Much more than a one-trick peony

Described as having “flowers like inward-facing white clouds with purple spots and a centre the colour of the setting sun“, the tree peony sold as ‘Joseph Rock’ still commands attention and admiration.

FAR away, in parts of remote Bhutan, near the eastern end of the Himalayas in places I shall never see and can hardly find on a map, live the ancestors of the tree peony.

These have long been revered in Chinese paintings, textiles and porcelain apart altogether from their attractiveness and great beauty.

Indeed the tree peony, (also known as the Moutan) was so valued during the Sung dynasty over 1,000 years ago it was officially designated “characteristic flower of spring”. Now I may be lucky enough to have gardened with two of these remarkable shrubs for many years, but why do I see so few living out their spectacular lives in sheltered, Irish gardens? For two reasons I suspect.

Firstly, the emerging buds are sometimes prone to damage by late frosts in spring. A sheltered position is needed, or conversely, somewhere which does not warm up too quickly in spring as they often grow better in cooler parts of the country. However, a 6ft sq of horticultural fleece that can be placed over the bush when frost threatens in spring (as growers of camellias will testify) would solve that problem.

The second reason is the bane of all peonies — heavy rainfall.

However, neither drawback should deter anyone from growing a cultivar in single or double form for when they flower in May they will be found more marvellous than anything that has bloomed to then.

When they burst open their huge dinner plate-sized blooms you will see in detail their fulsomeness — a sort of colloquial glory. When you cup the blooms in both hands and draw them to your face to catch their exquisite perfume you will understand how they have captured the attention of growers for over 1,500 years.

It will be the colour and texture of the crimped, tissue-paper petals (held out from the foliage) which grabs your attention first. Then you experience the scent, a perfume so captivating that it will define a time, shape a memory, or half-remind you of something which you somehow cannot quite recall — a fifth dimension, if such a thing exists.

Not all are scented, however, so do ask about this before purchase. The leaves of the tree peony are also quite magnificent. Antler-like in shape and as deeply cut as any Japanese maple, they’ll command attention long before and after blooming.

Their copper on green, (or port wine on green colouring) will have you gasping with admiration from the moment in spring when they first appear up to the end days of autumn when they succumb to the first really hard frosts.

The plant sold as Joseph Rock is the most exciting and has an interesting story. It was cultivated in China as Mei Yao Chen. It was described in the Sung dynasty (AD 960-1279) as having “flowers like inward-facing white clouds with purple spots and a centre the colour of the setting sun”.

Joseph Rock — the person not the plant — found the plant in 1925 in a lamasery near Gansu and sent seed to north America and Europe. Up to recent years all the plants in cultivation in the West were derived from these.

Today, new hybrid tree peonies are readily sourced from many of the larger outlets.

Tolerant of a wide range of soils they will develop where humus is plentiful and the drainage sharp. Most never grow taller than 8ft to 10ft.