Jane, In Seattle , the pink edge on P. mlok appears some years , and others, not. Same with P. whitmanniana. My form of that is a bit more transparent than soft yellow. I think it's true what you suspect. It's conditional on weather, and more directly, temperature. RickK On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 8:38 AM, James Waddick <jwaddick@kc.rr.com> wrote: > Dear Jane, > P.mloko may one of the most frustrating of species peonies to > grow. Part of this is due to the repeated 'insistence' that flowers are > 'picture perfect' 'moonlit yellow'. But the species is quite variable and > Prof. Hong De Yuan is his most recent monograph on the genus has helped to > clarify the mess. > In the wild plants can be found bearing a rage of colors from > picture perfect pale yellow to bright glowing pink and all combos in > between. And there are a range of closely related forms all now in the > species P. daurica. You may be familiar with some subspecies formerly > considered true species such as P. d. macrophylla, P. d. wittmanniana, P. > d. coriifolia and of course P. d. mlokosewitschii. > > Add to this the ease of which all these hybridize and the known > effects of temperature ( possibly due to your recent move and change of > climate) and plant age on flower color and you have a range. I have a > friend in up state NY who grows a few different wild accessions together, > gets all kinds of mix and match and refers to them as his 'Molly Mutts', an > apt description. > > If you MUST have a good reliable pale yellow, you have to see the > plant in bloom and buy from that seller. Or grow a lot of seedlings and > select ruthlessly. Or have good luck in buying a small plant. > > In your area you might inquire from Paige Woodward of Pacific Rim > Native Plants, Diana Reeck of Collector's Nursery, Carol Adelman of Adelman > Nursery or just ask around as it is somewhat more available in OR and WA in > the PNW. (Heritage Seedlings offer seedlings at a wholesale rate if you > need LOTS). > > Fortunately any color it is a very nice plant. > Best Jim W. > > > On Apr 23, 2013, at 11:35 PM, Jane McGary wrote: > > > One always sees Paeonia mlokosewitschii photographed with lovely pale > > yellow flowers, so I was a little disappointed when I grew it in the > > 1990s from seed collected in the wild by Josef Halda, and obtained a > > plant with ivory flowers flushed with pink. ..and now again it has > > surprised me by flowering pale yellow . > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >