The Tour Continues

Below we see bed 2 in the rear and bed 4 in the foreground. The pink (single bloom) in the front row is 'Mary Pratte' , to the right 'Moonrise' ,and to the left just about to open is 'George Vorauer'. In left foreground is 'Claude Barrow' a lactiflora which needs a few more days to open.

Moving now across the side street to beds C1 in rear & C2 in foreground below. The plant with the yellow and yellow/pink blooms is an Itoh and directly above it in bed C1 another just starting to open.

Below a closer look at the end of bed C2 . In foreground is 'Friendship' and directly behind in first row are 'Abalone Pearl','Salmon Chiffon', & 'Vivid Glow'.
Bed C2 is our newest bed just 2-3 years old.

Show weekend June 6 & 7 has now arrived and it's Sunday afternoon at the farm. My tour for the CPS members is nearing the end and I have time to take a few pictures. Below, you will recognize most of them. Shall I say the usual suspects? It's always a delight to give a tour to knowledgeable people. I try to let them do the talking. There's always some new information or story told by someone as we view each variety.

This is bed C2 and in the foreground right is 'Haleigh's Hallelujah'. A bloom from this plant picked three days before won Best in Show. Timing is everything on show day. To the left is 'Haleigh's Comet' a similar looking plant.

Below, the group has moved on to bed C1 and discussions are continuing.

A clearer shot of bed C1 taken from the opposite end is shown below. The plants are mainly lactifloras and you can see that many have now opened but not all.

And not to leave anyone out, above we have a serious discussion,  and another below.  The scarlet bloom in the foreground 4th plant in is 'Command Performance', 5th in is 'Norwegian Blush' an Itoh and 6th is 'Donna Jean'. The red directly behind is 'Scarlet Haven' an Itoh and at the left edge is 'Coral Magic'

Above, I've made my way back to bed 12 now looking south you see it in full bloom. The public flocks to the beds  at bloom time , with their cameras. The dark red bloom at the front is 'Night Watch'.
  Below is 'Little Dorrit' a tiny and unique Saunders plant with blooms an orange/pink colour very much faded here.

And for comparison one week later, a shot of our circular beds on show weekend. We see more blooms as the lactifloras are starting to open.

Below is the other half. Compare the start of bed 4 in the mid distance with the picture taken the week before. The first one is 'Claude Barrow' last week in tight bud stage and now pink blooms. Next is 'George Vorauer' previously  in opening bud stage and now fully open red blooms.

Finally another week later June 13th and it's our "Peony Walkabout" at the gardens. We provide a short tour for the public and answer questions. Below are the same two shots. Note how much more full of bloom the beds are.

The beds are at their peak, but the biggest change was in the the air, which was now full of the scent of "grandma's peonies" the lactifloras. The Itohs and the hybrids can't match the lactifloras in that. Together they give us five plus weeks of bloom.

That's all folks. The end.

A Tour of the Central Experimental Garden in Ottawa

A Peony Tour of the gardens at the Central Experimental Farm , bloom time 2015

 Since I was giving a tour of the peony beds at the farm to the CPS members attending the show, Margaret suggested that I take a few pictures for the benefit of the members who could not attend. I decided to start a week early so there would be something for everyone.

So,

Here we are approaching the peony beds from the south with bed 12 in the right foreground. Beds 11,10,&9 continue north followed by beds1 to 8 which are circular beds surrounding the oak tree which you see in the distance. There are two more rectangular beds (beds 13 & 14) to their left and two more large curved beds (beds C1 & C2) across the street to the north which you can just see above bed 12. Note the annual beds to your right which are just being planted.

 Here we have a closer look at bed 12. In right foreground is 'Sweet May' to her left is 'Bravura' just opening, and to it's left is 'Audrey' a lovely plant but unfortunately already finished blooming. Behind in the center the tall pink with yellow center is 'Pageant'

Continuing with bed 12 below in right foreground is 'Early Daybreak' and to the left rear is 'Garden Peace'

And below we have 'Heritage' and  right rear is 'Merry Mayshine'

And below is 'Lotus Bloom'  looking a bit distorted due to the support hoop. Every spring our first task after initial weeding is to put in the stakes and hoops. They seldom fit perfectly

Below is Bed 11. In front center is 'Victoria Lincoln' pink petals with yellow center. Note that beds 9-12 are 3 deep with 'Victoria Lincoln' in the middle and to the right of it 'Sprite' (white petals) and to the front of it as 'Nova' already finished and one of our first to bloom. Beds 11 & 12 are  Saunders peonies, hybrids notes for their earliness.

