How The Yellow Peony Came To The Gardens Of Amateur Flower Growers

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Read the previous part. ← Yellow peonies: a dream come true

Part II. Donald Smith's breeding miracle

Peony variety Lemon Dream

The successful experience of Japanese breeder Toychi Ito in crossing herbaceous and tree-like peonies inspired a whole galaxy of breeders to work in this direction. The original goal of obtaining herbaceous peonies with yellow flowers was greatly expanded as a result of subsequent hybridization experiments.

Roger Anderson, Don Hollingsworth, Bill Sidl, Roy Person created and showed the world wonderful varieties of ito-hybrids, not only yellow, but also white, purple, pink, burgundy.

Don Holingsworth, inspired by the interest of growers in his varieties, in 1992 registers his third yellow variety - Prairie Charm, semi-double, a flower very similar to Border Charm, but larger, yellow, with maroon spots at the base of the petals. The bush is 75-80 cm high. For its creation, the Miss America variety, a beautiful semi-double white variety, was chosen as a mother plant, and the pollen was taken from the already well-known yellow peony variety Alice Harding.

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variety Prairie Charm

In 1996, Roger Anderson, continuing to work on ito-hybrids, registered, together with Bill Seidl, the Pastel Splendor variety - the result of crossing the milky-flowering peony variety Martha W and an unnamed tree peony seedling Arthur Sanders.

The flower of the new ito-hybrid is non-double, large, cupped, 18-20 cm in diameter. It is yellow-creamy with pink and peach hues and burgundy spots at the base of the petals. The color quickly changes to cream, contrasting effectively with the bright, dark center. There are side buds. Stems are straight, strong, form a wide bush up to 80 cm tall. Flowering period is average.

In 1999, Roger Anderson released a large group of ito-hybrids into the world, among which there are wonderful and already popular varieties - Callis Memories, Canary Diamonds, Hillary, Lemon Dream, Scarlet Haven, Sequestared Sunshine and others.

Peony variety Pastel Splendor

The Callie's Memory variety is semi-double, yellow-cream with maroon spots at the base of the petals and a noticeable pink-cherry border around the edges. As parents, Anderson chose his own seedling from the Martha Double U variety, the pollen from the yellow peony seedling. Flowers up to 20 cm in diameter with a light pleasant aroma.

Long flowering due to gradually opening lateral buds. The leaves are large, dark green. Stems are straight. The bush keeps its shape well, its height is up to 90 cm. The flowering period is average. Thanks to its long stems, it can be used for cutting.

The Canary Brilliants variety is semi-double, yellow, with dark red spots at the base of the petals. The first time the seedlings bloomed in 1989. Cream-colored buds resemble rosebuds in shape, opening, turning into pale yellow flowers. Each stem has two to three side buds, which extend flowering up to two and a half weeks. The variety is completely sterile, does not set seeds, does not form pollen. A beautiful compact bush, up to 70-75 cm tall. Average flowering time.

Peony variety Callies Memory

Hillary variety is semi-double, as the bush matures, the flower becomes double. Opening, it has a deep pink color, smoothly changing to cream during flowering, with noticeable strokes and specks. The central part of the flower remains intensely pink with burgundy spots at the base of the petals.

There are up to three lateral buds on the stem. Has a light pleasant aroma. The leaves remain dark green until frost. The bush keeps its shape well, its height is 90 cm. The flowering period is medium early. The variety is interesting for its origin from free pollination of the Bartzella variety. Although ito-hybrids are believed to be sterile, it is very rare that mature shrubs are able to set multiple seeds.

Variety Lemon Dream - semi-double, almost double, yellow, sometimes there is a pink sector on the flower, and this gives the variety additional attractiveness. Side buds, opening gradually, significantly prolong flowering. Leaves remain dark green until autumn. The variety practically does not get sick. Bush up to 80 cm high, beautiful symmetrical shape. Has an average flowering period.

Peony variety Canary Brilliants

Scarlet Heaven is a non-double, intense dark red. The first bloom was in 1989, the mother variety is Martha Double Yu, the pollen is from the Thunderbolt variety. The flowers are medium-sized, cupped, wavy petals with uneven edges. Has up to three lateral buds on the stem. The leaves are dark green. The stems are straight, strong, the bush keeps the correct spherical shape in any weather and looks very impressive. Early flowering period, blooming together with herbaceous hybrids.

Among the varieties bred by Roger Anderson, one of the interesting is Julia Rose, which, although not registered with the American Peony Society, is deservedly popular with flower growers. The flower is simple semi-double, immediately after opening the bud it has a dark pink color, very quickly brightens to pink-orange, and then - to creamy yellow with pink shades.

The buds do not open at the same time, due to this, on the bush at the same time you can observe flowers with different color intensity - from dark pink to cream with all the transitions of yellow-peach shades. The leaves are dark green. Stems are straight, well leafy. The bush is powerful, beautifully shaped, 90 cm high. It has an average flowering period. Suitable for cutting.

