Paeonia Itoh 'Bartzella'

Bartzella Itoh Peony which sold for more than $1,000 a division as late as 1999, is today mercifully much more affordable! Yet it remains unsurpassed among Peonies for beauty, fragrance, or sheer, floriferousness. With blooms measuring 9 inches across, fully double and redolent of zesty lemon, Bartzella would be remarkable without the vigor to produce more than 80 flowers a season on a single plant.

The flowers are simply magnificent, whorled like a rose but larger and longer-lived. The outer layers are a creamy meringue, deeper yellow toward the center, where hints of a red base are visible as the bloom unfolds.

Arguably the finest cut-flower, Bartzella Itoh Peonyblooms (measuring about 9 inches wide, no less!) should up resiliently for several weeks in the vase, their scent remaining fresh. Just one plant will perfume the garden and keep your vases full.

An intersectional or Itoh hybrid, a very special class of Peonies with parentage from both Tree and herbaceous species, Bartzella Itoh Peony blooms from late spring through early summer. It offers a range of advantages over both its parent species: shrubby habit, fragrance, luscious color and larger bloom size, excellent resistance to Peony Blight, tolerance of heat, humidity, cold, and poor soil, and extended bloom season.

Growing to 3 feet in height and width in sun or light shade, Bartzella Itoh Peony is untroubled by rabbits or deer, and is quite long-lived, blooming dependably for decades. Give it a plant hoop or other support to hold up those masses of huge blooms, and it's good to go in the garden!

Although most frequently displayed as a cut-flower, Bartzella Itoh Peony is delightful in the garden, the flowers staying fresh and fragrant for weeks on neat, nicely branched plants that live for decades.

Zones 3-8