Tree Peony. Part 1 "Through The Ages"

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Photo: Valyukha

Peony (lat. Paeonia) is a popular flower culture, a perennial herbaceous and deciduous (tree-like peonies) plant with a powerful spindle-shaped root tuber. Gardeners value peonies for their lush foliage, early flowering, aroma, and even for ornamental fruits (in some species). Speaking specifically about tree-like peonies, their variety is striking and surprising: from hollow flowers with seven petals to huge fragrant balls 20 centimeters in diameter and 500 grams in weight.

Tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) - belongs to the monotypic family

Peony (Paeoniaceae), of the order Garryales. It is a perennial shrub up to two meters high, with light brown stems. Stems up to three centimeters in diameter do not die off for the winter like a herbaceous peony, they shed their leaves, and by spring buds appear on the stems, the leaves and the bush take on the shape of a hemisphere. The variety of colors and shapes is striking: velvet, semi-double, multi-colored, pink, purple, crimson and white … In a word, you can't describe them all! They bloom two weeks earlier than herbaceous ones, decorating the garden, enveloping everything around with aroma, inviting the first bees to the spring breakfast.

Through the ages

The first mention of the tree peony as an ornamental plant dates back to the Han dynasty (China) in the 2nd century BC. Also in China, in 1024 AD, 24 varieties of this plant were first described by the Chinese historiographer Ouyang Xu. The tree-like peony is considered conditionally immortal, as in evidence of this, several bushes still grow, planted during the Song Empire (X-XIII centuries AD) and eight bushes of the Ming dynasty (X-XVII centuries). At the moment, most of the 1000 varieties known grow in China. The tree peony is a significant plant for the culture of China. Firstly, it was considered a symbol of the arrival of spring, and secondly, artificial flowers of a tree-like peony in hairstyles were an obligatory attribute of geisha students in March, starting from the spring equinox.

There is no specific and accurate taxonomy of this group, since they are rare in the wild, and in floriculture there are many hybrids that are difficult to distinguish from each other, there is still debate among botanists whether this plant is a species or is it a group of peony varieties.

In China, varieties are grouped according to the place of breeding (northeast, southwest, etc.), and already in the world, Chinese, European, American varieties are distinguished on their basis. They were brought to Russia in the 18th century and were cultivated in the Imperial Botanical Garden among the collection of subtropical herbaceous plants. The first planting by seeds in the Botanical Garden of the BIN RAS took place in 1939, the first seedlings were obtained in the spring of 1941. Three of them grow there today.

Care

Caring for tree peonies is not at all difficult and does not differ from caring for a herbaceous peony: watering as needed, loosening the soil and controlling weeds. Depending on the quality of the soil, it may be necessary to fertilize with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. In the spring, upon awakening, the tree-like peony can be fed with nitrogen, and at the time of flowering, potassium and phosphorus. In August, watering and fertilization stops until spring.

Pruning

Pruning of a tree peony is done in early spring, before the bush wakes up. The oldest shoots can be shortened to 15 cm. Dry shoots are removed completely. To rejuvenate the bush, once every twenty years, the bush is cut off completely.

Transfer

The tree peony does not tolerate transplantation very well and after that it gets sick for several years. The transplant is carried out only in extreme cases, when there is a suspicion of root rotting. The peony is dug up with a clod of earth, then the whole earth is washed off with a stream of water. Bare roots are carefully examined, rotten roots are removed, and too long are shortened. If necessary, you can divide the bush. All sections are processed with garden varnish or a solution of potassium permanganate, sprinkled with ashes.

The tree peony is very resistant to diseases and pests. The only thing he is disposed to is gray rot. Areas damaged by gray rot are removed and burned, and a healthy plant is treated with a solution of potassium permanganate (3 grams per 10 liters of water) or copper sulfate (6 grams per 10 liters of water).

The second part of the article will talk about the reproduction of the tree peony.