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The History of Peonies
Few plants can boast such a past ...
Peonies have a long and varied history in both the eastern and western worlds. People have used peonies as food and medicine as well as sources of inspiration for their artwork and in their gardens.
These pages by no means present the whole story. If some aspect of peony history catches your fancy, check out the Learn More page to find a list of additional peony resources.
Peonies in Medicine
Arguably the first use of peonies by people was for their medicinal value. There is evidence that peonies were used extensively in both the Far East and Europe as long as two thousand years ago. Many parts of the plant are purported to have medicinal properties. Roots, bark, seeds and flowers were all believed to be of some medicinal use.
In texts describing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) three peony preparations are well known. The first is Mu Dan Pi, which is made from the bark of tree peonies, and is said to cool the blood as well as have antibacterial properties. Chi Shao Yao is made from the root of the herbaceous peony P. lactiflora and is also said to cool the blood and relieve pain. Bai Shao Yao is made from the same roots but with the bark removed and is said to nourish the blood.
Where as peonies have been used continually in medicine in the eastern world, the same can not be said of the western world. Peonies were used during medieval times. However their popularity subsequently declined and until recently little was heard of the medicinal properties of peonies.
During the middle ages in Europe only two peonies were widely used P. officinalis and P. mascula (know respectively as the female and male peony). Their uses included everything from childbirth to the warding off of evil spirits. Peonies were said to be recommended to cure gall stones, control epileptic seizures, soothe teething pain and cure jaundice.
Peony seeds have been swallowed whole to prevent bad dreams or used in a poultice to relieve stomach aches. Flower petals have been dried and used to make a tea that was reputed to soothe a cough. They were considered a panacea. In the middle ages there where not many ailments that peonies were not thought to soothe!
Today a number of medical researchers throughout the world are isolating compounds in peonies and evaluating their medical potential. The available research suggests that there are numerous useful compounds found in peonies and it is possible to project that in time researchers will be using compounds found in peony to create modern drugs to treat some of our more serious diseases.
The peonies grown for medicinal use today come almost exclusively from China, Korea and Taiwan. It is the root that is harvested of both herbaceous and tree peonies. Most of the peonies harvested have been grown for that purpose, though some peonies are still taken from the wild. Research is underway to improve the yields obtainable and to increase the concentration of desired compounds.
Peonies in Art
The beauty of the peony flower has long inspired artists in both the eastern and western parts of the world. Prior to the seventeenth century however it was the artists of China and Japan who incorporated images of the peony into their work.
The peony is practically the national flower of China and is often referred to in poetry and literature. Peonies are one of the main motifs of Chinese decorative arts and can be found on porcelains, in woodblock and screen paintings as well as embroidered onto tapestries and clothing.
Both tree peonies and herbaceous peonies were introduced into Japan at the beginning of the eighth century. The Japanese quickly began incorporating images of the peony into their paintings, porcelains and tapestries. The peony was also the subject of many poems and frequently figured in Japanese literature. Today the peony is still a very popular theme in Japanese art.
The peony came to the art of the western world much later and never attained the same level of use as in China and Japan. However when the tree peony and P. lactiflora began to gain popularity in Europe during the end of the 18th and during the 19th century artists began to paint them. Such great artists as Renoir and Fantin-Latour painted peonies. Today peonies are popular subjects for many amateur and professional artists.
Peonies in Ornamental Horticulture
| China | Japan | Europe | N. America |
Peonies have had a long and illustrious history in medicine and art. It is however their history in the gardens and parks of the world that is the most fascinating. The peony has had a distinct history in each of China, Japan, Europe and North America.
It is impossible to reflect what is several centuries of history in just a few paragraphs. The following text however attempts to establish the time line of peony cultivation in four major areas of the world and describes some of the most significant events in the ornamental history of the peony.
China
Perhaps the best place to begin the story of peonies in the garden is in China. Peonies were known in China as far back as perhaps 1000 BCE. It was not however until the seventh century, during the reign of the Emperor Yang (605-617) of the Sui dynasty, that peonies were thought to have been grown as ornamental plants.
During the T'ang dynasty that followed (618-906) peonies supposedly became very popular in the imperial gardens and they were put under imperial protection. The best varieties commanded huge prices and peonies were often part of a dowry settlement.
