Silver Dawn

Very dark red Jap. Good upright grower, vigorous, late, 34 inches. An improvement on Fuyajo. Seedling # JE-3.

Award of Landscape Merit (ALM) description: 'Charm' (Franklin, 1931) Lactiflora Group, Late mid-season, 38? — A lustrous and satiny, dark red Japanese form bloom with a center of the same red petaloids, etched yellow. Stiff and relatively straight stems angle outward gracefully to form a very large, harmoniously mounded, fountain of blooms. An eight-year-old plant matures to 40 or so stems that emerge from a relatively compact area. Although individual blooms are at their peak for a shorter duration than those of other lactifloras, plenty of side buds help 'Charm' maintain its striking presence in the landscape. One of the later Japanese form peonies to bloom.

Seedling TF-8. Parentage: (P. tenuifolia 'Plena' x P. tenuifolia 'Rosea')F2. First bloomed 2012, first propagated 2013. Fully double BOMB form. Baby pink flowers are borne 1 to a stem, 3¼ inches (8 cm) in size, up facing to slightly out facing. Two to three carpels on average which are glabrous to slightly tomentose, green and topped with whitish stigmas, the latter sometimes deformed. Disc poorly developed. No pollen, but as a pod parent normally fertile but not with other pink P. tenuifolia, so far. Not fragrant. Blooming time very early, together with or slightly ahead of P. tenuifolia 'Plena'. Finely cut foliage, pale green on emergence, is typical of the species. Average height to 15 inches (38 cm); support not needed. Named after originator's mother who was not the tallest person but the best mother one can imagine.