Peony Rose

Paeonia
Family: Paeoniaceae
Native to: China, Tibet and Siberia.
Bulb type: Rhizome.
Bloom season & length: Early Summer.
Colours: Pink, rose, red, whites, purple.
Height: Bushes grow to around 1m.
Planting time: During the dormant season over winter.
Soil: Rich, well-drained, well-dug, neutral to slightly alkaline, on the heavy side. Enrich with compost and well-rotted farm manure (fowl is best) as these plants are gross feeders. Can add a handful of lime per square metre. These are very long lived plants so its worth preparing well for them.
Position: Open aspect, good light, shelter from strong winds; with a cool root they will grow freely in most soils in sun or partial shade.
Planting depth and spacing: Crown should have 'eyes' no more than 5cm below the surface; 60 cm apart.
Water: Well during dry weather, amply while flowering.
Fertiliser: Top dress annually with blood and bone or old manure or mulch with compost or add leaf mould and bone meal.
Pests/disease: Rare; Botrytis paeonia - attacking the foliage and turning it black - is easily controlled with Benlate or Bordeaux spraying. Basically they are very hardy.
Cutting: The full double flower with its delightful fragrance is a joy and quit long lasting. Remove spent blooms; do not let sees. While bushes are young cut few flowers; with four year old ones cut up to two thirds. Buds can be picked to open in the vase.
Propagation: By division in dormant season over winter.
Storage: Best divided and replanted as soon as possible. Happiest left in the ground. Paeonies have been known to live for hundreds of years!

The herbaceous Paeonies should not be confused with the tree Paeonies. Paeonies may not grow in the hotter areas of Queensland, northern NSW and West Australia.
There probably isn’t a more important or rewarding flower than Paeony. It has been grown in China for twenty five hundred years.
One great asset Paeonies have is a very long life - there are plantings in Asian temple gardens 100 years old and more. One reason for their long life is that they have no natural enemies, not even man. They have also been a symbol of beauty through the centuries, and their colours, which are many, and their forms are sublime.

Culture:
Paeonies are not the least finicky about soils, but it make sense, when planting a very long lived plant, to get things off to a proper start.
To do this, select a well drained site in full sun, then dig a hole 60 cm in diameter and 30cm deep. Mix in as much as a large bucket of pure humus or screened compost and add to this 500g of bonemeal or other general fertiliser.
Paeonies prefer soil that is neutral and slightly alkaline, but are tolerant of a wide range of soil acidity. A handful of dolomitic limestone mixed with the prepared soil will help assure their preference. Do not use peat moss or cow manure in any form in the planting.
Plant the eyes 4-5cm below the ground level, taming the soil firmly around the roots without damaging the eyes. Paeonies are great feeders and should be fertilised annually after blooms, though they will go quite happily for years without extra food. A handful of wood ashes they also like occasionally. They sulk if grass grows to densely around them, but come back quickly when it is removed.