Over my lifetime as a horticulturist, I have found myself enamored with different genera of plants to the point that I have gone out of my way to collect as many variations of the same genus, simply because I thought they were “really cool”. The genus “Bergenia” is a typical example and for me it all started when I was quite young…
During the months of May and June one of the all-time favorite plants of local gardeners, the peony, is bursting into bloom. There are many excellent peonies available to utilize in our landscapes; including herbaceous cottage types in all sorts of colors (and varying fragrances) and larger growing tree peonies too. I would never scold anyone for growing either of these types (since I do as well), but I want to bring attention to another fabulous peony option… what is known as the intersectional or Itoh Peony.