Out-of-this-world Peonies

Interest in peonies has soared in recent years. Reliably cold-hardy and long-lived, peonies boast huge, fragrant blooms that look stunning in the garden.

A new generation of peony-lovers values the bodacious blooms as a dazzling cut flower. When it comes to choosing a peony for your garden, floriferous varieties with strong stems not requiring staking offer long-lasting satisfaction.

Intersectional peonies, also known as Itoh peonies, are a hybrid cross between herbaceous (Paeonia lactiflora) and woody-stemmed tree peonies. Developed by Japanese botanist Toichi Itoh over a period of several years following the Second World War, Itoh peonies offer the best characteristics of both parents. Itoh peonies have spectacular long-lasting blooms (more than 20 centimetres across), deeply lobed foliage and strong stems not in need of staking.

Itoh peony cultivars can vary in size from 90-101 cm. The new Garden Candy series from breeder Donald R. Smith is the first series of Itoh peonies with a consistent size of 91-cm tall and wide. Each one of the compact cultivars in this new series boasts large double flowers. The range of colours is heavenly.

But before we delve further into the many attributes offered by this new series with its big, double, bright blooms on beautifully shaped plants, let’s meet the breeder and look behind the scenes of how this new series came to market.

Donald Smith is a former atmospheric research physicist who spent his career working for NASA. He is a self-described serious amateur breeder who specializes in developing new and improved intersectional peonies. Some of the popular Itoh peony cultivars he has introduced include Singing in the Rain, Yankee Doodle Dandy and Magical Mystery Tour. In 2014, Singing in the Rain was selected as peony of the year by the Canadian Peony Society.

Although Smith’s interest in peonies began prior to his career as a physicist, his breeding efforts did not begin in earnest until the 1990s.

Myra Froc, president of the Prairie Peony Society, counts some of Smith’s varieties among the 800-plus peonies she grows in her garden in Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley and says Smith is not one to shirk from a challenge. “Donald R. Smith, or simply ‘Don,’ as his colleagues in the American Peony Society know him, has no background in biology or gardening,” says Froc. “He recorded many firsts with the largely sterile Itoh. First, he created many yellow and peach coloured blossoms when they were relatively rare in the peony world. He accomplished the impossible dream of using a lactiflora as a pollen parent to hybridize an Itoh, a feat never before achieved.”

To grow Itoh peonies to maturity more quickly than normal, Froc says Smith got down to work at Planteck micropropagation labs. “He also cleared another seemingly impossible hurdle — crossing sterile triploid Itoh peonies with other sterile triploids to produce advanced-generation fertile Itoh peonies that will be on the market soon, along with his recently introduced Garden Candy series.”

Smith’s newest series caught the eye of Plants Nouveau, a company built and run by a team of plantswomen who search the world for new and interesting flora and introduce them following extensive evaluation. It took more than a decade of work and research to bring the Garden Candy series to market. Plants Nouveau works with partners in Europe and North America.

Monrovia, a plant company that grows an extensive line of ornamental plants, is another grower that will sell the new Garden Candy series.

One of the special features of this new series is that it offers improved pest- and disease-resistance. It’s also tolerant of urban pollution. Deer typically do not eat Itoh peonies which is another important feature. Currently, the series consists of 11 different cultivars, however Monrovia will not be offering the entire line.

Recently I talked by phone with Megan McConnell, plant information director for Monrovia.

“We’re very excited about the Garden Candy series,” says McConnell. “It’s really the form of the series that makes it so interesting. It’s just this perfect little mound. Some Itoh peonies have really long stems, but this compact series with its unique rounded look holds the flowers closer to the foliage. The peonies are very floriferous. Lots of big blooms and there are a lot of side shoots off the stems, so you get multiple blooms on one stem.”

McConnell says their olive-green foliage is beautiful and full. “Some peonies have a problem with mildew, however the Garden Candy series is highly mildew-resistant. We have not seen any mildew problems.”

Monrovia’s main lineup for the Garden Candy series includes Candy Apple, Evie Jane, Simply Scrumptious, Summer Sunset, Blueberry Lemonade and Peach-A-Licious.

There’s a lot of buzz around the Candy Apple cultivar because it’s the first commercially available double-red Itoh peony on the market from breeder Don Smith. The double flowers are a deep crimson-red just like a candy apple.

Evie Jane is named after one of Smith’s granddaughters. The large raspberry-coloured double flowers with yellow stamens are about 15 cm across. Simply Scrumptious, another cultivar in the series, has petals ranging from peachy orange to creamy white with pink picotee edges. Simply Scrumptious is a bomb-shaped peony, which means the inner petal form is characterized by a large centre ball.

Garden Candy Summer Sunset features double blooms that start with a peachy hue which ages to yellow with a flash of orange in the centre for a stunning combination of orange and yellow on the same flower.

Garden Candy Blueberry Lemonade has to be my favourite of the series. The double blooms are a soft, peachy-yellow with purple-magenta striping. Of course, Peach-A-Licious is also a must-have with creamy orange double flowers that bring a rare and romantic shade to the late spring garden.

Plants Nouveau lists the Garden Candy series as hardy to Zone 3 but Monrovia pegs the series as hardy to Zone 4. Both herbaceous and Itoh peonies generally do very well in our Zone 3B climate. Taking care to water deeply and regularly, especially in the first growing season, will help your plant to establish a healthy root system.

colleenizacharias@gmail.com

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