Plants in cultivation are given identifiers, which in most cases are names but can also be coded numbers. The objective is a unique name or epithet for each cultivar so that confusion between vendors and consumers, whether they e large agricultural businesses or backyard gardeners, is eliminated. When you order ‘Red Charm’ you should get ‘Red Charm’ no matter from where in the world you order it. A system such as this needs someone to control and oversee it, and so the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS)appoints International Cultivar Registration Authorities (ICRA) to be responsible for any given plant group in cultivation. The American Peony Society is the ICRA for cultivated peonies. Their website (http://www.americanpeonysociety.org/) has a Cultivar Registration page where more information can be found. Available is a down loadable Registration Form and a document which explains most of the items asked for in the registration form. Peony names already in use and therefore normally not available can be found in the Peony Checklist. The International Registrar for peonies can be contacted at nameregistration@americanpeonysociety.org Essential in the registration process is that you must have a cultivar. A single plant is not a cultivar, no matter how pretty or worthy it is. You must first propagate it by appropriate means (in the case of peonies, by vegetative means) so that you have a number of identical plants that are shown to retain the desirable characteristics for which it was chosen. A cultivar, a unique name, the completed registration form, photos showing plant and flower, and US$20.00 are the basic requirements for name registration. Don’t worry too much about all the details (which are found in the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants). The registrar will ask for any important information you may have missed. (Reiner Jakubowski)

Yes and no… Young plants take time to mature and they often produce flowers that are not the same form or colour as those seen on mature plants of the same v variety. As the plant matures however the flower form and colour stabilizes. Weather can also affect to some extent flower colour, especially the lighter coloured flowers. A cool damp spring seems to make the whites a little less brilliant and any pink tinges become more accentuated. Can a white peony become a red peony? I don’t believe so. Judging by the number of times I get asked this question though, some people are seeing red flowers where white ones used to grow and vice versa. One possible explanation for such a radical change is that a peony seed has germinated on top of the original plant and over time has taken over the location. The flowers that the owner now sees are those of a different plant growing where the old plant once stood. (Lindsay D’Aoust)

There is no quick way to tell if the seeds are still viable so you just proceed as if they were. I always handle seeds the same way regardless of where they come from or how long they’ve been lying around. First I wash them with soapy water, then soak them in a solution of one part bleach, 9 parts water. After rinsing them well, I soak them in water, sometimes up to a week, but change the water at least once a day. This lets the seeds take up moisture. Seeds that sink are considered okay, those that remain floating are probably hollow and if that’s the case, they won’t grow. Once you start his process, you have to be prepared to continue it through the germination because what you’ve done is stimulated the seed to begin growth. After the seeds are soaked, I put them into barely damp vermiculite in a sealed bag. Milled peat moss works too. Place them in a warm place, such as on top of the refridgerator, above the water heater in the basement, or any place where they will be warm. After a week, some may be mouldy. Throw those seeds out before the mould spreads to the others. Keep checking and remove any others that become mouldy. So, now you know which ones aren’t viable, but I don’t know how you could predict that otherwise. Some seeds are so shriveled up that it’s a pretty good guess that they’ll never grow, but I have sometimes been surprised. (Reiner Jakubowski)

Ants do not affect the bloom or performance of your peonies. They are attracted to the sap excreted from the bud. Once the bloom opens you will find fewer ants. Before bringing a cut bloom in hang your bloom upside down and give it a light shake to remove any unwanted hitchhikers. (Margaret Sequeira)

When you see stems with foliage noticeably different from the tree peony’s foliage, this indicates that stems are growing from the nurse root onto which the tree peony was grafted. This happens for a couple of reasons. The nurse root may have come from a plant that has the ability to grow stems from a piece of root, or there was some crown material left on the nurse root from which stems can eventually grow. In both cases, the herbaceous stems will draw energy from the nurse root and chances are good that you will eventually lose the tree peony. The herbaceous stems should be cut off as you see them appear, but a better solution is to dig the plant in the fall and remove the nurse root entirely, provided that the tree peony has grown its own roots. (Reiner Jakubowski)

Likely the buds have been damaged by frost or a fungal infection. What you describe is often called bud blast. It can be caused by environmental conditions at a critical stage of development such as frost or drought. It can also be caused by a fungal attack, usually during cold wet periods. In these cases the problem is unlikely to be repeated the following year and the plant will likely continue to thrive. If the problem happens next year you might also suspect a nutritional problem, likely not enough potassium, too much shade or that the plant is planted too deeply. All of these are correctable by either adding fertilizer or moving the plant to a more suitable location in the case of shade or planting too deeply. Bud blast often occurs in newly planted peonies. Peonies form their buds in t he fall. If a plant is divided and replanted in the fall (as it should be) the previously formed buds will continue their growth in the spring on a much-reduced root system. Often the newly divided plant does not have the “strength” to fully develop all the buds and they just dry up. As the plant matures this problem disappears. (Lindsay D’Aoust)

Plant a containerized peony as soon as you can get it into the ground. If it is a herbaceous peony, try to disturb the soil around the root system as little as possible. If the crown tissue is not exposed, plant it such that you maintain the same level in the soil. If, however, the root was too shallowly planted in the original container leaving the woody crown exposed, reposition the plant an inch or so below the soil surface such that the exposed crown is covered with an inch or so of soil. Tree peonies are planted at the correct level. Yours will likely need to be repositioned. Carefully shake off the soil from the roots to see the graft point. Replant the peony with the graft point 10cm below the soil line, 15cm would be even better. Tree peonies are usually grafted onto sections of herbaceous root. This herbaceous root sustains the tree peony only for a few years. The tree peony needs to grow its own roots so tree peony wood must in contact with the soil. When buying a containerized peony from a garden centre, ask when it was planted i.e. last fall or within the last few months. A peony potted up in the fall is a better option than one potted up in late winter, early spring. Though containers are not ideal growing environments for the bulky roots of peonies, at least those potted up in the fall have had the opportunity to put out some feeder roots. This is not the case for those peonies potted up in late winter, early spring. Summer can be tough time for a peony that has not had the benefit of fall root growth. Peonies being the tough plants they are however, will usually recover. They have suffered a set back though and will likely not establish as quickly as those planted in the fall. In areas where the falls are very rainy and the summers cool, some gardeners have success with spring planting. It is however a trade off between two evils; very wet falls that can cause rot in young plants and facing summer with few new feeder roots. If the summer is cool the lack of feeder roots is less of a problem. (Lindsay D’Aoust)