Paeonia lactiflora Mother's Choice

Paeonia lactiflora Mother's Choice is an excellent variety of herbaceous peony combining vigour, floriferousness, delicacy of colour, and fragrance. Its fully double and well-formed flowers, beautiful as roses, are cream-white with a slight pinkish hue, sometimes crossed or edged with magenta flashes. Carried on strong stems, they are perfect in a vase, and the plant often does not require staking in the garden. Like all its sisters, this Chinese peony is a bit slow to establish. Once established, however, it is a sturdy plant capable of thriving in neglected gardens. A fifty-year-old plant is in the prime of its life!

Herbaceous peonies, known as Chinese peonies, are mainly derived from Paeonia lactiflora, a perennial 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 Ranunculaceae or Paeoniaceae family.

The variety 'Mother's Choice' is a wonderful American cultivar obtained in 1950 and awarded a Gold Medal by the American Peony Society in 1993. The plant forms a bushy clump with strong, upright stems from spring onwards, reaching 80 cm (32in) in all directions. Its large 10 cm (4in) diameter flowers appear from the second half of May, depending on the climate, for about two weeks. They emerge as large pale pink buds and then open up into globular and perfect flowers, with petals arranged concentrically and regularly, like cabbage roses. The fragrance of this variety is pleasant. Some flowers bloom on secondary branches, which are slightly smaller. The young foliage, purple and shiny, unfolds into large, deeply cut and firm bright green leaves. They are carried on a petiole that divides into 3, with lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate segments. The leaflets are entire or sometimes lobed. They disappear in winter, while the buds that will develop in spring persist at ground level. This long-lived perennial plant grows from a large fleshy root that does not appreciate being moved.

Peonies are among those plants that form the backbone of a garden. Once upon a time every garden, from the humblest to the most elaborate, proudly displayed clumps covered in peony flowers that made their way into the house, keeping company in bouquets with mauve lilacs and blue bellflowers. Fragrant and candid, the Chinese peony Mother's Choice settles in a flowerbed or alongside a pathway, associated with timeless perennials such as columbines, bellflowers, perennial larkspurs, carnations, or Christmas roses. It will also increase the supply of flowers for bouquets in the vegetable garden. 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. A bouquet composed of peonies, bellflowers, lilacs, and old roses like Buff Beauty will have a great impact in the house.

Our bouquet tip: Cut your peonies at daybreak when the buds are just starting to colour.