Description
There is a bit of a story here, so you might want to grab a coffee and find a chair. I will describe a series of points, one by one.
∗ The plants under discussion here derive from P.mlokosewitschii as the seed parent but they are not our usual P.mlokosewitschii stock. Instead they have come from just one (previously unreleased) raising from Jim Archibald’s seed of 2006 described by Jim as “747.111 : Paeonia mlokosewitschii No data. Hand-pollinated German-grown seed from Hermann Fuchs”. On flowering the resulting plants have proven not to be yellow and on further examination they are clearly not classic P. mlokosewitschii. They are however magnificent, colour-changing white- and (largely) pink-flowered plants.
∗ We do realise that the newest treatment of Paeonia makes it clear that P. mlokosewitschii is naturally a species which comprises both pink- and (rarer) yellow-flowered individuals. However if our plants were just yellow and pink forms of P.mlokosewitschii then it seems reasonable to expect the different colour forms to have more or less the same sized flowers and this has been the experience of ourselves and others from documented wild seed of Paeonia species generally. This is far from the case with the class of 2006.
∗ Firstly the flowers from the 2006 raising are larger than P.mlokosewitschii , they are fabulous flowers but not only are they not the expected yellow, there were in fact no yellows in this entire raising; they are all white to pink. The centres are a darker pink in many and the size of the pink centre does vary a little, but after a day or two the white of the paler blooms darkens gradually until al of the siblings are pale- to darker-pink throughout. (please check the dates on our pictures to see this). There is variation, so not all plants from this one raising are the same as each other – they vary. Please don’t be annoyed if they don’t exactly match the pictures, we can tell you now that they are variable and are NOT all the same, though they are all within the same colour frame. The foliage is very like P.mlokosewitschii, though it is perhaps a touch less glaucous and a little more inclined to green. You need to see P.mlokosewitschii next to them, to discern much difference in the appearance of the leaves though the vigour of the two is about the same.
∗ The flowers consistently open a few days to a week after P.mlokosewitschii. With no disrespect to either Jim or Hermann, somewhere along the line bees seem to have become involved or perhaps Mum was already a wild hybrid with other genes secretly present. No matter what, it is certain and documented that. P.mlokosewitschii is most clearly the seed parent but at this stage we can only guess as to Dad. There are only a few species out at the same time and Paeonia caucasica or P. kavachensis would be my best bets.
∗ Many years ago another Paeonia hybrid was named and this was P. Chameleon. The original description (for it was validly published, botanically) defines it as a natural hybrid between P. caucasica (pink) and P.wittmanniana (creamy white/primrose). It has been widely assumed in cultivation that Chameleon was a mlokosewitschii hybrid, that is incorrect, it was not involved and such usage of that name is wrong. The original description makes it crystal clear that P.mlokosewitschii was never, ever, a part of the hybrid name and thus this raising cannot be Chameleon and cannot be called this, even though the flowers do change colour. We have chosen the name Karma instead, to distinguish it.
This was a first time offering listed in October 2016. The offerings since are divisions of the original raisings and not seedlings. A magnificent and vigorous P.mlokosewitschii hybrid which does superbly well in the garden in full sun and blooms profusely in rich soil.
