Paeonia 'Catharina Fontijn'
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Paeonia 'Catharina Fontijn': Pink to White, With Perfume the Whole Way
'Catharina Fontijn' has a spicy fragrance strong enough to stop a dinner party mid-sentence. Fully double, soft pink blooms that slowly fade to blush and off-white. SOMEBODY OPEN A WINDOW. ACTUALLY, DON'T.
Plant Characteristics:
- Botanical Name: Paeonia lactiflora 'Catharina Fontijn'
- Common Name: Garden Peony
- Height: 90 cm (35 in)
- Spread: 90 cm (35 in)
- Flowers: Fully double and saucer-shaped, soft pink fading to blush and off-white, strongly and spicily fragrant
- Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer (May to June)
- Foliage: Deep green and lobed on erect stems
- Features: Strong fragrance, changing flower colour, good cut flower
Where to Plant: Put it where you'll walk past it often, near a door, along a path or beside a bench, so you catch the strong fragrance. Its soft colours blend into pastel borders and calm down bold ones. It's also a good choice for the cutting garden.
Companion Plants: Give 'Catharina Fontijn' a sunny or part-shade bed with pink hellebores before it and red daylilies after. Helleborus HGCÂź Ice N' RosesÂź Rosetta opens soft pink flowers at 45 to 60 cm from March to May. Veronica 'Perfectly Picasso' adds pink spikes at 56 to 66 cm in July and August. Hemerocallis 'Red Rum' brings rusty red daylilies at 35 to 40 cm in July and August. Calamagrostis 'Eldorado' rises behind at 120 to 150 cm with gold-striped blades.
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. With flowers this full, a peony ring set in place in early spring keeps them out of the mud after rain. 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: 'Catharina Fontijn' dates to 1952 and is credited to van der Valk and van der Zwet. It's a strongly scented double that opens old pink and fades to blush and then off-white.
Final Thoughts: Cut a few for the dining room and skip the scented candles. Deer won't touch it. NOSE, MEET YOUR NEW FAVOURITE.