{"id":204,"date":"2015-05-13T18:56:31","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T18:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/?p=204"},"modified":"2018-11-13T22:00:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T22:00:08","slug":"itoh-peonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/?p=204","title":{"rendered":"Itoh Peonies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Peonies are one of the most adored spring flowers.\u00a0 There are some recent hybrids that are truly spectacular.\u00a0 Itoh peonies are named for hybridizer Toichi Itoh.\u00a0 They are hybrids between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies, a.k.a intersectional hybrids.<a href=\"http:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-keiko.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-205\" src=\"http:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-keiko-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"itoh peony keiko\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-keiko-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-keiko-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The best traits of both parent plants come together to give these plants incredible garden performance.\u00a0 Strong stems are capable of supporting their sizable blooms.\u00a0 No more nodding flowers that can&#8217;t be enjoyed in their full glory.\u00a0 The strong stems also mean they make fabulous cut flowers.\u00a0 Itoh peonies have increased vigor, durability, and long life in the garden.\u00a0 In addition to all those improvements, Itoh peonies produce primary and secondary buds, which means many more flowers, up to 50 on mature plants.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-mikasa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-206\" src=\"http:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-mikasa-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"itoh peony mikasa\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" srcset=\"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-mikasa-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/itoh-peony-mikasa-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Like their herbaceous parent, they die back to the ground in winter and often have a light fragrance.\u00a0\u00a0 Like all peonies, they should be mulched well in the fall to stabilize the ground temperature during the winter freeze\/thaw cycles.<\/p>\n<p>While we&#8217;re on the topic of peonies, let&#8217;s dispel a common myth.\u00a0 Peonies do not need ants in order to bloom.\u00a0 Ants are often seen on peony blooms simply because they are attracted to their sweet nectar secreted by peonies as they bud.\u00a0 The ants don&#8217;t harm the flowers.\u00a0 They are just after the carbohydrates in the nectar.\u00a0 If you are concerned about ants on your peonies when you are ready to display them indoors as cut flowers, dip the blooms in water to help rinse away potential hitchhikers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Peonies are one of the most adored spring flowers.\u00a0 There are some recent hybrids that are truly spectacular.\u00a0 Itoh peonies are named for hybridizer Toichi Itoh.\u00a0 They are hybrids between tree peonies and herbaceous peonies, a.k.a intersectional hybrids. The best traits of both parent plants come together to give these plants incredible garden performance.\u00a0 Strong &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/?p=204\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Itoh Peonies<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-perennials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echters.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}