At the same time, American breeder Donald Smith is intensively working on the hybridization of peonies, concentrating all his efforts mainly on developing new varieties of intersectional hybrids. He received a large number of interesting seedlings of yellow and pink shades with different flower shapes - non-double, semi-double, almost double.

Hillary peony cultivar

For a long time Don Smith was in no hurry to show and register new seedlings, they remained numbered, arousing great interest among breeders and peony lovers. The first registration of its varieties took place in 2002, among them, which have already become famous, Singing in the Rain - semi-double yellow, Smith Family Jewel - creamy pink, semi-double, Smith Family Yellow - bright yellow, semi-double, Magical Mystery Tour - yellow pink with peach shades.

Along with the proven method of obtaining ito-hybrids, in which the herbaceous peony acts as the mother plant, and the pollen is taken from the tree peony, Don Smith is working hard on "reverse hybridization", carefully selecting parental pairs and conducting thousands of crosses.

In this case, the parent plant chooses a suitable variety or seedling of the tree peony, which is pollinated with the pollen of the herbaceous peony. Many breeders have tried to use this method to produce intersectional hybrids, but to no avail. It is extremely rare that tree-like peonies, pollinated with herbaceous pollen, set several seeds, but there were no cases of their germination, since according to statistics obtained by Don Smith, only less than 1% of the set seeds are viable.

In the same 2002, he registers the result of his many years of work - the world's first reverse intersectional hybrid Reverse Magic, semi-double, light yellow-pink, lightening to cream, the parent plant for him was the variety of the tree-like peony of the yellow Age of Gold (Age of Gold) by Arthur Sanders, and the pollen was taken from the milky-flowered peony variety Martha Double Y. It was a real world sensation!

Peony variety Scarlet Heaven

His second reverse hybrid Impossible Dream (Impossible Dream), pink-lavender, semi-double Donald Smith registered in 2004. The uniqueness of Impossible Dream is that it is the first intersectional hybrid obtained not from yellow peony, but from the variety of the tree peony suffruticosis Stolen Heaven and the milky-flowering peony Martha Double Yu.

At the same time, Don Smith registers a significant number of excellent varieties of ito-hybrids, including White Knight - white semi-double, Pink Passion - pink non-double, Golden Extra - yellow semi-double and others. Over the years of breeding work, Don Smith has achieved outstanding results in the hybridization of peonies, and now he continues to conduct serious research on the creation of new varieties of intersectional hybrids with flowers of various shapes and colors.

Interesting results in breeding ito-hybrids were achieved by Irene Tolomeo - a breeder from Canada. The first variety registered in 1996 was Sonoma Sun - yellow, semi-double. Later, the Sonoma series was continued by excellent varieties: in 1999 - Sonoma Apricot - yellow, semi-double; in 2002 - Sonoma Welcome - semi-double, bright yellow, Sonoma Velvet Ruby - semi-double, dark red, Sonoma Amethist - pink-lilac, Sonoma Floozy - non-double, pink-orange, Sonoma Kaleidoscope, non-double, pink-orange; in 2005 - Sonoma Rosy Future - non-double, pink. Now Irene Tolomeo continues breeding work to create new varieties of ito-hybrids,experimenting with unusual combinations of parenting pairs.

Ito hybrids are a truly unique and unusual group of peonies. From herbaceous peonies, they inherited the aerial part that dies off for the winter, the size and shape of the bush. From tree-like, as the most important thing is the presence of persistent pigments of carotenoids, which color the flowers yellow.

Peony cultivar Julia Rose

Treelike peonies were also awarded with the shape and color of the leaves, which remain green until the very frost, the shape of the buds, oblong, with a sharp top, harder stems, in contrast to herbaceous, and more "woody" roots. A feature of most flowers of ito-hybrids is the presence of contrasting dark red or burgundy spots at the base of the petals, as in the flowers of treelike peonies. On each stem, lateral buds are formed, opening gradually one after another, they significantly prolong the flowering of the bush, sometimes up to three weeks, and the lateral flowers usually have a greater doubleness than the main flower.

Year after year, as the peony bush matures, the number of petals in its flowers increases, due to this they become more magnificent. Another quality inherited from tree peonies is the ability to lay renewal buds not only at the usual level for herbaceous peonies 3-5 cm deeper than the surface of the earth, but also on the stems not high from the ground, as well as on the roots deep underground.

Thanks to this, ito-hybrids grow well, creating short and wide bushes of a beautiful shape. Flowering after planting occurs in the second or third year, but the first flowers are sometimes ugly with curved petals. As a rule, the flower shape becomes more correct and perfect in the second year of flowering. The bushes acquire the maximum beauty in 4-5 years of development.

Intersectional hybrids, despite their relative youth, have already managed to show high decorativeness in gardens and flower beds - eye-catching flowers of yellow shades, beautiful dark green leaves, an ideal hemispherical shape of the bush, resistance to common diseases of peonies, make them desirable as for amateurs, as for professional florists.