Jean Cowley
In 1940, Saunders named a peony, ‘Ellen Cowley’ for the newborn daughter of the Hamilton College President, so it seems fitting for him to have also named one for the President’s wife, Jean McCampbell Cowley.
The two plants are from similar crosses and may be hard to tell apart by their very similar flowers. ‘Ellen Cowley’ is much taller than ‘Jean Cowley’; I wonder if that was true of the people as well. The flowers are equally beautiful.
| Cultivar: | Jean Cowley |
| Year: | 1942 |
| Seedling No: | 9933. Page 22 of Saunders’ Notebook I |
| Parentage: | 7: lactiflora 1875 X “lobata of Perry” |
| Flower: | Color: | deep bright cherry, outer petals streaked white |
| Form: | semi-double, 3 rows of petals | |
| Blooms: | Week 5 | |
| Carpels: | 3-4, light grey-green, woolly | |
| Stigmas: | deep bright cherry | |
| Disc: | white | |
| Stamens: | filaments are yellow | |
| Plant: | Habit: | rounded bush |
| Foliage color: | light green, veined | |
| Foliage form: | narrow leaves, terminal leaf sometimes lobed | |
| Height: | 20″ in 2021; 22″ in 2022 | |
| Recommendation: | Recommended |
| Availability: | Several specialty nurseries |
