Is It or Isn't't?

'White Gardenia'

ProfessorRoush almost wrote the title as "Is it or Isn't It?"   Looking it up, it seems there is much debate over the use of "isn't", or "is not".  What I really mean, minus the contractions, is "Is it,?" or "is it not it?", so the use of the second "'t" seems sensible to me.   But, then, "isn't't" only saves a couple of letters and cannot be found online, so I think I've slipped the surly bonds of English and need to come back to Earth.  

'White Gardenia'

Similarly, my parsimonious nature has caused a matter of great controversy in my garden.  Three summers ago, I bought a bag of bargain peony roots (containing two roots) labeled as 'White Gardenia', a peony that I didn't have in my garden.  I suspected a scam from the outset, as big box stores seem to be prone to offering common and popular plant varieties labeled as something else, something new, and also because the store was selling another peony variety labeled 'Red Gardenia', which doesn't seem to exist.  I purchased them only after confirming that 'Gardenia' exists, the latter a 1949 introduction by Lins.  It is, by description, a very floriferous Paeonia lactiflora variety with 6+ inch blossoms of pure white and a strong Gardenia scent.

'White Gardenia'

Both my purchased specimens survived and have slowly built themselves into a nice clump, blooming just now.  However, the presence of a few red streaks on the blossoms makes me wonder, "Did I purchase two, more common 'Festiva Maxima' varieties, or the intended 'Gardenia'?  My identification woes are complicated by the fact that some online sources describe 'Gardenia' as "a fragrant, ivory-white peony cultivar with 6+ inch flowers featuring blush-pink outer petals and red-tinged tips", and by the fact that I can't distinguish the fragrance of gardenia from peony, having few, if any chances to experience a real gardenia aroma in this Zone 5 area.  I  will admit that the fragrance of these blossoms is lighter, and more pleasant, than most peonies, and that the blossoms are larger than 'Festiva Maxima'.  Online images of 'Gardenia' are also not helpful, as a few, but not most, show the red streaks similar to my specimens.

'White Gardenia' ???

I'm reasonably suspicious, however, that these are in fact, the historic 1851 'Festiva Maxima' cultivar, based on the fact that these plants lack the red stems that all online sources ascribe to 'Gardenia', and because the described pink blush is missing from all of the blossoms on both my plants.  Also, these plants are blooming at the same time as my established 'Festiva Maxima'.   Now, the question is, is my big box store source to blame, or are these two cultivars mixed up in commerce these days?

'Coral Sunset'

You are probably thinking that I shouldn't care; I should just be grateful to have two healthy peonies in my landscape.  But the "plant collector" part of me just can't let it go.   Thank God, my 'Coral Sunset' purchased in the same manner and around the same time, seems to be exactly that!

Peony Planting

'Coral Sunset'

I don't know about the rest of youse, but ProfessorRoush, he is off in the world planting peonies today. A late "backorder" from John Scheepers came in this week, and today I must, I must, I just MUST, get these into the ground alongside the Orientpets and other bulbs from that establishment that I received and planted some weeks ago. 

 That darned Scheeper's catalogue, along with its sister site, Van Engelen Inc., are becoming a major drain on my annual planting budget as my gardening focus turns towards low-maintenance plantings.   I already planted a number of new daylilies this fall and the Orientpets that I'm fascinated with often come along with a few other miscellaneous bulbs that catch my eye in the catalogs.  I'd forgotten, however, that I'd ordered 4 new peonies from Scheepers.  Today, I'm planting 'Raspberry Sundae' (a peony I've long coveted but it struggles here), 'Sorbet' (my previous start purchased at a big-box store is, in reality, likely a common 'Sarah Bernhardt'), and two roots of 'Joker', the latter an irresistible pink-edged white double peony that caught my eye as I viewed the catalogue offerings.  Hopefully, next Spring I'll be showing those off to you!

Today, however, the peony of focus today is one I planted just last year, blooming for the first time in my garden.  The photographed peony on this page is 'Coral Sunset', an early bloomer that captures the sunny disposition of May in Kansas and gifts it back to the gardener.   I've wanted this 1965 Wisser introduction  since I saw it on a slide in a lecture Roy Klehm gave at the National Botanical Garden in 2008, and I finally planted a labeled specimen last year.  It was healthy this year for me, and produced 5 or 6 of these beautiful blooms that perfectly color-complimented the potted pink Pelargonium behind it.  'Coral Sunset' received an APS Gold Medal Award in 2003.   

If they are not in bloom and you can't confirm the variety visually, there are really only two ways to buy plants that you covet.  First, purchase a known start from a trusted local or online nursery and hold them accountable for its identity.  That's the smart way to spend your money.  Alternatively, you can purchase a bargain plant whose name you vaguely recognize from a big-box store and hope and pray to the gardening gods that it is not mislabeled.  Sometimes, the latter works out as it did the year I purchased my 'Lillian Gibson' rose from Home Depot.  Often, it doesn't.  I can't tell you how many peony roots I've purchased that were labeled as something I wanted but turned out to be just one more 'Sarah Bernhardt' bomb.  However, two years ago, I purchased a container of two peony roots labeled as 'Coral Sunset' and, looking at the picture to the right as one of them first bloomed this summer in my south-facing back bed, they just may be 'Coral Sunset' or its nearly identical but taller older sister, 'Coral Charm'.    Wouldn't it be something if I have three of these gorgeous coral creatures already?