Kamatanishiki Come-back!

18 years ago

Hello everyone :)

I am brand new to the world of Peonies, and currently own 4 (possibly 5???) peonies.

In early spring my local nursery offered several potted Kamatanishiki tree peonies, and I quickly purchased one of them. It was still quite small, perhaps 1' tall at best, and potted in a 1 gallon container with a very light soil mixture, containing quite a bit of granular fertilizer as well.

In any case, my flower bed wasn't ready (hubby re-did the entire front this summer, so I had no room to plant it yet), but I decided to put it in a bigger pot with "better" dirt. Within less than 1 month every single leave had wilted and died. The location where it was kept received morning sun and afternoon shade, and I'm fairly certain I neither over- nor underwatered. I was so disappointed and sad when it appeared to have died.

I grabbed all my courage, put the Kamatanishiki in my car, and drove back to the nursery, hoping they'd at least give me a discount on another - IF they had any left. (It was VERY pricy). Without even taking a glimpse at what I believed to have been a dead tree peony, the owner immediately replaced it free of charge. She told me since I was a repeat customer, there was no need for a receipt or proof of a dead peony. WOW!

I drove back home - 2 Kamatanishikis in tow, one healthy and vigorous looking, the other presumed dead. Instead of discarding the dead-looking one, I decided to cut off all dead leaves (which was all of them :( ) and planted it directly into an open spot in my back yard - just to wait and see if MAYBE....just maybe ...it would attempt to make a come-back next spring.

Within less than 2 months new leaves appeared! Even though it hasn't grown at all, this plant has regrown about 30% of its leaves, and I now wonder if it's possible that it will survive at all? Is there a chance it will thrive starting next year, or is it more likely that next spring there won't be anything more than a tiny, black dead stick in the ground?

Any advice and help would be so greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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Comments (3)

goodhors
18 years ago
I would give it a couple years before expecting a bloom. It evidently had a severe system shock to lose all the leaves like it did, THEN to come back with more foliage! Plant has probably used all his reserves, will try to grow roots out, will just manage to survive winter and produce more foliage next spring.

My tree Peonies always seem to take a couple years to settle in, then get to blooming. That is even without having such a shock as your plant did. Your plant must like you, coming back like that.

One other note, you might want to compare leaves with a regular herbacous Peony. With grafted plant like Tree Peony, sometimes the stick dies, root sends up leaves of Herbacous plant instead. Leaves for tree Peony need to be coming from the stick part, not root eyes, to be correct.
jerseywendy
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank you so much for responding, goodhors :)

The leaves that the Kamatanishiki regrew do look like those of a tree peony, and not like those of herbaceous ones, so I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic.

I've given the plant fish fertilizer twice so far. Should I continue to do so until frost, or just leave it be?

As small as it is, I won't hold my breath if it doesn't flower for many years, but that's ok, as long as it survives the ordeal I've put it through.
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goodhors
18 years ago
I might do one more fertilizer addition, maybe about mid August or Labor Day, no later. You want to let it feed, but not get new growth going that it will waste energy on with winter coming on. I might do a cover on it for winter, like a rose collar, or burlap around a peony cage for wind break, once the ground gets some frosts on it. I will also put some loose leaves around it as a mulch. I just like to protect the stick from winter wind the first year or two. Cold doesn't bother mine, but the winter wind here is piercing, very drying to the tiny buds.

I am glad you think the leaves are correct. I just hate losing the sticks. The flower color is worth waiting for!