I should likely have waited a week to post photos of this vase – it will be a week closer to July 1, Canada Day, when everything is the colours of our flag. But peonies, like most flowers, have their own calendar and I couldn’t be sure these magnificent and humongous red peonies would last, so here it is, joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden as she hosts vases of cut flowers from around the world.
I don’t know the variety – it’s just one of those plants that wind up in your garden and, over the years, its origin is forgotten. Here it is, with my morning mug of coffee to provide a bit of size context, paired with the glorious whiteness of P. Duchesse de Nemours. I love this peony because not only is the central flower large, interesting and white, but it has a multitude of smaller side flowers that take their time opening, providing many weeks of whiteness. It’s also very sturdy and requires no caging or staking, unlike the red one. The red has stems like tree branches, but they grow so tall I invariably find them sprawled all over. Have a great day everyone!
That first photo looks like a painting by a European master. The flowers complement one another beautifully. I’m a fan!
Thanks! I had to tone down the brightness a lot – the white flowers were just so shiney!!
The red one has such depths of colour, doesn’t it? I am glad they are doing so well for you – my sole one (one of the few things that were in the garden when we came) has reappeared after being moved, and for the last 2 or 3 years has produced the sum total of two blooms each year…hey ho!
😆 They seem to love my heavy clay rocky soil!
Beautiful. Peony season should last much longer, don’t you think! Love the creamy tinge to the white one.
Peonies for a month would be nice!
‘Duchesse de Nemours’ became available here only recently, so I sort of wonder if it requires less chill than others. Peonies do not perform well here because winter weather is so mild. Nurseries formerly sold only the three common white, pink and red cultivars ‘Festiva Maxima’, ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ and . . . a red cultivar that I can not remember. They were likely the least reliant on chill. I have seen very few perform well. It annoys me that nurseries are beginning to sell cultivars that are likely more reliant on chill that they will never get here.
I’m not great on remembering cultivar or hybrid names decade to decade – but the Duchesse I’ll always remember!
Your peonies are magnificent. I ordered the Duchesse once but it grew up as something else. The red one is spectacular.
It’s been such a great spring and now summer for the garden…the only downside is how fast the days are going by!
It’s so true Chris. Almost July!