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Is this tree peony reborn?
thecatsmother
Posts: 139
in Plants
i inherited a quite old tree peony when I moved in, which has flowered decreasingly in 3 years. I've done nothing too much to it, which probably hadnt helped.
anyway this spring all the main branches are completely dead so I've just cut them down apart from one which may have an inkling of life left, but at the base by the stumps I noticed have appeared some new shoots. Am I 
right in thinking these are tree peony shoots (arrowed)?
0
Posts
they look right to me
Yes, but if, as is normal, the original was grafted on to a Tree peony rootstock, what you have there are shoots coming from below the graft point. So when they flower, they may well be the standard, P lutea or P. l. rubra.
On the other hand you may be fortunate and have a peony grown on its own roots, in which case......time will tell.
Yep, that's OK.
I cut one back to nothing a year ago, it's 2 or 3 foot tall, several branches now.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Good point Berghill, all mine are grown from seed.
Though it does look, in one photo, as though the new shoots are from the stump
In the sticks near Peterborough
Thanks! On Googling p lutea that looks like the flowers there's been for the last 3 years anyway, so if that's the "basic" variety then I'll be more than happy to have that back!