During the Sung dynasty, which began at the end of the tenth century, peonies had spread throughout China and the Sung capital of Louyang became a centre for peony culture. Today Louyang is still recognized as a centre for peony culture. Each year in April Louyang holds a festival to celebrate the peony.
As new dynasties began and emperors moved their courts, peonies were also moved, adding to the widespread cultivation of peonies throughout China.
During the Ch'ing dynasty of 1644 to 1911 the city of Caozhou like Louyang, became a centre for peony culture. Today this city is known as HeZe and is recognized as the other major peony centre in China. Like Louyang, HeZe holds an International Peony Fair each year in April.
Chinese horticulturists were the first peony breeders and their work lead to the introduction of many huge, double flowered tree and herbaceous peonies. It is believed that during the twelfth century, Chinese horticulturist began using grafting techniques to reproduce valued cultivars.
In HeZe and Luoyang alone there are more than 800 hectares dedicated to peony production. HeZe possesses a state funded research facility dedicated to research into peony.
Japan
At the beginning of the eighth century when peonies reached Japan, Japanese horticulturists began to work with them. The Japanese simplified the flowers. They produced lighter, less complicated flower heads.
Many Japanese herbaceous peonies have a rounded centre made of small petals with wider petals surrounding the centre. This form of flower is referred to as the Japanese form. Our catalogue lists several peonies of Japanese form.
In 1948 Toichi Itoh of Tokyo succeeded in making an intersectional cross. He crossed the tree peony P. x suffruticosa var. 'Alice Harding' with the herbaceous peony 'Kakoden'. Of the resulting 36 seedlings, six were considered outstanding. They were the first peonies of herbaceous character to have deep yellow, almost double flowers.
The American Peony Society now has a show category for Itoh hybrids and other breeders have since made successful intersectional crosses.
Japan is a major producer of peonies with most of the production taking place in one of six regions. Individual growers rarely sell directly, rather they sell to large cooperatives that in turn market the plants. The growers specialize in either tree or herbaceous peonies but rarely both.
Japanese growers are noted for their skill in grafting and a large percentage of the world's tree peony production comes from Japan.
Europe
As in the eastern world, peonies were originally cultivated in Europe for their medicinal value. It was not until much later in history that peonies began to be grown in Europe solely for their ornamental qualities.
Initially European gardens included only herbaceous species. It was not until 1789 that the first tree peony came to Europe. Sir Joseph Banks of Kew gardens, having heard of these peonies from earlier travelers to the orient, had commissioned a doctor with the British East India Company to purchase and bring back a tree peony to England. The plant was brought to England by Dr. Duncan and subsequently planted at Kew Gardens.
Obtaining subsequent plants from China proved difficult and it was not until the 1860's that tree peonies became generally available from European nurseries.
Chinese tree peonies were popular until the late 1800's by which time Europeans had discovered Japanese tree peonies. The lighter, more upright blooming habit of the Japanese tree peonies was generally preferred to the heavy double blooms of the Chinese peonies.
Still today many of the tree peonies available in Europe are imported from Japan or China.
In the late 1800's, early 1900's, European plant breeders used the plants from China and Japan to establish their own breeding programs. It is interesting to note however that many Chinese and Japanese tree peonies became known by European names and are often thought of as European introductions.
A major breakthrough in the breeding of tree peonies occurred when the French peony breeder Louis Henry succeeded in crossing P x suffruticosa and P. lutea to create the first yellow hybrid tree peonies ' Mme Louis Henry' and 'Souvenir de Maxime Cornu'. Victor and Émile Lemoine introduced other peonies from the same cross shortly afterwards.
French breeders such as Lemon, Calot, Crousse, Dessert, Méchin and Lemoine worked with P. lactiflora in the later part of the 1800's to produce numerous varieties that are still popular in commerce today.
Though the French breeders were responsible for the majority of new introductions in the 1800's and early 1900's, Kelway and Son nursery in England had introduced nearly 300 peonies by the turn of the 19th century. Kelway's was reputed to have made a perfume in the 1930's. It was made of peony petals and called "Paeony Valley".
Herbaceous peony breeding work in Europe was for the most part done with P. lactiflora . Some herbaceous hybrids however were created. Varieties such as Le Printemps, and Avant Garde by Lemoine can still be found in commerce today.
The popularity of peonies in Europe declined in the earlier parts of this century, particularly in England. Today however, peonies are undergoing a resurgence of popularity throughout Europe.
