Evergreen Summer Magnolias
Successive days in May 2026 with temperatures around 30C and an absence of rain caused concern about damage to many of our plants, but in general we found ill-effects were mitigated by the deep rains of late winter which left the soil at full field capacity, and our policy of heavily mulching all young plants…
More tree peonies – Japan, some species and a few yellows.
There are no tree peony species native to Japan: but sometime in the eighth century, the Chinese Moutan found its way into the country, where it became known to the Japanese as the Botan, and over the centuries, developed its own Japanese character. In his book ‘The Moutan or Tree Peony’ Michael Howarth-Booth – never far…
Tree peonies – the ‘Moutan’ of myth
“One snowy winter day, Empress Wu Zetian , the first woman sovereign in China’s history, ordered all the plants to bud and blossom. But the peony, too proud to flatter the Empress, remained bare. The empress flew into a rage and had all the peonies in the Tang capital Changan ‘banished’ to Luoyang.” This is…
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White House Farm Garden and Arboretum 