9 April 2025
Share this post:
Beloved by Beth Chatto, her team explains how to grow them
With so much looking fantastic in the garden at the moment , it ’s hard to know what to apportion . That said , the beautiful paeony , a plant which imbibe much attending from our visitors and a pet of Beth Chatto ’s , just had to be spell about ! Here , the squad explains how good to develop and propagate these garden gems .
Julia x
Herbaceous peonies , with splendid romantic flower herald the start of summer , have feature in Beth ’s garden for many years and are partner with other late leap / former summertime favourites such as dicentra and bury - me - nots . As with most plant in the garden , Beth preferent mintage peonies or cultivars pop the question single flowers – those without extra petals which are more approachable to pollinators .
Although they can be grown in sun , peony flowers will always look their best and last longer in cool place , between shrubs or beneath light overhead shade . For strong , salubrious plants , grow in a humus - full-bodied , free - run out soil . All peony take time to settle down and make a substantial rhizome , but be assure that with each successive class you could expect to weigh more efflorescence stem .
Paeoniadauricasubsp.mlokosewitschii , or the more pronounceable ‘ Molly the witch ’ , was one of Beth ’s favourites , and she often used the foliage and flower for blossom arrangements . The vulgar name , Caucasoid peony , suggests it is indigenous to the Caucasus mountains . The reddish pigment on the raw shoot contain kale and amino superman which work as an anti - freeze ensuring the industrial plant ’s protection too soon in the year .
Bursting through the soil in March , the come out red bud blossom out with bronzed foliation , gradually turning a flabby grey - putting surface as the flora matures . In May , lemon tree - yellowed , cup - shaped heyday appear with broad , oval petal and prosperous stamen .
Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii
Another unusual peony , pass on to Beth by supporter Cedric Morris , was in the first place thought to beP. emodibut later rename as P. ‘ Late Windflower ’ . It is a cross betweenP. emodiandP. veitchiiand the leaf is finely prune and the keen flowers are white and sweetly - scented .
Propagation
The mature , black seeds are collected in late summer and sown fresh . After sprouting the very honest seedlings are select and pricked out , and some are grown for a further five years to ensure the choose seedlings are true to the parent plant .
P. ‘Late Windflower’
To split up existing plants , they are raise and dissever while dormant between November and other March . Always see each section contains enough roots and at least three center ( buds ) . Replant in a estimable - sized jam , but not too deep , secure the heart are no more than a couple of inches below the Earth’s surface .
Another signifier of propagation is undertaken via root cuttings . During the segmentation process , roots that are too long to agree in locoweed are trim back . The resulting cuttings can then be repose down horizontally in rows in a large shallow tray of compost before covering with gravel . The stem cuttings will then sit in our propagation burrow until leaping next year when we can have a bun in the oven fresh shoots to appear .
“ I could see the large red bud ofPaeoniamlokosewitschiijust wear out the surface of the soil . I shall bask the unfolding , mahogany - touch young foliage long before the flower come out in May . Without being aware of it , I was drawn out of my futile fretting by these other treasures . ”
Beth Chatto
“ The extravagant efflorescence of paeony are almost all well - provided with nectar and pollen . Bees , wasps and hoverflies are attracted to the resources of the flowers , with often several person occupy each open blossom . ”
Chris Gibson , wildlife expert at Beth Chatto Gardens
you’re able to find out out more from the Beth Chatto team atwww.bethchatto.co.uk/discover/our-blog/guides/