North America
Peonies in North America have been grown for their ornamental, rather than medicinal, value. Though two species of peony are native to the western United States, European settlers brought ornamental herbaceous peonies to North America. These hardy plants were grown in pioneer gardens.
With the arrival of the Chinese peonies (P. lactiflora ) in North America during the 1830's the popularity of peonies began to grow. By the 1850's numerous American nurseries began offering new varieties of herbaceous peonies.
Nomenclature became a problem in the peony nursery trade. Unscrupulous growers put previously unknown seedlings on the market using well known names. Consumers had little confidence that what they were purchasing was indeed what it was stated to be.
In 1902 Mr. Charles Willis Ward, then President of the Cottage Gardens Nursery Company, sent out a letter to peony growers throughout the United States. The following is an except of this letter.
My Dear Sir:
Referring to the unsatisfactory condition in which the nomenclature of the peony now is, I write to ask you if you would cooperate in the formation of an association for the purpose of advancing the public interest in the peony, and especially straightening out peony nomenclature.
Under existing conditions, when one orders a peony under name, a useless mixture of sorts under various names is often received. During the past year, peonies purchased under name from six to eight reputable firms, with few exceptions, proved either mixtures or untrue when the roots came into flower. …
...The nurserymen of Holland, recognizing the hopeless mixture into which their stock of peonies have been allowed to lapse, have undertaken annual peony exhibitions for the purpose of correcting the nomenclature, they hold exhibits at several points throughout Holland and, I am told, are making strenuous efforts to get matters in proper shape. …
…There is no reason why some such advance cannot be made in the case of the peony…
This letter resulted in the creation of the American Peony Society in 1904. One of the first major undertakings of the American Peony Society (APS) was a project with Cornell University to study as many of the peonies in commerce as possible in an attempt to clarify the nomenclature. As many as twenty six hundred named peonies were grown.
Over a period of several years members of the APS nomenclature committee and horticulturists from the University of Cornell studied the collection and compiled a list of about 500 distinct, varieties of merit. This work helped remove much of the confusion surrounding the nomenclature of commercially available peonies throughout the western world.
The APS is still a thriving organization today with members from around the world. It is the official repository for peony registrations. The organization holds an exhibition and show each year and publishes an informative quarterly bulletin.
The APS provided a forum for American peony breeders to exchange information and publicize their achievements.
Until the early 20th century peony breeding in the western world was mainly the domain of the French horticulturists working with P. lactiflora . However after the First World War, American plant breeders began to make significant contributions to the world of the peony.
Initial American work was adding to the European, Japanese and Chinese work with P. lactiflora . However American breeders have made huge strides in the raising of hybrid peonies.
Perhaps the most prolific and well known peony breeder in North America was Professor Arthur P. Saunders. Born in Canada, he became a chemistry professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York and an early member of the APS.
In 1917 Professor Saunders began to work systematically on species hybrids. He crossed many species peonies with P. lactiflora and developed some of the most beautiful peonies in the world today. Our peony catalogue this year offers several of Professor Saunders' introductions. (Catalogue)
Professor Saunders however was not alone in his work on peonies. There were many other nurserymen and amateurs pursuing breeding programs in the first 75 years of the twentieth century.
People like the Klehm family, Lyman Glasscock, William Krekler, Edward Auten, Myron Bigger, William Bockstoce, Archie Brand, the Wilds, Robert Tischler, David Reath and William Gratwick. Our peony catalogue lists several introductions made by these breeders. (Catalogue)
There seems to have been fewer people at work on peonies during the last 25 years however people like Don Hollingsworth and Roger Anderson continue to pursue breeding programs that have resulted in recent notable introductions.
Peonies and peony breeding seems to be going through a resurgence of interest and more and more people are becoming interested in breeding new plants.
In January 1998 the Canadian Peony Society (CPS) was created to promote the use of peony in Canada. The Canadian Peony Society produces a quarterly bulletin dedicated to sharing the experiences of Canadian peony enthusiasts and coordinates an annual National Peony Show in June. You can find out more about the CPS on our Learn More page
email: .
phone: 450.458.2759 fax: 450.458.0253
La Pivoinerie D'Aoust,
P.O. Box 220, Hudson Heights,
QC J0P 1J0, Canada