In the 1960s, Toichi Itoh, a Japanese nurseryman, was the first to successfully cross tree peonies with herbaceous peonies. A bright color scheme emerged from this new hybrid group, often known as Itoh peonies. A select few American hybridizers have made these challenging crossings with remarkable success. We are happy to provide a variety of these exceptional American hybrid peonies.
The numerous qualities that intersectional peonies have make them highly sought-after landscape plants. Tree peonies’ foliage and blossom shapes match those of tree peony, and herbaceous peonies’ development habits are comparable. Flowers never need any form of support because they are always held upright on top of the bush. Intersectional peonies are pruned down to the ground in the fall after the frost, and the plants grow bigger each spring. Most peonies that bloom in the middle to late summer peak in our USDA zone 6a garden during the first week of June.
Intersectional peonies require well-drained fertile soil and full sun to grow successfully in USDA zones 4 through 9. We are aware that they will also flourish in zone 3 of Canada with a little more care, such as planting near a wall or other structure and applying more mulch in the winter. For comprehensive planting and care instructions, visit the Learn section.
An intersectional peony is what?
Tree peonies and herbaceous peonies are crossed to produce intersectional peonies, commonly referred to as Itoh peonies. These hybrids have leaves and flowers that resemble their tree peony parent. The growth patterns, however, are similar to their herbaceous parent, with the plant withering to the ground in the winter and sprouting green in the spring. Although the plants have some woody structure, they don’t rise far above the surface. They grow best and produce an adequate amount of flowers in full sun, just like its herbaceous parent, but they also do well in shaded light.
On sturdy, short branches that do not need staking, a mature intersectional peony will produce 50 or more blossoms that are the size of dinner plates. Near the end of the herbaceous peony bloom, they reach their pinnacle. Each plant can bloom for three to four weeks at a time, with new buds continuously forming during this time. They come in a variety of yellows and golds, colors that are uncommon in herbaceous peonies, and can be used as cut flowers. On average, intersectional peonies reach a height of 2.5 feet. They look great in the front of the perennial border because of their compact design. They can flourish in zones 3-9. Nicely formed plant, lovely huge flowers, unique yellow-bronze color option, no staking needed.
Intersectional Peonies
Proper planting depth is the most important consideration when planting peony. The crown of intersectional peonies should be buried between 112 and 2 inches below the surface of the soil. After planting the crown below soil level, the eyes may slightly protrude above the ground if they have already started to grow.
Garden Peonies
The right planting depth is the most important factor in cultivating peony. The eyes on the root of garden peony should be buried between 112 and 2 inches below the surface of the soil. To fit in the pot, the lower roots may need to be somewhat pruned. A good flowering performance is more likely to be achieved with proper planting.
Tree Peonies
Correct planting depth is the most important consideration when planting peony. When planting grafted tree peony, make sure the graft union is 4-6 inches below the surface of the soil. When the roots are pruned to fit in the pot, very little of the woody stem may remain above ground. The grafted plant will grow its own roots if it is planted properly, making it stronger overall.
Peonies have demonstrated for well over a century that they are stunning yet hardy, low maintenance perennials.
Which Itoh peony is the best?
Itoh Peony “First arrival,” which is regarded by some gardeners as one of the best Itoh Peonies, blooms among the Intersectional Peonies among the earliest. It is magnificent, with huge, lavender-pink, semi-double blooming up to 8 inches (20 cm) across, each with a flare of reddish-purple at the base. The rose-scented, intensely magenta-flushed blossoms progressively lose their color as they get older. The blooms are abundantly produced (expect 30 to 40 blooms! ), are well-presented above the lush foliage, and are supported by sturdy, upright stems. ‘First arrival’ is a robust and freely flowering perennial that is great for cutting or the perpetual border!
- Due of the numerous side buds that develop sequentially, this midseason peony will bloom in late spring to early summer for 2 weeks (up to 4 weeks in cool temperate regions).
- If cut in bud, makes beautiful cut flowers with a lengthy vase life (over a week). At home, enjoy a stunning arrangement of yellow peonies!
- This Itoh peony is dependable and robust, growing in a small but wide-spreading bush with lustrous, dark-green foliage. reaches a maximum height of 28 inches (70 cm) and a maximum spread of 4 feet (120 cm). Throughout the summer and into the late fall, the foliage is still beautiful.
- Deer and rabbit resistant, but butterflies like it!
- virtually free of pests. Watch out for peony wilt and honey fungus.
