Itoh peony best of both types
We are blessed with a long growing season in the coastal Bay Area, but sometimes our good fortune is also our bad luck. Just ask peony lovers, and there are many, who have tried to get herbaceous peonies to bloom in areas that don’t get a hard freeze. They simply need a prolonged winter chill. There are tree peonies, equally beautiful, though they are deciduous and take a lot longer to bloom than the happy-go-lucky herbaceous types.
Enter the intersectional, or Itoh, peonies. This hardy cross between the herbaceous and the tree types has produced a peony that takes the best from both camps. Itohs have the vigor of herbaceous types but the ability to flower in milder zones characteristic of the tree peonies. Intersectional peonies aren’t entirely new, but they have become more readily available in the trade and are showing up on gardeners’ radars. And that has brought an ever-increasing selection to retail nurseries.
Itohs resemble tree peonies with their domed, vigorous growth habit and handsome, lacy green foliage, but unlike the tree forms, which can reach a sprawling 8 feet, Itohs top out at a modest 3 feet tall and wide. Itohs also improve on the tendency of herbaceous peonies to be so weighted with flowers that they droop to the ground. Their strong branching infrastructure can handle the job.
And that’s a good thing because Itohs bloom profusely. Because they develop more than one bud per stem, the bloom season is extended beyond a month, mature specimens offering the glory of 30 to 50 blossoms over a single season.
And the flowers live up to their reputation, with a dazzling array of colors and forms. No shrinking violets, the flowers range in size from 6 to 9 inches across. Some plants are sweetly fragrant, too.
And when the blooming is done, gardeners will enjoy the distinctively dissected foliage until the plants undergo their dormant phase. Don’t forget to save a few of the flowers for beautifying your home.