the ground and it will rebound the next spring. Need some winter interest? Allow the dead mop heads to remain in the garden to be harvested in the spring. Want some giant dried flowers for indoors? Snip and dry Hydrangea blooms during the growing season when they turn from lime to white and then green. Grown in full shade, Annabelle mop heads will bloom upright. In part shade or sun, the flower heads will arc over trying to follow sunlight. The shrub remains gracefull regardless of how its flowers grow. However, in a tightly managed perennial border, the gardener may choose to restrain arcing blooms by staking the shrub with strong supports.

. "Incrediball" is a patented trade mark of Proven Winners.

Recently, the adventurous people at Proven Winners introduced an improved version of Annabelle which they named "Incrediball" or Hydrangea Abetwo.This cultivar has beefy stems and massive blooms that do not flop over even in heavy rainfall. Each bloom holds four times the number of flowers as Annabelle does and like its cousin, it will grow in sun to part shade. Both Annabelle and Incrediball are hardy in zones 3 to 9 and will grow 4 to 5 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide. Blooms begin in mid summer and continue until fall.

What's New: Hunting for New Perennials

Scientific folklore tells us that in pre-historic times we were hunters and that the instinct to hunt is still embedded in our DNA. We satisfy that urge by shopping for items that are hard to find and by searching out and collecting rare objects. Speak to hobbyists and invariably they will point to empty spaces in their collections waiting to be filled.

Gardeners of perennial plants are also collectors. No sooner do we complete a garden, when we discover a plant that was overlooked or that is newly introduced. The temptation to add it to our collection is strong especially when it offers a color, texture or height that will enhance our design or simply make us feel better by owning it.

Some collectors of perennials fall into the trap of gardening-one-upmanship. This is understandable because competitiveness is another trait imbedded in our DNA, or so they say. This game requires due diligence prior to acquiring or boasting about a new flower. Each season, too many plants marketed as “new” by mail order companies are not really new to gardening but new to a particular merchant. Or it may be a variety that is new to a generation of gardeners too young to know that it has already been around for years. I am always amused when I read about a plant that is “new for 2009”, when I have been growing it in my garden for over 20 years.

New cultivars are marketed with a story indicating why they are new. There is a reasonable expectation that acquiring such a plant will be a satisfying experience. However, if it is simply new to a nursery’s assortment, there’s a risk that adding that plant to one’s garden will go unnoticed. To avoid being duped or disappointed, buy from reliable nurseries that restrict sales hype to new cultivars only.

Add a Drip and Save the Planet

 After we switch over to cleaner and domestically produced energy sources, we will immediately have to turn our attention to the conservation of water. It doesn’t matter why, but some parts of North America are becoming increasingly vulnerable to droughts capable of destroy crops, livestock, segments of the economy and our quality of life. A natural disaster is waiting for a precipitate in order to happen. If that should occur, investments in our landscaping will also be at risk. One day it may become necessary to resort to continent-altering diversions of water and to modify its consumption. Gardeners and commercial farmers need to start practicing efficient water conservation habits now. Using drip hoses instead of overhead sprinklers would be a good start. Click here to read Fran Sorin's very important article on this subject titled "Drip Irrigation: Common Sense Watering". Not only is this a must read, but some of her readers' comments on this subject are illuminating.

Gentle Hermione is a David Austin Rose

Holly in the UK captured this beautiful image and posted it to "grows on you.com". Click on the rose to visit that site.David Austin of the UK is credited with having created a new breed of English rose. The inspiration came from his love of the old fashioned, soft looking roses which bloomed only once each season and then only in limited colors. By crossbreeding these heritage roses with floribundas and hybrid teas, he was able to create a soft heritage-looking rose that bloomed repeatedly all season long and in many colors. Today, his company grows over 800 varieties of continuously blooming roses.

While every David Austin English Rose is beautiful, I want to focus on a most exemplary one called “Gentle Hermione”. This is a pure pink rose that fades to soft pink. Each flower starts off as a rounded bud, gradually opening up to a shallow cup, with all of its 100 petals perfectly arranged in a ring. The petals are remarkably resistant to rain and its strong fragrance is reminiscent of an Old Rose with a hint of myrrh.

This plant forms a rounded shrub 3 to 4 feet height with slightly arching stems. It blooms on new wood, so it is recommended that it be pruned in early spring to promote new growth. “Gentle Hermione” is hardy from zone 5 to 10 but will survive the winter in zone 4 with protection. The David Austin Company is confident that  this rose will also survive in zone 3 with extra winter protection.