So we picked “Etched Salmon” as our Plant of the Month. Isn't she lovely?

You'd be forgiven for mistaking these blooms for the underside of a ballerina's tutu. When spring rolls around, you’ll have these Swan-Lake-ruffled-feathery-fluffs in pink, gently prancing around upside down in your garden.

Sound blooming marvelous? Well, we think so too!

“Etched Salmon” is a rare herbaceous double hybrid variety first coming into being in 1968 and registered in 1981 by Cousins and Klehm, being awarded Gold Medal as "Peony of the Year" by the American Peony Society in 2002.

Interestingly, this variety was the only one to last all six days in the heat on our stand at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019. Now that’s a tough cookie!

So let’s get the specs from toe to top on what this beauty’s all about:

Roots Fibrous, located close to the surface of the soil.

Stems Strong, each ending with a bud

Leaves Large, petiolate, medium green in a compact bush up to 80 cm high with divided foliage. Stays full until either the first frost or autumn. Resistant to wind and rain.

Buds You’ll see buds in the second year after planting and in the third and fourth year it’ll be blooming like a bomb

Blooms Silvery coral pink with a golden border around the edges. Resembles a rose in its rounded shape created by large outer guard petals protecting a bounty of smaller more delicate ones getting darker to the centre. Changes colour several times during flowering but won’t fade in the sun. Can be 16-17cm in diameter.

Aroma Delicate lemony aroma. (When will we have a scratch and sniff function on screens?)

If you’ve fallen in love and want to welcome this darling into your garden family click on the pic on the right! Autumn is the perfect time to start with one. As long as your soil is full of goodness and well drained (especially in winter) your peonies will be that gift that just keeps on giving with minimal maintenance. If you already have peonies and they didn't flower, Alec sheds some light on that here.

Although herbaceous peony stems die back in autumn and winter, don't worry that the cold has killed it off. Peonies need the cooler weather to work hard on developing flower buds to delight you with in spring.

We love seeing this change as autumn ushers in those crisp, cool mornings preparing us for the regeneration work of winter. A wide range of autumn colours can be found on herbaceous peonies. After they have changed colour, the next stage can look a bit dull as the foliage turns brown and curls up. However, this is good news for friendly insects such as ladybirds as they use the leaves to hibernate in. So leave those leaves alone for as long as possible, for ladybird’s sake.

We find it endlessly rewarding seeing the many faces of these plants as they live their lives alongside ours. And that's why we LOVE PEONIES! Because they last forever (60-100+ years) and they just keep getting better and more forgiving and giving with time!

If you'd like to get more into the nitty gritty of planting peonies in autumn we will be talking more about that later this month.

So pop back in to pick up some handy tips and ask us any questions you have!