Greetings
from St. John’s, Newfoundland! Before you delve into this article, I feel that
I just make a confession: although I am indeed a proud member of the Canadian
Peony Society, I am a relatively new member and I consider myself to be a “Gardener
in Training”. I became involved with the CPS through my mother who is an avid peony
grower. By “avid” I mean she has a garden with well over 100 varieties of
peonies that include every shape, size and colour and even includes some tree
peonies. Needless to say that as a new peony
grower it’s a lot to live up to! I love gardening and growing beautiful
peonies, but to date I must admit that I’m still learning.
My peony story dates
back three years ago when I left Ontario and moved into a home of my own for the
first time. Leaving the sunny skies of Southern Ontario, I drove for three
grueling days and one ferry ride to arrive on this beautiful, foggy rock that
we call Newfoundland. With my new home I inherited a few small gardens that
were definitely in need of a little bit of tender loving garden care. The first
spring in my new home, I immediately recognized those little red pointy shoots
starting to pop out of the ground – a peony! ‘Mom will be so excited’ was my
first thought. But as May passed and June was coming to a close, I thought for sure
there was something wrong with my peony. It was only starting to form those
perfect, globular buds. Knowing that peony season was in full force back home,
I thought I had a failure. But patience is required for gardening, and by late
in June I did have my peony open up and flower a gorgeous, rich magenta double
bloom. How beautiful! My euphoria was
short-lived: it was right after the first
bloom that we had a bit of rain and my entire peony plant looked like it had
been hit by a tidal wave. Those heavy blooms fell to the ground and made way
for what looked like a hole in the centre of the plant. How sad to see those
beautiful blooms lying in the dirt!
What I later found out
through taking a course at the Memorial University Botanical Gardens in St.
John’s, was that not only was my peony an “early bloomer” but it was also a
heritage peony – Paeonia officinalis or 'Rubra Plena'. I think my look of
complete confusion when I heard “early bloomer” was surprising to those who
grew up in the area. Heritage peonies in Newfoundland were brought here by
English settlers, likely prior to 1900. Women would hide small plants and roots
and seeds in the hem of their skirts during the long journey across the ocean
and plant
them upon arrival so
that they had a ‘little bit of home’ in their new home. What an interesting
concept! I must admit,
I’m curious to know what the border authority might do to you today if they found
you with plant specimens hidden in your clothing!
Heritage peonies in Newfoundland
are distinct for a few reasons – 1) they bloom earlier than other peonies Newfoundland.
Yes, “early” means late June/early July. My other peonies are usually mid-July bloomers;
however, even in three years of living here I can see that this can vary
widely. Part of the reason for the variation is due to our climate in St. John’s.
I think the best quote I have heard about the St. John’s climate is that “there
is no ‘usual’ weather”. Being on the coast, we have what is referred to as a ‘hyperoceanic’
climate, which means we are affected by the ocean currents but also by mainland
North America. On many occasions I have seen weather go from sunny and 26 C one
day to rain, drizzle and fog and 11 C the next day. We could have two straight
weeks of fog and rain – in the middle of June. Spring can bring wild
temperature swings and precipitation. Instead of a gradual warming leading up
to summer, it in
seems more like a long
period of temperatures consistently at 10 C and then a smack in the face when summer
arrives one morning and it reaches 20 C. In the summer months, we still have
cool evenings even when the days are warm, which can be a small problem for plant
growth. Oh and did I mention the wind? Make sure your plants have some sort of
a windbreak or you may lose them all together. All in all, a very different
climate than where I grew up in Southern Ontario!
Something else that
makes heritage peonies different is their size – they grow both up and out. I
have divided this
peony three times in three years to keep it from overtaking the front of my
house. It grows much taller than my
other newer peonies. If I don’t stake it, it will fall to the ground with that tidal
wave look I mentioned earlier. Yes, I
also learned about staking through my visits at the botanical garden – what a
great idea! No more tidal wave peony. The reason
(I am told) that newer
peonies don’t grow as tall or spread as much is that we “young” gardeners don’t
want to deal with dividing plants and staking. Apparently we want “hassle free”
gardening. But don’t believe everything you hear, I wouldn’t trade my heritage
peony for any other peony in any modern plant nursery.
One last problem that
we contend with in Newfoundland is our soil. Most of the island of Newfoundland
has naturally acidic soil – great for rhododendrons and azaleas, but not so
great for peonies. The low pH affects nutrient availability, which can restrict
the growth of most plants.
For plants to thrive
there is one solution: add lime, then add lime and then add some more lime!
But what is the best
thing about heritage peonies? They have grown here for over a century and
so are accustomed to
our soil and our climate, making it (relatively) easy on a new gardener like
myself.
