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Growing
peonies and seeing them flower is a sufficient joy of itself for many
plant lovers. How and where they fit into the surroundings may be of
little concern.
On the other
hand, interior and exterior decoration is a popular theme in our culture
and the idea of creating beauty is well established as a loftier goal.
For this or other, perhaps more basic, reasons, some of us are
uncomfortable unless we have applied a measure of logic and form in
deciding where to place the items which we add to our surroundings.
Picking the placement of our peony plants can become a matter of
creative interest. The purpose of this article is to offer one man's
thoughts on ways to approach the task.
First, there
is the more mundane, but essential matter of what it takes to produce
fine peony flowers. The site is an important part of success. Peonies
want a fertile soil. This means a good level of humus, as well as mineral
fertility, and the site must be well-drained. The latter is necessary
because peonies cannot survive poor aeration of the soil around the
roots. Thus, placement of peonies in many locations can require
considerable soil modification, if they are to have a chance to perform
in the manner we expect of them. It is also important to start with
healthy, vigorous divisions. The smaller the division, the more
important it is that optimum growing circumstances be provided (this is
where the idea of "nursery" comes in, a place where small plants or
propagation pieces can be carried to a better planting-out size).
Peonies usually perform best when cultivated, reducing competition.
Another
consideration in growing peonies that should be emphasized is that of
keeping the foliage and stems free of fungus diseases. One reason is
that the quality of flowering depends on the amount of growth in the
storage roots the summer before. Loss of leaf surface to fungus
infections reduces the rate of food production. In many sections of the
world where peonies are grown, climate conditions are favorable to the
infection and spread of leaf diseases. While these leaf infections
rarely destroy plants in one season, they can be responsible for decline
over several seasons. Fungi are also responsible for root rot, which can
lead to destruction in one season.
The
importance of plant health in landscape appearance cannot be
over-emphasized. While the autumnal decline of foliage is quite
compatible with landscape appearance, unseasonable death of foliage is
distracting. Some peonies inherently decline in midsummer, somewhat as
daffodils and other spring bulbs, although usually later. The
Officinalis and Lobata Hybrids are notable groups which tend to this
pattern of growth. Since peonies are a factor in border height and
provide background for other plants in certain situations, one needs to
anticipate whether the variety being placed will cause an unwanted
"hole" to come in the border when the foliage goes bad. A more dramatic
illustration of this problem can be envisioned in a row of peonies, say
along the side of the front yard, where you mostly have plants of
Chinese peonies (Paeonia lactiflora) which hold their foliage right into
autumn in most varieties, but with one or more Lobata of Perry Hybrids,
most of which tend to die-back in mid-summer. Sometime before autumn the
hybrid foliage will naturally decline. When you groom the border by
taking out the spent stems, there is a "hole" in your row. You can
prevent this at planting time and still not give up having the beautiful
hybrid colors at flowering. Simply put the hybrids on one end of the
row. When the offending foliage is groomed out, everything looks about
the same, except the row is shorter for the balance of the season.
Cut-flowers
may be most conveniently grown on peony plants placed in "island" beds
in a utility area, as one does with a vegetable plot, out of the public
portion of the grounds. The big double peony flowers may be spoiled by
rain, their stems broken down due to waterlogged flowers, as well as the
flower life being shortened. Grown in a cut-flower area, the blossoms
can be freely cut and taken indoors, without diminishing the publicly
viewed borders. Of course, big flowered peonies in public areas can be
given extra support and their appearance thereby largely preserved
out-of-doors, even in rainy weather.
Choose
varieties which are less vulnerable to rain damage for easiest
maintenance of border appearance. Those which bear their flowers closest
to the bush are not so vulnerable to stem breakage by water-logged
flowers. Also, some varieties are notably better equipped to resist stem
leaning or breakage. The less double forms are not prone to hold great
quantities of water. The single and Japanese flower forms are best in
this respect. However, the bomb double form presents a nice compromise,
having a more single form on first opening, but taking on the large size
of the full doubles as the flower matures. Also, the fact of the bomb
form growing over a period of several days gives extra interest in the
border.
Flower color
is a factor in border appearance. In light colors of white, blush, light
pink, and yellows, the large flowers of peonies are notable at
relatively great viewing distances. At similar distance some of the red
flowers may go nearly unnoticed. Most photography buffs have had the
experience of taking a black and white photo of a gorgeous red peony and
have seen the red show up as black holes in the greys of the foliage.
This is similar to the effect of viewing them at longer distances in the
landscape. Place the red flowering choices at the near locations and
limit the longer views to the lighter colored forms. This principle can
be applied to distant borders. For example, walking through a large
garden, as one comes around an out-curve of shrubbery, the near peonies
might be red.
Color enthusiasts are sometimes interested in weaving subtle color
sequences into their landscape borders. This is an obvious challenge,
since one will have to collect knowledge and experience in not only
color of specific varieties, but the timing of flowering, etc. Whether
or not one is approaching this advanced challenge in border arrangement,
it may be of interest to note that both blue-based reds and yellow-based
reds occur in peony flowers. The range and variety of reds have been
expanded immensely with the production of interspecies hybrids. These
reds appear both as entire colored flowers, as is widely known, and as
the pigment of the subtle markings in the fascinating range of pastel
colors which have appeared among the modern hybrids. These pastel
variations are of great interest to some flower arrangers, but they so
far occur most prevalently in less double forms, therefore fitting
nicely into the logic of selecting peonies for landscape borders.
It is perhaps obvious, but nevertheless of great importance, in the
landscape placement of peonies to keep in mind where they fit into the
structural design hierarchy of plants. It is the woody plants which
stand highest in this hierarchy. Trees are the most dominant, grading
down to the finest textured twiggy shrubs. The trees and larger shrubs
give the height and enclosure functions in landscape design. Herbaceous
plants contribute filler and color. While the tree peonies are shrubs,
they are not strong structural contributors. Herbaceous peonies are of
strong texture and fairly massive among the non-shrub plants. Most
peonies including tree peonies come into use as facers for intermediate
shrubs. They may provide transition areas to lesser-texture border
plants or may be a major factor throughout a border. The latter
application is well known by peony fanciers-we are continually running
out of space for our latest additions!
While structural elements, which give height and enclosure, are
extremely valuable in landscape good appearance, it is not necessary to
obtain all of this with living materials. When space is at a premium in
a key location, it may be impossible to both give room for background
plants for your peonies to be seen against, and have room for the
peonies. Consider a fence of boards or other suitable materials. This
can be combined with appropriate shrubbery for border ends. A nice
feature of the fence is that it is the right size when placed. Another
is that it does not compete for moisture and soil.
Peonies can
be used in an infinite array of situations in the home institutional
plantings. How one chooses to use them is an individual choice. When
given growing conditions which are suitable to their needs, peonies will
perform the beautiful flowering for which they are desired. How much
more complex one may wish to make the task of weaving them into their
larger surrounding can be as challenging and delightful as it takes to
meet one's fancy! |