Those are very nice pictures. Blooms look big! Are they fragrant? I have read that tree peony blooms are not as fragrant as herbaceous, in fact that some of them have no scent at all, especially the reds. Is it true?

None of our tps have much scent, but fragrance is very subjective. Gusrdian of Monastery is a favorite this year: huge semi=double lavendar with purple centers. No tp blooms have been brought into house, as most are used for propagation.

My wife picks tree peony blooms throughout the bloom season. Always leave a leaf with a bud in the axis on the current year's growth so you will get continued growth from that stem next year.

She also takes a blossom to work with her and enjoys it on her desk. This gets a lot of interest in tree peonies started. A lot of people that my wife works with now have tree peonies in their gardens.

Leon

This particular tree peony does have a fragrance, and I think it smells nice. The 1st couple days I could walk out my backdoor and smell it.

I just measured the blooms and they are about 8" wide and 5" in height. They are very full blooms, so yes, they look huge. I think the size of the blooms is one of the most impressive things about them.

For those of you who have not tried tree peony grafting you certain should. Fall before last I received scions from a couple of friends that grow many tree peonies that I don't have. This spring, only a year and a half later most of these tree peonies bloomed. Below is a bloom of Zeus(Nassos Daphnis, 1980). This plant is only 8 inches tall and had a bloom that was probably 8 inches across. This is a beautiful bloom. I think I did 12 grafts of Zeus but only 7 plants survived. Five of those plants bloomed this spring.

Shimano-Fuji has blooms similar to Kamata Nishii with a more upright growth if you are looking for something similar. I grow both of mine in shade vis Peonyman who grows in sun.

Nice pictures Leon.

Wow, I have to agree...Leon's Kamata Nishiki looks awesome! Thanks for sharing. I'd been wondering whether or not I should get that particular one, and this solidifies my answer. I've seen it in some catalogs, but maybe it will be available at the HPS Fall Sale.

Beautiful, just beautiful. :)

When will the HPS Fall Sale be?

We are still finalizing the date for our fall sale and we will soon get orders together for the sale. The sale generally falls between October 1st and October 15th.

Kamata Nishiki is a cultivar that generally appears in the sale. But there are other cultivars that are just as exciting. I have a bed of tree peonies that has several example of the Japanese tapestry peonies. These are Japanese tree peonies that have the word Nishiki as part of the name. One of my favorites is Kokuryu Nishiki. The flower is very dark red and every petal is edged in white. The reverse of the outer petals has a white flare.

If Tickertoo and Houdinii come to the sale that will be a group of at least 5 from this Gardenweb group that will be there. Maybe we could have a Gardenweb peony group conference while everyone is around. It would be good to meet some of the people we have been conversing with for the past few years.

Anyone else thinking about coming to Kansas City for the peony meeting/plant sale. If so I strongly suggest you join the club as a member. Then you can attend the Friday night events also which include a pot luck meal and an auction of choice items. Even if you aren't into biding on extremely high priced choice peonies you will enjoy watching the auction. It truly gets insane; even the best and closest of friends become cut-throat during the auction when they are vying for the same peony.

I realize at $5/year for a family membership in USA, the cost is high but the rewards are well worth it. The membership also gives you the newsletters that are sent to members.

WAW...peonyman, that is gorgeous!!! I'm in love.

I just purchased my first Japanese Tree Peony "Purple" and I am excited to see it bloom, it's not in the ground yet, but I have one lonely bud on it.

I realize this is a very old post...but I just came across it and now covet that Kokuryu Nishiki, but I can't find anyone to buy it from. Can anyone please help? I also buy from private gardens if any of you know of anyone who might be interested in selling tree peonies, either the Kokuryu Nishiki or a different kind? Thank in advance for any help that you can provide! :)

Just type tree peonies in your search engine and press enter. There are several vendors that sell tree peonies, Songsparrow, Adelman's, etc. A suggestion on Japanese tree peonies when searching is to either hyphenate or make the name as one word. I know you mentioned buying from private gardens but you are unlikely to find plants but may find someone that will send you cuttings, called scions, to graft onto herbaceous peony roots.

Princeton, Kokuryu Nishiki is for sale at Cricket Hill Peony, Link:

https://www.treepeony.com/collections/tree-peonies/products/black-dragon-brocade-japanese-tree-peony-1

It is on sale today: 10% off

Thanks so much!

I'm wondering if anyone who has experience with Kokuryu Nishiki might help answer something for me. The pictures that I saw made me covet this tree peony because the pictures showed blooms that were really dramatic (almost like a flame parrot tulip). See pics 1 & 2 which are from Kelways (UK) & of course, Peonyman's Kokuryu Nishiki picture earlier in this thread is just stunning.

I was so excited to find one here in the US, so went immediately to Cricket Hill's website, but their Kokuryu Nishiki looks mostly red with a very subtle white veining (see pics 3 & 4). Do you think different vendors have different variations in their striping? Or is it a random thing? Or an age of the tree peony itself? ???

I really, really want one that has the dramatic striping like the Kelways pictures.

Any of your thoughts/advice would be much appreciated.

Kelways:

Pic 1:

Pic 2:

Cricket Hill:

Pic 3:

Pic 4:

All of the tree peonies with part of the word being Nishiki have variable flower colors even on the same plant. Each year will be different so looking for any plant with flowers that look exactly like a sellers picture only means that the flowers on that tree peony looked like that on the year the picture was taken. If you demand a plant with flowers exactly like a picture I would advise that you look for one that is a solid color. Mother Nature does what she wants not what we want.