Saunders Peonies
A site dedicated to celebrating the work of
Professor A. P. Saunders (1869-1953), the “Father of the Modern Peony”.
Growing Saunders Peonies since 1995…
I have grown some Saunders peonies in my Iowa garden for 25 years, and have been a serious collector for the past 10. My goal in creating this website is to bring together information on his peonies to help others locate and identify the remarkable output of this extraordinary peony breeder. While almost every garden containing more than a few dozen peonies will likely include some Saunders cultivars, there are many others very rarely offered by nurseries. I’ve learned those cultivars may be more difficult to grow or propagate, and sadly, too many are misidentified.
An Effort to Collect and Share…
Information comes from the cultivar registrations held by the American Peony Society (APS), notebooks kept by A. P. Saunders and his daughter Silvia Saunders, articles written for the APS Bulletins or other publications, catalog descriptions, conversations and correspondence with other peony enthusiasts, visits to public collections and my own observations on the 160+ Saunders peonies growing in my garden. All photographs except where noted were taken by me in my home garden.