| Scientific Name: | Paeonia lactiflora (incl. hybrid cvs.) |
| Common Name: | garden peony, Chinese peony |
| Family Name: | Paeoniaceae |
| Origin: | Central / west Asia, Garden origin, S.E. Asia / Japan / China |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 6: (-23 to -18 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Flowering cut plant, Herbaceous perennial |
| Mature Size: | 0.4 - 0.7m x 0.6 - 1.0m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Upright |
| Form: | Vase |
| Texture: | Coarse |
| Landscape Uses: | Cut flower or foliage, Fall interest, Floristry, Group or mass planting, Mixed shrub border, Perennial border, Specimen plant, Spring interest |
| Exposure: | Full sun, Part sun/part shade, Sheltered |
| Soil or Media: | Humus rich, Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Lobed, Compound, Alternate, Soft flexible, Pinnate venation, Glabrous, Odd-pinnate, Tripinnate, Biternate, Elliptic, Lanceolate, Entire, Incised, Undulate (wavy) |
| Flowers: | Flowers solitary, White, Purple, Pink, Red, Dark-red, May-Jun |
| Fruit: | Aggregate fruit, Follicle, Aborted (hybrids) or absent, Brown, Aug-Sep |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Stems weak, smooth, green to red, and <70cm tall; leaves alternate, 20-30(-60)cm long x 20-40cm wide, tripinnately compound with at least the terminal leaflet having 3(-5) deep lobes, most lobes 5-15cm long x 3-7cm wide; flower buds grow 2-3cm round before opening, flowers 7-13cm wide, white-pink-purple-dark red, 8-10-many petals; fruit an aggregate of 5 hard follicles 2-3cm long x 1-1.5cm wide. | |