Paeonia daurica subsp. mlokosewitschii

Just call her Molly the Witch. This fabled Peony is a choice species from the Caucasus region with impossible to improve upon single yellow goblets for flowers. The red new growth in spring evokes some avant garde asparagus. Showy blue-black seeds mingle with the red infertile ovules in large seedpods in late summer staking claim to ornament of equal consideration to that of the flowers. These are plants whose origins lie with our late friend, mentor and knucklehead Steve Doonan and he would be so pleased to see these listed here. This was formerly the species mlokosewitschii but Hong has reduced it to a subspecific rank under P. daurica in his daunting 2008 monograph on the genus and darned if we are going to argue with him - dude is serious. These are youngsters that will take a couple years to get to blooming size.