The Brand New Peony on the Market – The Peony for the People
There is a brand new Peony on the market and it’s nothing like the Peonies you know – this one can actually be grown by anyone. Peonies are notorious for how difficult they are, which means not many people have been able to enjoy their beauty. But that changes today.
Steve's History with Peonies
We met up with Steve from Nishiki Nursery, who is one of our growers and a plant expert in his own right. He may even know more about plants than Chris does!
He says that growing Peonies “is sort of in my blood. My dad’s been doing it. My grandfather was doing it. There’s something really captivating about a Peony flower – the size, the colour, the beauty. They are just so impressive – they can’t help but capture your attention.”
Steve’s experience with Peonies really does stretch back generations. His grandfather came over from Holland in the forties and started growing Peonies in Silvan.
It was mostly Tree Peonies, which was the original form of Peony. Then Steve’s dad started growing Peonies when he started his own nursery. And now Steve, having started his own nursery too, has taken that torch and continued the lineage of growing Peonies.
That’s about 70 years that Steve’s family has been growing Peonies. Steve himself has been growing them for 20 years. Such an incredible history and expertise there.
Now, Steve’s dad made an amazing breakthrough on how to grow Peonies – and it was completely by accident.
One day, one of his workers put WAY too much Dolomite Lime on the Peony beds. He was instructed to do just a little bit, but actually put about four inches thick of Dolomite Lime.
This could’ve been a disaster but what ended up happening was that those Peonies grew and flowered the best he’s ever seen.
From then on, he grew Peonies prolifically, using lots and lots of lime.
The reason for this is that Peonies are native to China and Japan where they mostly grow on limestone, which is quite alkaline. Whereas our soil here is quite acidic.
A Peony for the People
This is why Steve is the perfect person to talk about Peonies with – and specifically the brand new type of Peony he created.
Coral Charm Peony
These are Herbaceous Peonies, and we have two types for you. There’s Coral Charm, with a double pink flower, and Rosedale, with a double red flower.
These are amazing exotic flowers that will create excitement and interest in any garden.
They are both easy to grow and don’t require any special soil or treatment. They don’t need frost to flower properly either.
Which means absolutely anybody could grow these in their garden.
Rosedale Peony
So, let’s say you buy one of these types – this is what’s going to happen in the next few months and even year.
It’s early spring now and they’ve just started to shoot up. They’ll grow to about 40 to 50cm tall and have one or two flower buds on each stem.
This will turn into huge double flowers, which are simply exquisite to look at. These flowers will last for a week – a brief but beautiful show. You can cut them off and place them in a vase inside the house.
After this flowering period, you’ll just have the beautiful green foliage through summer. Then in autumn the foliage will have some gorgeous autumn colour. Come winter the Peonies will slowly die down, only to be rebirthed in spring with more flowers – around three to four now.
The first year it’s only one or two, but with each passing year the number of flowers will double. So, in five years’ time, it’s going to be simply incredible.
You have the option between growing these in a pot or in the garden. Which is really handy for those who have a courtyard garden or a patio they want to fill.
It’s a good idea to put in a bamboo stake or some kind of market so that when they die down in winter, you don’t lose track of them in the garden.
How Were These Peonies Created?
Most types of Peonies require frost and special conditions to flower, which is a big part of the reason why only the very keen gardeners and experts would plant Peonies at all.
But Steve’s dad set out to change this – and made a huge breakthrough in the gardening field. He selected the varieties that don’t require frost to flower and are easier to grow and propagate.
It was all a process of testing different conditions and climates to work if they’re going to perform well for people. It was about ten years in the making to create these Peonies.
Because of his expertise and dedication, anyone can have flowering Peonies in their garden.
ITOH Peonies
Steve has moved away from the traditional Tree Peonies to a more exciting type of Peony which is a hybridisation between the Tree Peony and the Herbaceous Peony. This is the ITOH Peony.
It is a vigorous grower with lots of flowers and doesn’t require a particular soil to grow properly. You’re getting the best of both worlds.
In the next few weeks, we’re going to have an incredible range of these Peonies coming in.
If you were to plant an ITOH Peony, in five years you’ll have a meter wide round clump that would be up to a metre tall. It would be covered with around 50 huge flowers.
On average they’re about six to eight inches across, and there are even some varieties as large as a dinner plate!
There’s a huge colour range including white, pink, yellow, orange, red, then some that have a few blended colours like orange, yellow and pink in one flower. There’s even a flower that is almost black, that’s how dark the shade of red is.
For this season there will be about six different colours, with a totally range of about 12 to 15 varieties.
You can expect to have one or two flowers this year, as they have been established in the pot for at least six months. If they don’t flower this year, they definitely will next season.
Caring for your Peony
If you wanted to get the best performance from your Peonies this is what you should do. From the pot you buy it in, either transplant it into a bigger pot or into the garden. Ideally, you want to be doing this in winter or autumn, rather than spring.
Now these two steps aren’t essential, but it is how you will get the most flowers and the healthiest plant. You want to add some mushroom compost because it has quite a high PH factor and helps with the lime levels. Also make sure to use good quality potting mix.
Herbaceous or ITOH?
Both types of Peonies are excellent. If you are more interested in having cut flowers and something that is super easy to grow, then go for a Herbaceous Peony.
If you are more wanting a combination of cut flowers and a beautiful bush in the garden, then choose an ITOH Peony.
When they flower you can bring them inside (if they’re in a pot). We recommend cutting off the flowers and putting them in a vase.
Something that is quite lovely to do with the large flowers is cutting them off with a very short stem and then floating them in a bowl of water. It looks very elegant and beautiful.
Garden Styles that Compliment Peonies
An oriental style garden suits Peonies best. Pick plants like Cherry Blossoms, Japanese Maples, and Plum Blossoms to create a truly exquisite garden.
Other trees that blossom later would also be great choice like Crab Apples and later flowering Cherry Blossoms, as they will flower at the same time as your Peonies.
Japanese Maples with their beautiful red and purple leaves are reaching their best colours at the time Peonies are flowering. The Peony flowering season goes from early September right through to the end of November.
Where Can I Get These Peonies?
Well, by the time this article goes live we’ll have the range of Peonies available on our website. You can check it out here.
We are so excited to share these new varieties of Peonies and can’t wait for everyone to enjoy the beauty of Peonies.
Feeling inspired to create your own garden, but want some expert advice? Try our one-on-one garden design service with Chris. Together you’ll come up with a selection of plants along with a layout plan that gives you the look you want, as well as being suitable for your local soil and conditions.
get your own tailored modern garden design:
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