Paeonia suffruticosa Cai Hui - Tree Peony

Paeonia suffruticosa 'Cai Hui' is a variety of tree peony that blooms in mid-season, offering beautiful double flowers in pink-lilac colour in spring. Its flowers have a crown of petals topped with a large heart of fluffy petals that reveal a beautiful bouquet of yellow stamens before fading. The base of the petals, in a darker pink colour, is a characteristic likely inherited from Paeonia rockii.  The very hardy bush is easy to grow in any good garden soil, where it will live for many years without requiring much care, after careful planting. A tree peony plant needs no description, it is simply admired, either alone or as a focal point in a shrub bed.

The 'Cai Hui' tree peony, introduced in 1973, is a descendant of Paeonia suffruticosa, native to central China. This extraordinary species, cultivated for about 1500 years in China and two centuries in Europe, has given rise to numerous cultivars with single or double flowers in various colours, except for true blue. The wild form, has never been formally identified. In contrast to so-called herbaceous peonies, Paeonia suffruticosa forms a woody structure, with sparsely branched knotty branches that persist throughout the year like those of shrubs. Its foliage is deciduous, emerging in spring and falling in autumn, often displaying beautiful colours towards the end of the season. All these plants native to the Far East are very cold-resistant. They belong to the Ranunculaceae family.

The 'Cai Hui' cultivar forms a sparsely branched bush with a rounded habit, reaching an average size of 1.20 m (4ft) in all directions under favourable growing conditions. The short, upright branches bear leaves divided into long lance-shaped leaflets, smooth, strongly veined, initially reddish when buds open, then quickly turning light green. In autumn, they turn yellow before falling. The flowering of this variety takes place for 3 weeks in April-May, in the middle of the tree peony flowering season. A 3-year-old plant will produce a single flower in the first year, but 50 flowers after 20 years of cultivation. It starts with very large solitary buds, green and round, appearing at the end of winter at the tips of new shoots and resistant to late frosts. They open into very double corollas, erect or held horizontally, measuring 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8in) in diameter. The flower colour is a lovely pink with a slight purple hue. The flower's dark red centre is filled with golden yellow stamens, very visible towards the end of flowering. 

The tree peony is not a plant for impatient gardeners. It takes its time, but years of patience are rewarded by the fabulous spectacle created by this opulent shrub laden with huge flowers in spring. In the garden, the 'Lu Mu Ying Yu' tree peony will be sumptuous when planted against a wall, at the forefront of a hedge or in a border, under tall trees, but always sheltered from winds and in a bright and airy location. Its magnificent flowers will be enhanced by those of other white, pink, or mauve peonies, clusters of mauve or white lilacs, or early-flowering China roses (Old Blush). This variety also pairs well with other perennials that bloom before or after it, such as garden irises or campanulas.