Paeonia x lactiflora Albert Crousse

The Albert Crousse Peony (Paeonia x lactiflora) is a Chinese Peony or herbaceous Peony that offers abundant, delicately scented, absolutely charming flowering. It is a robust, highly ornamental old French variety that integrates perfectly into the garden. In June, it produces a large number of large double flowers, forming a dense and regular pompom in shades of pink and cream. Robust and faithful, peonies sometimes take a little time to establish themselves, but they develop year after year and can live well over 50 years. Outliving trends and passing whims, whether in a bouquet or in the garden, peony flowers are vibrant, elegant, and enticing, enhanced by a soft and light fragrance.

Chinese herbaceous peonies are mainly derived from Paeonia lactiflora, a perennial herbaceous plant native to central and eastern Asia (from eastern Tibet, northern China, to eastern Siberia), where it naturally grows in woods and meadows. This plant belongs to the Renunculaceae or Paeoniaceae family. Chinese Peonies, perennial by their roots, form a clump of foliage that disappears completely in winter.

The Albert Crousse Chinese Peony was obtained by François Félix Crousse (1840-1925), a horticulturist from Nancy (France), in 1893. The plant forms a compact and bushy herbaceous clump from spring, reaching about 90 cm (35in) in all directions. Its large, very double flowers, 14 to 16 cm (6in) in diameter, appear rather late in June (depending on the climate), lasting for about three weeks. They grow at the end of the stems, but also from some secondary buds. They emerge as a large cream-white bud, then open into a large, very dense and regular double pompom, with notched petals, pink with a creamy tone, tinged with light pink and deeper pink towards the centre, enclosing a barely visible heart of golden yellow stamens. The vegetation of this variety is good and its longevity remarkable. The young purple and glossy foliage unfolds into large, dark green, highly dissected leaves. They are borne on a petiole that divides into 3, with lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate segments. The leaflets are entire or sometimes lobed. The vegetation disappears in winter, while the buds persist at ground level and will develop in spring. This very perennial plant grows from a large fleshy root that does not appreciate being moved.

Peonies belong to those plants that form the foundation of a garden. Charming, gently scented, the Albert Crousse Chinese Peony settles into a flowerbed or alongside a path, combined with timeless and unpretentious perennials such as Garden Irises, Columbines, bellflowers, perennial geraniums, carnations, or Christmas roses. It can also be grown in the vegetable garden to supply cut flowers for the house. Only pot cultivation is not recommended, as its needs will not be met. Over time the peony becomes majestic and blooms more and more abundantly, producing up to 60 flowers. By combining different varieties with staggered flowering, it is possible to have flowers for 6 weeks from spring to early summer.