Moving  now to bed 9 below, you see only three plants in bloom, the large white flowered plant is 'Adrienne Clarkson' and the white one behind is 'Marie Victorin' both Menard/D'Aoust hybrids and the red is 'Jewel' also a hybrid.

Here we've now moved to our circular beds 1-8. You see bed 8 in the foreground outer circle. 'Early Glow' is in bloom. The red bloom at the end of bed7 is 'Montezuma'. Behind are the rectangular beds 13 & 14. The bench at the foot of the oak tree is a popular resting spot, and the gentleman resting with the big telephoto lens camera was out "birding" but he did take a few peony shots.

Below we are looking directly at beds 13 & 14 and we see 'Prosperity Maud' (Menard/D'Aoust peony) in full bloom. To it's left is an Itoh peony not yet in bloom. This bed has an equal number of Itoh and other herbaceous plants

Moving down bed 13 we see below 'Compagna' and in the next picture below 'Tranquil Dove' both Saunders hybrids that you don't often see.

Patience, Perseverance and Itoh Peonies

By Blaine Marchand

Julia Rose

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." ~ Aristotle

How applicable is this maxim to the creation of the Itoh peonies, also known as intersectionals,

crosses between a tree peony and an herbaceous one.  Hybridizing of peonies has a long illustrious history, but the genesis for the introduction of intersectional peonies has its origins in the early 1900's with initial hybridization experiments of breeders Victor Lemoine and Louis Henry and later Professor A.P. Saunders (whose family connection to the Central Experimental Farm is well known and whose hybrid peonies have a formidable presence in the Farm's collection).

'The strongest of all warriors are those two ~ Time and Patience."  Leo Tolstoy (War and Peace)

It was in 1948 that Toichi Itoh, a Japanese hybridizer- and a most patient person indeed - hit gold.  Rumours persist he attempted over 2,000 crosses before succeeding with a cross between the lactiflora peony, 'Kakoden', and the tree peony 'Alice Harding'.  The result was seven seedlings that had the tree peony as their dominant characteristic.  Unfortunately,  Dr. Itoh did not live to see his seedlings bloom.

Sequestered Sunshine

These intersectional hybrids, that bear his name Itoh, have lush magnificent paper-like blooms, reminiscent of these of the tree peony, but the abundant foliage of an herbaceous peony.  They do not require staking and rain does not weigh down the blooms.  Itohs, like herbaceous peonies, need to be cut down each autumn and as buds are set below ground, they are winter hardy, a bonus for Ottawa's climate.  The intersectional peonies come in a range of magnificent colours - yellow, pink, maroon, fuchsia and multicoloured.  When in bloom, the Itoh peonies in the Farms' Ornamental Gardens consistently stop people in their tracks.


Introduction to North America

In the 1970s, an American breeder, Louis Smirnow, negotiated with Dr. Itoh's widow to introduce four of her husband's peonies into North America.  These he had named: 'Yellow Crown', 'Yellow Dream', 'Yellow Emperor' and 'Yellow Heaven'.  Peony aficionados were smitten.  But these peonies, initially scarce, came with a steep price tag.  They were largely sold to peony enthusiasts or obsessive buyers.                                                  
                                                    
Other hybridizers in the United States - Roger Anderson, Don Hollingsworth, Donald Smith and Irene Tolomeo to name a few - continued the work of Toichi Itoh on intersectional hybridizing.  They created some truly sensational peonies .  In Canada, Serge Fafard, of Les Jardins Osiris, also breeds intersectionals.


Itoh propagation
As Itohs are derived from tree peonies, they produce an expansive root system that makes root division, the usual way to obtain new peony plants, a tough job and all too frequently results in few new plants that then take years to reach maturity and produce blooms.  One alternative, of course, is to graft the intersectional to a nurse root of an herbaceous peony, which like a parent, provides food and strength until the intersectional roots are set and strong enough to take over.

Another option is micro-propagation, which is essentially growing plants from tissue or cell culture under controlled conditions.  The result is Itohs that can be produced quickly and offered to buyers sooner at a more affordable price.

