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

Make Your Own Itohs

By Reiner Jakubowski

240-07 (Rare China x Golden Era)

240-02 (Rare China x Golden Era)

The Itoh Group hybrids are peonies, which result from the cross Lactiflora x Lutea Hybrid.
Lactiflora here means the Lactiflora Group, which includes all the cultivars believed to have descended over hundreds of years of breeding from the wild species lactiflora.  It is the convention in controlled breeding that the female parent is listed first, therefore, Lactiflora (the seed parent) pollinated by Lutea Hybrid (the pollen parent).  The Lutea Hybrid Group peonies traditionally result from crosses between the Chinese and Japanese tree peonies (Suffruticosa Group) and the yellow-flowered Paeonia lutea, and later the dark red flowered P. delavayi. Today the taxonomists have decided that lutea is only a colour phase of delavayi.  Lutea hybrids were originally bred
for yellow flowers; but, today are available in a wider colour range.  The Lutea Hybrid Group brings into the cross distinctive characteristics, such as yellow or variegated flowers, rapid growth, good vigour and late flowering.
There is no magic involved, only perseverance, patience, and a little luck. Anyone can do it. The most important thing is to have a fertile pollen parent and initially one of the proven Lutea Hybrids will give more certain results. There are several choices; 'Golden Era', 'Golden Experience', 'Alice in Wonderland', and 'Alice Harding' are good choices if you want yellows. Try 'Boreas', and 'Chinese Dragon' if you want red Itohs. The colour of the Lactiflora parent also plays a role in colour and you may not get what you expect, so these are offered only as suggestions.
My experience has been that the Lactiflora side of the cross is not so critical and you probably already have something suitable growing in the garden. My preference is to use double or  semi-double flowers because these have given a higher proportion of hybrid blooms showing doubling tendencies than have the singles or bomb forms that I have used. I have seedlings from 'Fragrans' (bomb), 'Rare China' (semi-double), 'Adolphe Rousseau' (flower-in-flower doubling but usually so open a flower that it shows as a semi-double). I also have seedlings from other Lactifloras ('Glenny Carlene', 'Susan B. White', 'Doreen', 'Marie Crousse' and others), but these have not yet bloomed.

240-10 (Rare China x Golden Era)

253-01 (Adolphe Rousseau x Golden Era)

274-39 (Fragrans x Golden Era)

It is best to make protected crosses – that is, to take precautions to prevent contamination from unwanted pollen. This does mean having to strip the intended seed parent of petals and stamens before the flower opens, and then apply the wanted pollen on the stigmas, followed by covering the fertilized flower with either a paper bag or envelope. It is also essential that you tag the pollinated flower so that you know at harvest what the parentage was.  I use a number for each cross; thus #1022 is 'Susan B. White' x 'Golden Era'; #1116 is 'Glenny Carlene' x 'Alice Harding'; and #1229 is 'Fragrans' x 'Alice in Wonderland'. When the seeds germinate and I have seedlings growing, they retain the cross number until I decide whether I will keep them or will cull them. If I keep them for further observation, I just append a number to the cross number – for example, 274-45, 274-39, and 274-43 are all from the cross 'Fragrans' x 'Golden Era' made in 2003. Seedlings 240-02, 240-07, and 240-10 are from 'Rare China' x'Golden Era' also made in 2003; and, finally 253-01 is from 'Adolphe Rousseau' x 'Golden Era'.  The Itoh Cross (Lactiflora x Lutea"Hybrid) has become relatively easy to make, provided you use a known fertile pollen parent. Some years I have more seeds than other years for reasons I do not fully understand; but I usually get a few seeds every year. If you make enough of these crosses you should get some seeds.
descended over hundreds of years of breeding from the wild species lactiflora.

274-43 (Frangrans x Golden Era)

 If you want a bigger challenge, then make the cross in the reverse direction, using the Lutea Hybrid as the seed parent and the Lactiflora as the pollen parent. 'Reverse Magic' (Don R. Smith, 2002) is from 'Age of Gold' x lactiflora 'Martha W.' Also possible, but very difficult, is to use one of the Suffruticosa Group tree peonies instead of the Lutea Hybrid.  'Impossible Dream' (Don R. Smith,
2004) is from 'Stolen Heaven' x 'Martha W.' Note that this cross was made with the tree peony as the
seed parent.  If you make your own Itohs, always look for pollen from your seedlings. Pollen allows you to try back crossing to one of the parents, or to cross Itoh x Itoh. I have  

274-45 (Fragrans x Golden Era)

found two of my seedlings with fertile pollen and have seedlings from Tolomeo #22, Tolomeo #58, 'Fragrans', and 'Doreen', all pollinated with 274-39. (The numbered Tolomeo seedlings were raised by Irene Tolomeo in California and are the lactiflora parents of 'Sonoma YeDo' and 'Sonoma Halo'
respectively.)
Information on growing from seeds is available from the Canadian Peony Society, or contact Reiner Jakubowski at the Society’s mailing address or by email at reiner@kw.igs.net should you have any question.