The Peony Rose is native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. There are approximately 33 species. Peonies have been grown in Eastern Asian gardens for over 4000 years. Their name in Chinese means ‘most beautiful’.
In ancient Greece and Asia, peonies were highly regarded for their medicinal properties with the root, bark, seed and flower used for a range of medical problems. an old Chinese saying goes that ‘a woman who takes Peony root daily will become as beautiful as the Peony flower itself’
The Victorians had a different attitude to peonies with the superstition that if you dug them up the fairies would curse you.
Timaru is the perfect place for peonies to grow with our cold winter which ensures the peonies flower. You can see them flowering from early Spring to later summer depending on what type they are. Each type will flower for approximately two weeks. After flowering the leaves will continue to grow storing food in the underground tubers. The leaves will die down and the plant will be dormant over winter. It is exciting to see the new shoots sprouting in the spring and then anticipating the beautiful flowers that will develop. The peony garden is in Caroline Bay, on the Port side, behind the Trevor Griffith Rose Garden.
Flower types
Six types of flower are generally distinguished in cultivars of herbaceous peonies:
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Single: a single or double row of broad petals around stamens, carpels visible.
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Japanese: a single or double row of broad petals around somewhat broadened staminodes (steril stamens), may carry pollen along the edges, carpels visible.
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Anemone: a single or double row of broad petals around narrow incurved petal-like staminodes; fertile stamens are absent, carpels visible.
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Semi-double: a single or double row of broad petals around further broad petals intermingled with stamens.
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Bomb: a single row of broad petals around a shorter dense pompon of narrower petals.
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Double: the flower consists of many broad petals only, including those which likely are altered stamens and carpels.
