Xochipilli,
I have a few Chinese herbaceous peonies. Some are good. I also have a couple I am getting rid of. They are awful. It just depends on the cultivar. I have 2 that I will tell you about that I do like. One is an anemone/bomb with a flower inside of a flower form. The name is Lian Tai [Buddas Lotus Seat]. The anemone is white and the guards are pink. It seems to hold up rather well when it get wet.

The other cultivar is Da Fu Gui [Rich Man or Great Prosperity] This peony makes a nice statement in a bed. Smaller dark red double flowers that holds up well even when they get wet from a shower. I cannot seem to find a photo of that one right now. Avoid Gao Gan Hong and avoid Purple Hybiscus, I am not sure of the chinese name for that last one. I have a couple more but they will bloom for the first time this year.

PeonyMan,

Thanks for your reply! 'Lian Tai' looks very nice (beautiful picture!), and with all the rain we have here strong stems are a big plus! Is it fragrant? From the pictures I can find on the web 'Da Fu Gui' also looks like a nice peony, so that one's probably going on my order too.

Thanks also for the warning! What are the main problems with 'Gao Gan Hong' and 'Purple Hibiscus'? Not strong enough stems? Untidy flowers? What do you generally think about Chinese lactiflora cvs. compared to the western cvs and hybrids?

Some of the other lactifloras I'm thinking about ordering are 'Huang Jin Lun' (Golden Wheel), 'Hei Hai Bo Tao', 'Tie Gan Zi' and 'Qing Wen'; do you have any of them?

It's difficult to choose among all the Chinese varieties when all you have to look at is a photo, so I appreciate your help:-) When does the peony flowering start in your garden? Paeonia mairei will soon flower here, but it will be at least a month before the lactifloras start.

:-) X

X
Gao Gan Hong is not a subject for the garden. this plant is very tall, 4-5 feet and lanky as can be. Not tidy at all and it seeds like there is no tomorrow.

Purple Hibiscus is a very strange plant. not good in the garden either. Stems are weak and it droops before it blooms. As the flowers open the anemone center is gravity specific. ie: it will orient itself vertically, no matter which direction the flower is facing. In other words the flowers that are growing on the horizontal will have the center portion of the flower vertical to the ground. This gives the flower a windswept look that is not good.

I have not tried to grow Huang Jin Lun but some of my friends have it and it does not prosper like most peonies or it dies altogether. The only other one I know of is Tie Gan Zi. This is the purple row marker used in the tree peony beds. It did not sound good to me so I did not get it. I have a friend who has that one but I have never heard him say anything about his experience with that one.

I have 3 more named cultivars Mo Zi Han Jin, Sha Jin Guan Ding, and Zhu Sha Pan. These have not bloomed for me but the plants do not look promising. I also have 6 unnamed chinese Herbaceous that have not bloomed but I think all of these (Named and un-named) will this fall.

I expect that I will get rid of several of my Chinese herbaceous this fall. Overall they have been a big disappointment to me. There are so much better cultivars and I don't have the time or energy to spend on these that make such poor garden subjects.

Xochipilli,

Can you tell me how you can order plants from China?
Do you know if one can order peony seeds from China too?
Is it legal to bring in seeds or plants to U.S. from
a foreign country?

Here you can find photo of Da Fu Gui and other Chinese peonies. www.hezespring.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Heze Spring Nursery

Also you can try this link. Lots of useful information about many (most?) peonies.

Valentina

Here is a link that might be useful: Carsten Burkhardt's Web Project Paeonia