- incredibly practical and flexible in the landscape. Perfect for borders and beds, city gardens or country gardens, both individually and in groups as a specimen plant. Ideal for using as an informal hedge and to border a walk or driveway. Peonies don’t like to fight for food and moisture with trees or shrubs, so plant your peonies away from those plants. Roses, bearded irises, and other perennials make stunning color combinations with the alluring peony blossom.
- easy to maintain. Cut back the plant after the foliage has fallen back in the fall, then remove any faded or wasted flowers. Peonies have a long lifespan (up to 50 years! ), therefore the plants don’t need to be divided and can be left alone for a long time. Selecting the right planting place is important since peonies do not adapt well to transplanting.
- Early fall is the ideal time to plant peonies so that they have time to establish themselves in the ground before winter. Their gorgeous, fragrant blooms may not appear for up to two years after planting since they do not flower the first year.
- Itoh Peonies are hybrids made when a tree peony and a herbaceous peony are crossed. These peonies don’t need to be staked and produce up to 50 or more enormous flowers on strong, short stalks. For 3–4 weeks, they often bloom following the herbaceous peony. They are prized for their wonderful variety of golden and gold colors, which are not frequently found in herbaceous peonies, and are excellent as cut flowers. Although these flowers have the magnificent tree peony leaf form, they wither to the ground in the winter like herbaceous peonies. They are often shorter than the majority of bush peony, yet strong and healthy with a lovely rounded bush appearance. They can be planted at the front of the border because of their wonderful shape and compact form, which can reach heights of up to 2.5 ft (75 cm) and a width of about 3 ft (90 cm). like full sun or partial shade in healthy, rich soils with a medium moisture level and good drainage. Even though they thrive in full sun, peony plants can tolerate a little midday shadow. Provide a protected area. Due to their propensity to arch downward and their vulnerability to being knocked to the ground by heavy rain, huge peony blossoms may need to be staked.
What distinguishes a peony from an Itoh peony?
In nurseries, peonies are available as potted plants as well as bare roots for planting. Peonies are available as bare roots for planting both in the fall and in the spring from online merchants including Holland Bulb Farms and Tulip World. Bare root peonies planted in the spring should develop that summer, but blooms won’t likely show until the following spring. There is no need to be concerned if you have to wait a year or two for blooming because peonies have a lengthy lifespan of up to 75 years or more.
In any sunny garden bed or border, both herbaceous and Itoh hybrid peonies have a place and a purpose. The strength of the stems, the hues of the blooms, and the timing of the blooms are the key variations between the two. The Itoh hybrids bloom a little later in spring and have a tendency to have a longer bloom time than the herbaceous peonies, which bloom earlier in the season. Plant both herbaceous and Itoh hybrids to extend the bloom period if you really love peonies and have the room. The most typical hues of herbaceous peonies are pink, red, white, yellow, and peach. Although itoh hybrids are also available in variations of those hues, the variety of hues visible in the blooms is higher than that of herbaceous peonies, which tend to have more uniform hues. You can enjoy the beautiful, fragrant flowers of Itoh hybrids and herbaceous peonies for several weeks every spring for years to come by planting both varieties.
Why do Itoh peonies cost so much?
Itoh peonies, which are hybrids of herbaceous and tree peonies, thrive in a variety of conditions and have magnificent foliage, enormous blooms, and a wide range of color options. In Zones 4–9, hardy.
If you delve deeper into the magnificent beauty of the Itoh peony, you’ll find an inspirational tale of tenacity. An Itoh peony is produced by crossing a typical garden peony (Paeonia lactiflora) with the eye-catching tree peony (Paenoia suffruticosa). For many years, plant breeders believed that because these two peony kinds have such dissimilar parents, a successful hybrid of them would not be possible.
Toichi Itoh, a Japanese plantsman, worked tirelessly to complete this cross. Itoh made this pursuit his life’s work and succeeded in 1948 by breeding the tree peony (Paeonia lactiflora ‘Kakoden’) with the herbaceous peony (Paenoia x lemoinei). 36 plants were born from the productive cross. Nine of those plants exhibited tree peony traits and were dubbed Itoh peonies or Itoh Hybrid peonies. Intersectional peonies and intersectional hybrids are occasionally mentioned. These plants are Itoh peony subspecies.
There were so few Itoh peonies available when they were originally made available to the public and presented to the nursery industry that the cost of one plant exceeded $1,000. The lengthy process of raising these plants to the point where they could produce divisions was reflected in the expensive price tag. The cost of Itoh peony has decreased to between $50 and $100 per plant thanks to the use of tissue culture techniques, which multiply them more quickly.
