Canary
‘Canary’ has some of the brightest clear yellow flowers among the Saunders peonies. It is also a very upright plant as seen in the lower photo taken at Winterthur in 2017. Silvia Saunders wrote that it was a “perfection of form and subtance” and Bill Gratwick called it “a showy thing”. She also wrote that the petals are perfectly heart shaped and about 5 or 6 inches in length with large and broad foliage, conspicuous handsome and heavy stems.
| Cultivar: | Canary |
| Year: | 1940 |
| Seedling No: | 272 lutea X tree peony (Moutan) |
| Group: | Roman Gold |
| Flower: | Color: | bright yellow, dark red flares creating a star effect |
| Form: | single, about 10 petals | |
| Blooms: | Week 5 | |
| Carpels: | very light green | |
| Stigmas: | cream | |
| Sheath: | cream | |
| Stamens: | filaments dark red same as flares, short, long anthers | |
| Plant: | Habit: | upright |
| Foliage color: | medium green | |
| Foliage form: | “large and broad, a good deal of red” (Reath and Saunders); wider than average on my plant | |
| Height: | 24″ on 4 year plant | |
| Recommendation: | Collectors’ plant |
| Availability: | Few nurseries specializing in woody peonies |
