Herbaceous garden peonies boast all the attributes Canadian gardeners value: large, plentiful and easy to grow, many have sweetly fragrant flowers and are deer-resistant, drought-resistant and cast-iron hardy (to Zone 2). The plants are also substantial enough to be used on their own as a low hedge, with foliage that stays attractive for months (and makes great camouflage for ripening spring bulbs).
Peonies are tremendously long-lived. Many a gardener can point to a treasured unnamed specimen passed along from the garden of a parent, grandparent or friend.
Single-bloom types, which don't need staking, start the peony season and are dominant in the first three weeks. Weeks 4, 5 and 6 encompass about 85 per cent of the cultivars and represent the blooming period that we commonly enjoy. Late ones that bloom in Week 7 tend to be doubles or semi-doubles. Here are just a few of the peony cultivars available.
| wk | cultivars | descriptions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ‘Little Red Gem' ‘Nova' | red, single pale but distinct yellow colour, small, single |
| 2 | ‘Early Scout' ‘Laddie' red ‘Rubra Plena' | dark red, single red, dwarf (30 cm tall), single red, double |
| 3 | ‘Claire de Lune' ‘Early Glow' ‘Early Star' ‘Firelight' | ivory-yellow with deep, almost orange anthers, single pale yellow with golden centre, single opens pale yellow and fades to ivory; golden centre barely hides red-tipped stigmas, single large, flat, rose-coloured blooms with darker pink flares, single |
| 4 | ‘Cytherea' ‘Mme. de Verneville' ‘Paula Fay' ‘Red Charm' ‘Scarlet O'Hara' ‘Sea Shell' | large, cup-shaped, rose-pink flowers; low-growing; semi-double white, with crimson-accented centre crown of petals, double vivid pink, semi-double dark red hybrid, double red, large, single satiny pink, single |
| 5 | ‘Diana Parks' ‘Festiva Maxima' ‘Mandarin's Coat' P. lactiflora ‘Minnie Shaylor' P. L. ‘Miss America' P. L. ‘Westerner' | carmine-red, the most fragrant red, double popular old cultivar, white with crimson flecks, double rose-pink petals surround sparkling gold centre, Japanese form white, large, semi-double white, semi-double light pink petals with yellow staminodes, Japanese form |
| 6 | ‘Ann Cousins' P. L. ‘James Pillow' ‘Martha Bullock' P. L. ‘Sarah Bernhardt' ‘Shaylor's Sunburst' P. L. ‘Sword Dance' | white, large, double pale dusky pink with rows of tightly packed petals hiding lemon yellow centre, large, double pink, flat, double rose-pink, double white petals around golden centre, Japanese form red, Japanese form |
| 7 | P. L. ‘Glory Hallelujah' P. L. ‘Marie Lemoine' ‘Marilla Beauty' ‘Sinbad' | vivid rose-pink petals accentuated by silver tips, double white flowers on compact plant, large, double blush-white, large, double red, tall, semi-double |
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