Itohs at the Farm
In 2009, the Canadian branch of Plantek International, which is one of the leading micro-propagation companies, contacted Mary Pratte, advisor to the Friends' peony team, with a very generous donation of 24 plants.  Among these were benchmark Itohs - 'Smith Family Yellow', 'Going Bananas', 'Sequestered Sunshine', 'Singing in the Rain', 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', 'Cora Louise, 'Magical Mystery Tour' and 'Julia Rose'.

"He that can have patience can have what he will."
                                    ~ Benjamin Franklin

Magical Mystery Tour.  A bloom from this Itoh peony was a first place winner at the 2013 Canadian Peony Society (CPS) show

A walk through the peony garden in 2014 will show that the number of Itohs in the Farms impressive collection has grown to 42, with 26 different named varieties.  Among these is Serge Fefard's wonderful 'Osiris Tourbillon'.  But also among them are la creme de la creme - Roger Anderson's 'First Arrival' and 'Julia Rose', Donald Smith's 'Morning Lilac', and Don Hollingsworth's  'Garden Treasure'.  A look at these peonies underlines that patience and peristence do indeed bring sweet rewards.

First Arrival                          Smith Family Yellow

 A happy member of the Friends' peony team since retirement.  Blaine also tends to a collection of over 500 peonies in Osceola, Ontario.  Past president of the Canadian Peony Society and editor of its newsletter, Paeonia Nordica, he is the author of eight books.

Reproduced with permission from Friends of Central Experimental Farm Spring 2014  www.friendsofthefarm.ca

With many thanks

By  Rose Mary Mason, City of Oshawa

The focal point of this festival – the Peony Garden – would not have been possible without two special people. Michael and Judi Denny are the reason we are here today.

When a long time Peony collection was being dismantled, they offered to take in the orphaned plants, keep them on their property and to find a permanent home. The Wally Gilbert Collection was the basis of today’s peony garden and Judi and Michael have had their hands on each and every one of the plants. In addition, the Denny’s have donated, from their own impressive collection, many plants over the years to enhance Canada’s largest contemporary collection of peonies.

Once the collection was established in Oshawa, Michael Denny has been instrumental in the production and up keep of the map listing all 308 varieties. He also visits the garden regularly throughout the growing season to document the bloom times of each variety. He has written an easy to read guide to What’s Blooming in the Garden that can be found on the City’s web site at http://www.oshawa.ca/tourism/peony/peony-blooming.asp

Avec beaucoup de remerciements

Par Rose Mary Mason, Ville d’Oshawa

Le point focal de ce festival, le Jardin de pivoines,  n'aurait pas été possible sans la participation de deux personnes spéciales. Michael et Judi Denny sont la raison pour laquelle nous sommes ici aujourd'hui. 

Quand une vieille collection de pivoines a été démantelée, ils ont offert de garder les plants orphelins sur leur propriété et de leur trouver une maison permanente. La collection de Wally Gilbert est la base du jardin de pivoines actuel et Judi et Michael ont pris soin de chacun des plants. En outre, les Denny ont offert de leur propre et impressionnante collection beaucoup de plants au cours des années pour agrandir la plus grande collection contemporaine de pivoines du Canada.

Une fois la collection établie à Oshawa, Michael Denny a été un artisan important dans la production des plants et la mise à jour des fiches décrivant chacune des 308 variétés. Il visite également le Jardin régulièrement tout au long de la saison de croissance pour établir les temps de floraison de chaque variété. Il a écrit un guide facile à lire de ce qui fleurit dans le Jardin. On peut le retrouver sur le site Web de la ville à www.oshawa.ca.

Oshawa Valley Botanical Garden 9th Annual Peony Festival

Discussing Best in Show

Debate

Here's the Winner "Lemon Chiffon"

Judges and Mayor John Henry

Judi and the Oshawa Crew

Marion Bohlken with "Lemon Chiffon"

Mary Ellen made the table

Michael and Dennis

Newest & youngest members.  Welcome.

Reiner and Irene and CPS Booth

Ron with his peonies

Our young members selling the virtues of a peony seed.

Buying seeds from our newest members.

This years Festival Team

Open to the public

Many blooms to view

Tom and MaryEllen with their Best in Shows

Tom Mary Hazel and Judi

Visitors to the Show

Wei Yu with his Best in Class