RE: paeonia in med. climate
- Subject: RE: paeonia in med. climate
- From: C* J*
- Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 15:18:48 -0800
I may try a P. californica over in the native section, even though Las
Pilitas is not encouraging:
"A 1 foot perennial with drooping maroon 2" flowers in Jan.-Mar.. Native
from Monterey to San Diego Co. (and on the nursery site). It will tolerate
sun to part shade, little or no summer water. You need perfect drainage, a
very green thumb, and luck with this one...."
But sometimes the dooryard pines for some double-flowered puff ball the
color of a Chinese concubine's face powder....
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Seals [g*@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 2:46 PM
To: CarolJ@minimed.com; 'oronperi@hotmail.com'; medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
Subject: RE: paeonia in med. climate
All you peony-growing wannabe's:
I took a survey of peony cut-flower growers several
years ago. At the time, I was working with the
Association of Specialty Cut-flower Growers. One of
the ideas of the survey was to find out the "range" of
peony production.
Of course, most cut-flower field peony growers were in
the north and most of those were in the midwest.
But I did find three growers where I didn't expect
them to be -- one in Georgia (downstate), one in
Florida, and one in CALIFORNIA!
The one in California was in the "East Bay" area of
San Francisco (and it wasn't high up on some
mountain).
Another part of my survey was to find out average
yields (for commercial production).
Who do you think had the lowest yields of all the
growers I surveyed? Yep -- those in the south. The
one in California came in dead last.
But the point is, they CAN be grown here and grown to
blooming stage.
Keep in mind that just about all COMMON peonies are
descendents of Paeonia lactiflora, a species native to
Russia (Siberia), Mongolia, N. and W. China, and
Tibet. Doesn't sound like "Zone 9" material. All of
the others which have anything to do with any genetic
input are also native to coldish areas and, more
importantly, they are native to wet summer areas.
I know that there are two species of Paeonia native to
California and they both grow within areas that would
be considered USDA "Zone 9". P. californica is the
least cold-requiring of the two (based on its range as
giuven in Munz' "California Flora").
There's at least 11 species of Paeonia native to the
"Mediterranean" region. I don't have any good
academic "Flora" of the region so all I can tell is
that 4 or 5 of them could be considered as growin in
"Zone 9" and possibly even "Zone 10".
A cold winter definitely helps play a role in the
success of COMMON peonies.
But I think if we want truly successful peonies in OUR
Mediterranean climate gardens, it might be time for
somebody to look at these Mediterranean speices.
Haven't we had this conversation about roses and
lilies and others?
Joe Seals
Santa Maria, California
--- Carol Joynson <CarolJ@minimed.com> wrote:
> First the disclaimer: I know nothing about peonies.
> But, in my ignorance, I
> love the look of them and was thinking of trying
> some myself until I came
> across a reference that mentioned that they don't do
> well in climates that
> don't freeze, and that they require a certain amount
> of cold. I would think
> this would cause difficulties in a Mediterranean
> climate...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oron peri [o*@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 8:18 AM
> To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: paeonia in med. climate
>
>
> Dear Friends,
>
> I would like to know if any of you is growing any
> paeonia sp. in zone 9.
>
> I had good germination of P. mascula, cambessedesii,
> peregrina etc., but no
> luck so far in growing them the second season.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Oron Peri
> ISRAEL
>
>
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