Paeonia lactiflora Adolphe Rousseau

Paeonia lactiflora Adolphe Rousseau is a very beautiful variety that bloomed faithfully in gardens of the past, providing beautiful flowers for festive tables. Surviving passing trends and the whims of time, it remains with us, always lavish, offering its large, very double flowers of a dark and rich red, almost garnet, illuminated with white and metallic tints on the periphery. With this variety the beauty of the flowers is accompanied by a light fragrance. Carried on sturdy stems, they are impeccable. Easy to grow, Chinese peonies thrive in any loose and rather moist soil, in the sun. Robust and faithful, they sometimes take a little time to establish themselves, but they grow year after year and can live for more than 50 years, outliving the one who planted them.

Chinese herbaceous peonies are mainly derived from Paeonia lactiflora, a perennial herbaceous plant native to central and eastern Asia (from eastern Tibet, northern China, to eastern Siberia), where it naturally grows in woods and meadows. This plant belongs to the family of Ranunculaceae or Paeoniaceae.

The Adolphe Rousseau variety is an old French selection dating back to 1890. The plant forms a herbaceous and bushy clump from spring onwards, moderately dense, reaching 90 cm (35in) to 1 m (3ft) in all directions. Its very large double flowers appear in May-June, earlier or later depending on the climate, lasting for about three weeks. They emerge as a large dark pink bud and then open into a skillfully disordered pompom where different shades of dark red, purple, and garnet mingle, beautifully illuminated with white highlights on the edges. The vegetation of this variety is good and it has remarkable longevity. The young purple and shiny foliage unfolds into large, dark green, deeply cut leaves. They are carried on a petiole that divides into 3, with lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate segments. The leaflets are entire or sometimes lobed. The vegetation disappears in winter, while the buds persist at ground level and develop in spring. This long-lived perennial plant grows from a large fleshy root that does not appreciate being moved.

Peonies are among those plants that form the foundations of a garden. In the past every garden, from the most modest to the most elaborate, proudly displayed clumps of peonies covered with flowers that made their way into the house, mingling in bouquets with lilacs and bluebells. Opulent and generous, beautifully scented, the Chinese peony Adolphe Rousseau settles in beds or alongside pathways, associated with timeless perennials such as dark blue irises, columbines, bellflowers, perennial geraniums, carnations, or Christmas roses. It can also be grown in the vegetable garden to supply cut flowers for the house. Growing it in a pot is not recommended, as its needs will not be met. Over time, the peony becomes majestic and blooms more and more abundantly, producing up to 60 flowers. By combining different varieties with staggered flowering times, it is possible to have flowers for 6 weeks from spring to early summer.