Saunders 8969
This is considered a “hybridizer’s plant”. It was given to Bill Seidl who then distributed it to other hybridizers. Don Hollingsworth used it to breed ‘Dark Promise’. It was donated to an auction of the Heartland Peony Society in 2013, probably by Don Hollingsworth, and shared with me.
It is different from other Saunders peonies in my garden and might be of interest to people just to grow. I think has a lovely, if small, flower. Do you think it is worthy of a name?
| Cultivar: | Saunders 8969 |
| Year: | Not Registered |
| Seedling No: | 8969. Page 23 of Saunders’ Notebook II |
| Parentage: | officinalis Rosea Plena X corallina (Hong considers corallina to be P. algeriensis) |
| Flower: | Color: | dark pink |
| Form: | single, 2 rows of petals, small flat flowers | |
| Blooms: | Week 4 | |
| Carpels: | 3-4, light green, woolly | |
| Stigmas: | dark pink | |
| Disc: | cream, obscure | |
| Stamens: | filaments red at base, shading to white | |
| Plant: | Habit: | spreading bush |
| Foliage color: | medium green | |
| Foliage form: | medium | |
| Height: | 26″ in 2021 | |
| Recommendation: | Highly recommended |
| Availability: | Not commercially available |
