Paeonia 'Sarah Bernhardt'

Paeonia 'Sarah Bernhardt': Late Rose-Pink Ruffles Fit for the Stage

Every other peony has already taken its bow by the time this one makes its entrance. Huge, ruffled rose-pink blooms that smell like your grandmother's good perfume. 'Sarah Bernhardt' DOES NOT DO OPENING ACTS.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Paeonia lactiflora 'Sarah Bernhardt'
• Common Name: Garden Peony
• Height: 90 cm (3 ft)
• Spread: 60 cm (2 ft)
• Flowers: Very large, fully double, rose-pink with lighter edges; fragrant
• Bloom Time: Early summer (June); late in the peony season
• Foliage: Deep green, bushy and full
• Features: Long-lived, classic cut flower

Where to Plant: Plant it in a sunny border, along a fence, or in a row in the cutting garden. It's one of the most widely grown peonies for bouquets, and a vase of it can scent a room. It blooms late, so it helps stretch the peony season.

Companion Plants: Polemonium 'Heavenly Habit' opens violet flowers in May, just as the peony buds swell, and keeps going into July. Centaurea 'Amethyst in Snow' adds its bicolour cornflowers at 30 to 40 cm over the same weeks. Run Geranium 'Biokovo' along the edge for a low carpet of white blooms from May to July. All three flower right alongside 'Sarah Bernhardt', so you get one big early summer show in sun or part sun.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun in rich, well-drained soil. Set the eyes no deeper than 5 cm (2 in) below the surface. Water regularly through the first summer. The blooms are big and heavy, and rain can tip them over. Place a peony ring early in spring so the stems grow up through it. Cut the foliage down in fall and remove it to keep leaf disease in check. Don't move established plants unless you must. Divide in September if needed.

History: The French nursery Lemoine introduced 'Sarah Bernhardt' in 1906 and named it for the celebrated French stage actress of the era. More than a century later, it's still one of the best-known peonies in gardens and in the cut-flower trade.

Final Thoughts: There's a reason this peony is still blooming outside old abandoned farmhouses. The people left. IT STAYED.