Old Farmstead™ is a selection of historical lactiflora cultivars. These are plants especially free of fungus and known to have long survived, perhaps notable for having been cherished for generations in a family, collected at old house sites or having other evidence of excellent durability and performance. We have them from Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and Virginia. All of these will occasionally have useable stigmas and carpals for seeding. They do not produce pollen. We have used Old Farmstead™ peonies successfully in our breeding program. One sort is seed parent of 'Garden Treasure'.
We have assembled information which leads us to believe Old Farmstead™ Dewey HP1-61 is the peony widely grown pre-World War II for the United States florist trade under the name 'Queen Victoria'. Historically, 'Queen Victoria' is a trade name given by Kelway's Nursery in Britain for the peony 'Whitleyi' (Whitley, 1808), one of the earliest to arrive of the Lactiflora peonies imported from China to England in the 19th century.