Everyone knows the Peony, right? When we first bought the farm that now hosts Riverbend Gardens 50 years ago, we had peonies here that were already quite old, and they thrived for decades more in our gardens. It's not uncommon for a traditional peony to live longer than the person who plants it. In fact, peonies were so common that many traditional nurseries stopped carrying them. But the peony continued to evolve in the gentle hands of international plant lovers, and today's peony family is entirely different from the peonies you knew as a child. Yes, the common lactiflora is still beautiful and very much worth planting for it's beauty and longevity, but now we also offer single fern leaf, double fern leaf, and Itoh variants, all of which have their own blooming season, foliage type, and purpose.
Lactiflora -- Seedlings from $20.00, named varieties from $25.00. The traditional lactiflora is the "drunken starlet" of the peony family, showing up to the party in her finest dress but not always able to handle a strong drink (rain). Lactiflora peonies can often use a ring or some other support to keep them upright.
Fern Leaf -- Single Fern Leaf $70.00, Double Fern Leaf $95.00. These incredible low growing, unique peonies have a completely different rhizomatous root and fern-like foliage, and they push more quickly and bloom earlier in the spring than their kin. They may "retreat to root" in hot summers. Interesting and beautiful.
Itoh - Starting at $60.00. This is the most recent evolved variant of the peony family, a cross between Tree and Herbaceous varieties bred by Toichi Itoh. While exceptionally difficult to crossbreed, the resulting plants are incredibly strong with massive colorful blooms and foliage that stands straight and proud all summer.