My first ever tree peony has bloomed! I'm very excited - they are my favorite plant. Here it is just beginning to open...
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| Tree peony 'Xiang Yu' beginning to open |
I planted three tree peonies last fall. This one is only a two year old plant - actually quite surprising that it would bloom at this young age. (Often tree peonies don't bloom until they are 5-7 years old!) There were three buds of which two have opened so far:
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| Tree peony 'Xiang Yu' flowering (2 year old plant) |
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This is a Chinese tree peony called 'Xiang Yu', which means "Fragrant Jade." It is indeed very fragrant - a dense, sweet, and slightly musky scent. Most Japanese tree peonies have had the fragrance bred right out of them. One thing I like about the Chinese varieties is that they have a wide variety of different scents: sweet, spicy, musky, or fruity.
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| Tree peony 'Xiang Yu' |
Supposedly, this cultivar blooms as a semi-double with unstable flower form when young, then produces consistently double blooms when mature. Mine is still very small and young. I actually love seeing the bright red interior of the flower, so I'm rather enjoying this juvenile semi-double stage.
I have two more tree peonies - one is a six-year old dark red that has nine buds on it this year. Can't wait for it to bloom! The third one, a two-year old like 'Xiang Yu', will not bloom this year, which is sad but of course perfectly normal. It is growing vigorously, and is a much larger plant than 'Xiang Yu' already.
Beautiful! I just bought my first tree peony last week... need to go plant it before the rain!
ReplyDeleteJulie
Ooh that's so exciting! Can't wait to see it.
DeleteCongratulations! I love the white! My tree peonies (they are burgundy) bloomed last year for the first time, so I sure do know your feeling of excitement!
ReplyDeleteIt's just so magical when they bloom! They tease you so long waving their fat buds around... then suddenly - pop! I love the burgundy ones too.
DeleteWhat beautiful photos - I can't wait to see the dark red one in flower. I love the way you have counted the buds!
ReplyDeleteOh yes I count each precious bud! When they get old they are supposed to have 100 flowers on them - maybe then I'll stop counting :-)
DeleteThe tree peony is quite pretty. I am adding regular peony to the garden; now I wonder how a tree peony would grown here in Colorado. I don't know if I have ever seen them here. I'll go looking.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be fine - if you can grow regular peonies you can grow tree peonies too.
DeleteHi Spurge, I just saw your "Xiang Yu" posted in 2012. How is it look after 4 years? Would you please share that where did you buy it and how much?
ReplyDelete