Because they produce flowers and foliage that resemble tree peonies on a plant that acts like a perennial, Itoh peonies are worth paying any price for. Each year, when the first frost hits, the plant dies back to the soil, and the next spring, fresh growth appears from the ground. This puts an end to concerns about a tree peony’s bloom buds on woody stems being damaged by a late spring frost.
When an Itoh peony’s flower buds open, they reveal big, tree peony-type blooms that are dinner-plate size and come in a variety of colors, including golds and yellows that are less common in herbaceous peony varieties. Despite the huge bloom heads, there is no need to anchor the plants because they have sturdy stems similar to those of a tree peony. A mature Itoh peony has a blooming season that can yield up to 50 blossoms.
The Itoh peony group achieves its optimum bloom time while the herbaceous peony group is completing. Itoh peonies often begin flowering when herbaceous peonies are in bloom. There is a strong, protracted floral display because many Itoh peony plants generate flowers from secondary buds that develop beneath the first flower. Three to four weeks are a luxuriously long flowering period for each Itoh peony plant.
In the garden, Itoh peony hybrids have strong resistance to powdery mildew, which afflicts herbaceous peonies, and botrytis blight, which frequently affects tree peonies. They are also deer-resistant. The Itoh peony group has blossoms that create excellent cut flowers, just like its peony progenitors. Itoh peony typically reach heights of 2 feet and a width of 3.5 feet.
Do you prune peonies at intersections?
An intersectional peony can be pruned in one of two ways. The plant can be trimmed down completely to the ground or you can only remove a portion of it, leaving a few short stems with growth buds. It is preferable to trim the plant back to the ground in colder climates. These growth buds on the stems, however, can frequently survive the winter in the South because to our milder winters, just like the growth buds on the stems of tree peonies.
Although the first step is optional, seeing what I’m doing beforehand helps. I simply trim back some of the plant’s lower foliage so that I can see what I’m doing. This process is really simple. The leaf segment will come off rather easily if you locate the point where the leaf stem joins the main stem and apply a small amount of downward pressure to the leaf stem. For all of the stems and foliage you remove, keep a garbage bag nearby. Oftentimes, botrytis blight affects peonies. To prevent further diseases, it is therefore advisable to dispose of the old leaves rather than compost it.
You should prune the stems down to the first or second growth nodule above the earth on the plant with growth nodules if you wish to leave some short stems on it. At the stem/leaf junction, a pink growth bud is typically visible. Just above this point on the stem, you should prune it. If a stem has no pink growth buds, you can prune it all the way to the ground, being careful to cut above any pink growth buds that may be present at the stem’s base.
You’ll have a short main stem and a leafy stem after removing the higher stem. Apply a little downward pressure to the leaf stem to remove any residual foliage on the pruned stem. The leaves and primary stem will be easily separated in this way. On each clipped stem, be sure to remove and discard any remaining leaves.
Till all the stems have been pruned, repeat this procedure on each of them. You will only be left with a few short sticks sticking out of the ground where your intersectional peony previously stood after all of the stems have been pruned back and all of the foliage has been gone.
You will be able to plant your instersectional peony over the fall, winter, and early spring knowing exactly where it will be because of this pruning technique, which involves leaving short stems. You won’t unintentionally tread on it, dig into it, etc. this manner. However, intersectional peonies can be pruned back all the way to the ground if you live in a colder region where these growth buds probably won’t survive anyhow or you want a neater look after trimming.
It’s absolutely acceptable to prune your intersectional peony all the way back to the ground if you need to or want to. Once established, intersectional peonies are exceedingly resilient, and they will unquestionably grow back if clipped to the ground. To avoid damaging the basal growth buds, just be sure to make your incisions gently.
You can see where the stems and the crown of your intersectional peony meet at the base if you look there carefully. You will probably notice some pink growth buds close to the base of most stems and on the crown if you have your peony planted even with the soil surface (ideally you do if you are a Southern peony gardener!).
Make sure to keep these pink growth buds when you trim your intersectional peony stem back to the ground. Therefore, if the stem’s base has a pink growth bud, make your incision immediately above it. Don’t cut or smash any more growth buds that are at the plant’s base either. Up until the crown and pink growth buds are all that are left, keep trimming each of the plant’s stems.
You’re done pruning your intersectional peony at this point. If you notice exposed pink growth buds, don’t be alarmed. This is advantageous for Southern peony growers! Avoid burying them or covering them with mulch or soil! For those growth buds to bloom properly in the spring, they need to be exposed to as much cold as possible over the winter. Thus, leave them exposed. If you don’t have one already, you might wish to place a plant marker close to your peony. So that you won’t trip over it or cause harm to it during the winter, you’ll know exactly where it is.