American lutea hybrid peonies or ‘Moutan’ peonies are a hybrid between Paeonia lutea, Paeonia delvayi and the Japanese Paeonia suffruticosa.
It was the French who first started this course of hybridisation, however it was in America that hybrids with stronger stems were developed.
These are a tree peony, and they are often sold with french names such as ‘Madame Louis Henry’, ‘Souvenir du Prof. Maxime Cornu’, ‘L’Espèrance’ and ‘La Lorraine’ in reference to the early work of the French breeders.
However with so many hybrids and re-naming thatseems to be a little ‘random’ it is difficult to tell exactly which hybrid is which.
Interestingly these are the same plants sold in europe under Japanese names, such as ‘Kinkaku’, ‘Kintei’ and ‘Kinyou’
Moutan Peony care
Like all peonies, a well drained humus rich soil is required. Well drained soils over winter.
Some added lime will certainly help with flowering, and a little shade, especially afternoon shade, will keep this wonderful plant growing well. In deep shade flowering will be restricted.
Dig in well rotted compost before planting. Consider planting with hostas, ferns, corydalis and dicentra.
