Paeonia 'Festiva Maxima'

Paeonia 'Festiva Maxima': The Classic White Peony With Crimson Flecks

'Festiva Maxima' is maximum festival: huge white globes with a few crimson flecks in the middle, like it spilled the punch. Fragrant, fully double and grand. THIS IS WHAT MAXIMUM LOOKS LIKE.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Paeonia lactiflora 'Festiva Maxima'
• Common Name: Garden Peony
• Height: 85 cm (33 in)
• Spread: 60 cm (2 ft)
• Flowers: Very large, fully double, globe-shaped white blooms with crimson flecks on a few centre petals, and a good fragrance
• Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer (May to June)
• Foliage: Deep green, divided leaves on a tall, upright clump
• Features: Fragrant, long-lived

Where to Plant: It's an obvious pick for a white garden, a cutting bed or a classic mixed border. It's one of the earlier lactiflora peonies to flower, so it opens the season in a big way.

Companion Plants: Plant 'Festiva Maxima' in a sunny or part-shade bed with white phlox, magenta bee balm and rusty red daylilies. Hemerocallis 'Red Rum' edges the front with rusty red daylilies at 35 to 40 cm in July and August. Monarda Sugar Buzz® 'Grape Gumball' adds vivid magenta bee balm at 50 to 60 cm in July and August. Phlox 'Fashionably Early Crystal' brings white heads at 70 to 80 cm from June to August. Miscanthus × giganteus makes a towering green screen at the back, 250 to 350 cm tall.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun to part sun, in rich, well-drained soil. Set the eyes on the crown no more than 5 cm (2 in) below the soil surface. Planting too deep is the classic reason a peony won't bloom. Water well through the first season. The flowers are heavy, so give it a peony ring in early spring before the stems get tall. Deadhead after bloom. Cut the stems to the ground in fall and clear the leaves away to keep leaf diseases down. Leave it in place. It can grow happily in the same spot for decades.

History: 'Festiva Maxima' was introduced in France in 1851 by the nurseryman Miellez. By the early 1900s it was described as the most popular white peony for cut flowers, and it's still one of the most widely grown peonies in the world.

Final Thoughts: Long-lived, deer resistant and fragrant. Plant it now and your grandkids will still be cutting it. A FAMILY HEIRLOOM YOU CAN SMELL.