Out of bloom, out of mind. I'm shamelessly fluid when it comes to choosing a favorite flower. In March, I was quite certain that hellebores were No. 1. Then I changed my mind and was taken with tulips, then the lilacs and now peonies, especially the tree peony.
Recently, I drove to Cricket Hill Garden in Thomaston, Conn. for its annual peony festival. It's about a 2 1 /2-hour drive from the Capital Region, but if you love peonies, it is worth it. The beauty will leave you breathless.
If venturing to Connecticut is just too far, Union College
in Schenectady has a wonderful collection of peonies in Jackson's Garden, eight acres of formal gardens and woodlands. I visited earlier this week and several peonies were in bloom and more were about to explode with color. There were single flower tree peonies in deep purple/magenta and smaller doubles in shades of pink. And, the scents ranged from spicy to sweet.
Connie Schmitz, the college's landscape specialist, says she believes some of the tree peonies may be 100 years old and may have been planted by Isaac Jackson, a math professor in the mid-1800s who started the garden that bears his name.
Unfortunately, she said the exact planting dates, the story behind the selections and the varieties are no longer known. If any reader has information about these peonies, please contact me. We have a treasure in our back yard that I'd like to know more about.
TERRACED LANDSCAPE
As for Cricket Hill, owners David and Kasha Furman transformed their Connecticut six-acre hillside into a terrace landscape of more than 300 tree and herbaceous peonies. They call it peony heaven. And, for the peony collector, this internationally known mail-order nursery is heaven.
The Furmans were among the first to import Chinese tree peonies and have grown several hundred cultivars over the past 20 years, many of which are still on display.
What's the distinction between tree peony and herbaceous peony? The tree peony is a woody, deciduous shrub that blooms in late May to early June. These plants typically reach a height of 3 to 6 feet and have large silky flowers 7 to 12 inches in diameter. Mature plants can have dozens of exquisite blooms.
The herbaceous peony is a hardy perennial that grows to about 3 to 4 feet and has fragrant flowers that are four inches in diameter. They bloom later than tree peonies. The flowers need support and, in the fall, they die back to the ground.
Tree peonies have stronger stems and don't need support. They should never be cut back to the ground. Both types grow best in four to six hours of full sun or dappled light all day and evenly moist but well-drained soil with a pH near neutral. Do not plant near auto-sprinkler systems that keep the soil continuously moist.
At Cricket Hill, plants were fertilized with seaweed fertilizer twice a year. By the way, deer generally avoid peony. Tree peonies are long-lived. In China, where they are native, it is not uncommon to find plants 400 years old. But the legends surrounding these plants are much older.
MEDICINE, ART
For thousands of years, the peony roots, seeds and flowers were used medicinally. And over the centuries, the peony has earned a place in the art and poetry of the Far East. It is believed that China's Emperor Yang was the first to grow peonies as ornamental plants. From China, tree peony cultivation spread to Japan and Europe, where plantsmen developed some extraordinary hybrids.
In North America, two species of herbaceous peonies are native. Other peonies were introduced by European settlers. In the 1800s, the popularity of peonies, including tree peonies, increased even further and American breeders began making their own contributions.
Perhaps the best-known American breeder was Hamilton College chemistry professor Arthur P. Saunders. Working in the early 1900s, he crossed many species and developed plants still considered to be among the most beautiful. Perhaps there was a connection between Saunders and Union College? Did he visit Union College to see Jackson's peonies?
As you walk around gardens or browse a catalog, you will notice that there are seven different flower forms, from a single petaled bloom to a lotus semi-double to the rose semi-double, the anemone double, the golden circle double, to a thousand petal double on to the most densely petalled flower called the globular double.
In the garden at Cricket Hill, hundreds of flowers were in bloom and the names were imaginative: White Crane Standing in the Snow, Better than Jade with Triple Magic and Purple Butterfly in the Wind.
EASY GROWERS
I sked David Furman which were the easiest to grow for the novice and he suggested Green Dragon in a Pink Pool, which has light pink flowers and Necklace with Precious Pearls, which produces many six- to seven-inch fragrant pink flowers.
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