Common name: (but rarely used) Anomalous Peony (but I don't know what about it makes it anomalous!).
A nice, relatively low-growing herbaceous peony, hardy to USDA Zone 3 at least and very likely much colder, and over several years has shown that it is suitable for the wetter east coast climate as well. At this point we don't have any first hand knowledge of its suitability to the warmer west coast. It's been an easy and Low Maintenance plant for me, responding well to neglect. Sturdy stems of upright habit; height: to 2' or a bit taller in cultivation. It has a slowly creeping rootstock.
Native to a vast area of Europe and Asia, from Russia in the NW Kola peninsula
on the Arctic Ocean through the Urals and into Central Asia in the Altai
Mountains, Mongolia, N China, and the Western Gobi Desert. Its natural
habitat is in coniferous woods, dry grasslands, rocky hillsides, amongst
shrubs. It has been naturalized into Finland as the heritage peony of
farms there. Should be the hardiest of species, and has the widest natural
range. Unfortunately I don't know the geographic origins of my mature
plants.
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How to Grow:
Light required: Sun to partial shade; P. anomala is more shade tolerant than the garden peonies of P. lactiflora extraction, and it does nicely for me along the margins of woodland clearings although it certainly flowers better in more direct sun.
Soil: does well for me in a good loam* with reliable moisture and good drainage especially in winter and also in sites where tree root competition results in a rather dry soil; in drier climates than the east coast it will probably be happy in clay: thus, the same soil composition which works well for your normal garden peonies**. Grows and flowers adequately in a moderately fertile soil, but benefits from a top-dressing of compost each fall. It has few pests and is seldom bothered by disease. P. anomala was untouched by botrytis which affected several of my garden cultivars and hybrids during the cool wet summer of 2000.
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Foliage: is very attractive, moreso in some forms. A bit open in
density; mid- to dark green; and of fine texture. The leaves are divided
into pointed segments and sub-segments, which are somewhat fine compared
to the garden peonies, but much more coarse on my plants than P. tenuifolia.
Red buds form just above the surface of the ground in autumn; it's not
uncommon here for the actual crown tissue to be a smidgen above ground
and the growth buds protruding over an inch. Growth commences quite early
in spring. The red colouration quickly fades to an olive tint and is virtually
indistinguishable from P. veitchii at this stage. The foliage maintains
a great appearance right up to the first frost and in some years takes
on a pale yellowish straw colour in fall. The stalks of some plants may
have a reddish tone.
Paeonia anomala in bud
Paeonia anomala
Paeonia anomala fall foliage
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Flowers: are about 3" in diameter, single, with 5 to 10 petals
in a rosy shade of pink, with a cluster of yellow anthers around the centre
of 2 to 4 green hairy carpels (ovaries). Semi-cupped and sort-of blousey,
and of a silk-like visual texture and sheen. Quite lovely in their simplicity
and upward-facing habit. I haven't noted any fragrance from the flowers.
This species does not form sidebuds in the conventional wisdom but they
have been seen to do so when conditions are right in garden plantings.
This species is one of the earliest to bloom, being just ahead of P. tenuifolia
here, and in my garden is about 3 weeks ahead of the majority of the garden
peonies. During 2000, my first anomala blossomed on 28 May. After flowering,
the developing carpels are mostly hairy and turn brown when seed is ripe.
The seeds are large and black, definitely ornamental if allowed to stay
on the plant.
Paeonia anomala
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Forms and subspecies: Its wide distribution and consequent geographic
variability of form have led to problems of nomenclature, with several
subspecies being considered by some botanists to be separate species,
and vice versa. (Of immediate and current interest the Chinese authors
of the recent Flora of China, which is being translated at the Harvard
University website, have decided that Paeonia veitchii should be
considered P anomala subspecies veitchii! No doubt this
debate will be ongoing, but to my eye there are more similarities than
differences).
The form of anomala usually seen in photos in books has single bright
magenta flowers at the tips of unbranched stems, and finely divided foliage.
In fact the flower colour can range from deep magenta through most shades
of pink and there is a white-flowered variant. The leaf segments can range
from very narrow in some forms to much wider, anywhere from about 1/5th
of an inch to an inch, whereas leaf segment width in P. tenuifolia
can be up to about 1/5th of an inch (but measuring this width is a futile
way to try and identify which species a borderline plant falls into!).
My seed-grown plants were rather different from the book photos and caused
me a bit of a treasure hunt before I could be certain of what they were.
Information and descriptions above are based on the plants I am growing.
P. anomala has been used in hybridizing and has resulted in a few fine
hybrid cultivars such as 'Night Watch'
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.
Garden uses: the flowers are popular with bees of all types. Plants
are of a size suitable for Rock Gardens of appropriate scale as well as
more traditional perennial border plantings, where they can serve well
in front of the taller and later-blooming garden peonies. Their tolerance
to some shade makes them suitable to interplant among larger shrubs or
in woodland clearings. They'd make a fine low herbaceous hedge, and would
go nicely in a wildflower meadow. Plant them anywhere that a good reliable
foliage effect is wanted; the forms with the finer leaf divisions would
be even more wonderful in the landscape. The flowers are suitable for
cut flower arrangements, although not as much so as the garden peonies,
but the season is earlier.
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Similar species: Paeonia veitchii, intermedia and
biebersteiniana are at first glance very similar to some forms
of anomala. Differences between my plants of anomala and veitchii as seen
by a horticultural eye:
1. In the flower there is a different texture to veitchii, more silky
and less tissue-papery. This is visible as a bit of a sheen and a bit
of wrinkling.
2. In the leaf there is also a textural difference, especially with those
veitchii's with the "engraved" upper surface, anomala being
a bit more leathery and a bit darker. P. anomala is supposed to have tiny
hairs on the veins on the underside of the leaves but that goes beyond
eyeball significance. Of course in the finer-leafed forms of anomala one
need look no further as far as identification goes!
3. P. veitchii gets side-buds as a rule and thus a longer bloom period;
but anomala might if conditions suit.
4. Carpels or seed pods are smooth on veitchii and on some plants take
on a nice rosy hue, distinctly hairy and drab on anomala. Seeds of anomala
are shiny black, veitchii blue-ish and larger although the seed darkens
to near black with storage.
5. Flowers of veitchii are distinctly nodding, of anomala more upward-facing.
6. anomala when left to itself for a while seems to prefer its buds at
or even slightly above the ground, notwithstanding the winters! At least
that is the case here.
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* Loam: in horticulture, a
specific soil composition consisting of roughly equal parts of sand, silt
and clay; organic content is not relevant to this definition.
** Garden Peonies: I use this to mean collectively the named cultivars
of P. lactiflora
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Leo Smit
Mt. Uniacke, Nova Scotia
Chair
Species Group of the Canadian Peony Society
Species photos by Leo Smit