The early peonies are coming out of the soil by now. Below is a current image of a very early hybrid which I intend to register with the American Peony Society (APS) this year. To do that, one must give a good description of the plant, so I’ll be taking a lot of pictures of this one. It’s grown from seed (as are (nearly) all new peony varieties of course) that came in a batch named ‘P. caucasica’. That species is currently known as P. daurica ssp coriifolia and hails from the Caucasus (Georgia and surrounding areas), so I do prefer the former name. All seeds that grew into mature plants looked more or less the same, but this one was conspicuously different from all others in that its’ foliage was much more divided and better looking. Many other species grow in the garden of Will McLewin from whom I’ve obtained these seeds, thus it is quite likely a so-called ‘garden hybrid’, although I’ve no idea as to what the father may be. It flowers at the same time and approaches the same height. It’s by far the earliest flowering peony I have and very healthy. I think it worthy of introduction because of this earliness and otherwise good qualities. I don’t have a name for it yet, I refer to it as ‘ECH’ (for ‘Early Caucasian Hybrid’) but surely that is not fitting. Any suggestions to name it properly are welcome, preferably with some reference to it’s earliness or to the location where P. caucasica grows naturally. I’ll be posting photos of these plants from time to time so anyone can see for themselves if this is a worthy introduction into the peony world. I’ve divided it a few times and now have about a dozen plants of it, I’m growing more fond of it every year as it never disappointed me before.
