Paeonia 'Alexander Fleming'

Paeonia 'Alexander Fleming': Big, Bold and Unapologetically Rose Pink

'Alexander Fleming' is the cure for whatever is ailing your garden. Big, fully double, deep rose-pink blooms with a sweet fragrance that fixes bad moods on contact. PRESCRIPTION: ONE PEONY, DAILY.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Paeonia lactiflora 'Alexander Fleming'
• Common Name: Garden Peony
• Height: 75–90 cm (30–35 in)
• Spread: 60–90 cm (2–3 ft)
• Flowers: Large, fully double, deep rose pink, sweetly fragrant
• Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer (May to June)
• Foliage: Glossy, dark green and deeply divided, attractive all season
• Features: Fragrant, excellent cut flower

Where to Plant: Plant it in the middle of a sunny border, along a walkway where you'll catch the scent, or in a cutting garden. After the flowers finish, the leafy clump acts like a small shrub, so give it room to fill out.

Companion Plants: Plant 'Alexander Fleming' in a sunny bed where white daylilies, scarlet crocosmia and lavender clematis carry on after the peony fades. Clematis 'Stand by Me Lavender' adds nodding lavender bells at 86 to 97 cm from June to August. Hemerocallis 'Joan Senior' brings near-white daylilies at 60 to 65 cm in July and August. Crocosmia 'Lucifer' adds brilliant scarlet sprays at 90 to 120 cm in July and August. Pennisetum Lumen Gold™ glows bright gold at 30 to 60 cm in spring and flowers from August to October.

Plant Care: Plant it in full sun for the most flowers. Part sun works, with fewer blooms. Give it fertile, well-drained soil with some compost mixed in. Set the crown so the pink buds, called eyes, sit no more than 5 cm (2 in) below the soil surface. Planted deeper, peonies tend to sulk and skip blooming. Water regularly through the first season, then only during long dry spells. The double flowers get heavy after rain, so set a peony ring over the clump in early spring. Ants on the buds are normal and do no harm. In fall, cut the stems to the ground and clear away the leaves to reduce diseases such as botrytis. Peonies dislike being moved. If you must divide, do it in early fall, keeping three to five eyes per piece.

History: This cultivar came from the Netherlands, was registered in 1950, and is a cross between 'Bunker Hill' and 'Sarah Bernhardt'. It's often sold as 'Dr. Alexander Fleming', a name that points to the Scottish scientist who discovered penicillin.

Final Thoughts: Cut a bouquet and the whole kitchen feels better. Deer pass it by. REFILLS ARRIVE EVERY SPRING.