Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Noses, Shoots, and Deploying Leafs (part 4)

This one looks an awful lot like the Fern-leaf Peony (Paeonia tenuifolia) but is in fact Paeonia kartalinika (classified by some as P. tenuifolia ssp biebersteiniana). Botanically, the difference is longer leaf segments on kartalinika; horticulturally the difference is that this is a plant of scrub and open forests, whereas tenuifolia is mainly a plant of the grasslands. I've also noticed that tenuifolia has buds readily visible by the time the shoot reaches this moppy stage, whereas on my kartalinika the bud wasn't apparent until 2 days after this pic. But that's probably not a useful distinction even if it is broadly applicable!

Well-formed shoots of the Caucasus Peony, Paeonia caucasica. Good-sized buds already. There is some variation in the degree and shade of reddish-purpleness tints of the leafs between plants.

Slowly enlarging leaf buds of Rock's Peony, Paeonia rockii or Paeonia suffruticosa ssp rockii, possibly the hardiest of the tree peony species. My other tree peony species aren't yet budding out, but should be close to it.

A few noses of a young plant of the Siberian woodlander Paeonia obovata. Older plants of this species are still keeping their heads down, here. Maybe they know something the rest of us don't...

And everyone's favourite, the Golden Peony Paeonia mlokosewitschii. These went from 0 to 8cm overnight, literally (a bit of a heat wave here the past few days-- great cycling!). More purpley than any other species, especially at this stage.

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