Jim, et al, Since we 're on the subject of Peonies, I just have to get this off my chest. A friend here in the Seattle area has a peony farm, A&D Peonies, and raises scads of hybrids. After walking thru row after row of plants years ago, I still have to conclude, if it doesn't have fragrance, I usually will pass it by. It's just my association with that plant. Just curious if anyone else feels the same way? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim McKenney" <jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com> To: "'Pacific Bulb Society'" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 6:46 AM Subject: Re: [pbs] Paeonia 'Coral Charm' John Grimshaw must be a bit of a mind reader. When I posted on Paeonia 'Coral Charm' I too wanted to say something more about the yellow color of the mature blossom. This touches on an important phase in the development of hybrid herbaceous peonies. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century peony hybridizers made an attempt - one never really realized successfully - to bring the yellow color of Paeonia mlokosewitschii into hybrid garden peonies. The person who was the prime mover in this effort, the distinguished Canadian American Prof. A.P. Saunders, produced many hybrids with Paeonia mlokosewitschii in their background. But none was a typical garden peony, and few if any improved on the yellow color of P. mlokosewitschii itself. Then, at mid-century, a dentist who practiced in Kensington, Maryland, just across the creek from my garden, produced the then famous hybrid 'Claire de Lune'. 'Claire' created a sensation in the peony world because it was the first undoubted hybrid between Paeonia mlokosewitschii and P. lactiflora (the common garden peony). Peony enthusiasts of the time were desperate for yellow-flowered garden peonies: some of the cultivars described as having yellow highlights back then owed their "yellow color" to the reflection of light from the stamens! When 'Claire' was introduced, they bent over backwards to see yellow in the flower color: quite a few of them were convinced they saw it. As I know it, it's a white-flowered peony, but in cool climates perhaps it does show yellow. So what's the point of all this? When I observed the amount of yellow in the several-days-old flowers of 'Coral Charm', it reminded me that I did not know the parentage of this cultivar. I still don't. In the literature it is reported as being primarily a hybrid of 'Minnie Shaylor' crossed with various hybrids and the resulting progeny then inbred. It's the "various hybrids" part which pulls a curtain over the whole business. It's hard to believe that at least some of those "various hybrids" did not have Paeonia mlokosewitschii in their background, but I don't know for sure - yet. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7, where various red-flowered species-like Saunders hybrids are now blooming. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/