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    Home » Gardening

    A Peony Portfolio: A Beautiful Shrub for the Garden

    by Patti Estep · Mar 3, 2015

    This peony portfolio shows a number of beautiful peonies and discusses the differences between herbaceous, tree, and Itoh varieties.

    Peony quote

    If you held a gun to my head and made me choose my favorite flower it would undoubtedly be the graceful and majestic peony. Today I am sharing a nice peony portfolio from my garden. 

    A Peony Portfolio

    Double pink peony flower on the shrub.
    Old fashioned garden variety peony

    The first two shown above are traditional herbaceous peonies which means they die back every year. These are the same ones that grew in my grandmother's yard and maybe where I first fell in love with their beauty and wonderful scent.

    Dr Alex Fleming Peony
    Sarah Barnhardt peony.

    These next two are famous award-winning double blooms named after famous people and known for their fragrances. Dr. Alexander Fleming, the scientist who discovered penicillin, and Sarah Bernhardt, a famous French actress from the 18th century.

    Single peony with pale pink petals and a golden center.
    Shrub of single peony blooms.

    One last herbaceous beauty is a single flower and has a very different look. It actually gets quite large putting on a nice show in the garden.

    Bright fuchsia tree peony.

    Then there are the tree peonies introduced to me by my good friend Lisa. These beauties do not die back but are more of a shrub. They are deciduous, which means they lose their leaves in the winter. They bloom very early in the season.

    Closeup of bloom on fuchsia tree peony.
    Dark red blooms of a tree peony shrub.
    Itoh peony just about to open.

    Finally, we have an Intersectional Hybrid or ITOH. The ITOH is a cross between a tree and a herbaceous peony, giving you the advantage of a lot of flowers lasting longer in the season, on sturdy branches that do not need staking. I love how this one starts out as a peachy pink and then turns a buttery yellow.

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    Vase full of different kinds and colors of peony flowers.

    They make great floral arrangements. Worried about ants? Just swish the flower heads in a bucket of water and they will come scrambling out.

    For more, you can read Praiseworthy Peonies from last year and a great tip about keeping them as cut flowers for up to a month in your refrigerator.

    « Sunny Green and Yellow Spring Mantel
    Winter Seed Sowing, Who Knew? »

    About Patti Estep

    Patti is the creator of Hearth and Vine, a home and garden blog filled with projects to inspire your creative side. She loves crafting, gardening, decorating and entertaining at her home in Pennsylvania. When she is not working on a project at home or searching for treasures at nurseries and thrift stores with her girlfriends, you’ll probably find her with family and friends, at a restaurant, or home party enjoying new and different food adventures.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Charlotte

      March 04, 2015 at 6:54 am

      I love peonies! I think they are very romantic and decorative in the garden. The flower arrangement is so pretty - it makes me think of summer and happy times.

      Reply
      • Patti

        March 04, 2015 at 8:51 am

        Thanks Charlotte,

        I think we are in good company. Looking forward to arranging more peonies this year, though today it seems so far away.
        Thanks for stopping by,
        Patti

        Reply

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