I love tree peonies!
There are a bunch of different color assortment in Brooklyn Botanical Garden that bloom around Late May into June if I remember correctly.
I used to have yellow variety back in Korea as well.
They are huge and have this wow factor.
Commonly seen in the old Asian paintings, too.
Indeed, they have a wow factor! I'm not a big fan of masses of flowers planted together, but this garden is so beautiful that I'll make an exception. Brooklyn Botanical Garden is a great place for folks to see ume (Prunus mume), sakura (cherries), bonsai imported from Japan a LONG time ago and even a nice Japanese garden. A real jewel of a place - at least that's how I remember it since I've not been there in 35 years.
Thanks for posting!
These aren't the tree peonies that bloom in the winter also?
There seems to be dappled light for these; gives me hope that the tree peonies I transplanted will do ok at the new house. Or were these covered with shade cloth (umbrellas) to help prevent the blossoms from drying out?
And any idea what is the variegated rhododendron? (I would love one.)
Yes, the winter flowering plants are the same ones, however they are planted out from greenhouses for the most part. Such peonies are called fuyubotan, meaning "winter peony". Another type, called kanbotan ("cold season peony) are select cultivars that flower in the colder times (late fall for instance), but not truly in mid winter.
These plants grow in half sun, not quite woodland conditions. In spring they can be grown in full sun, but yes, they cover some of the flowers so the rain and sun don't destroy them too quickly.
The variegated rhodo is 'President Roosevelt', a very heat tolerant hybrid of unknown parentage. Many rhodos cannot take the blistering heat of the inner city in summer, but this one seems to hold up pretty well.
