Hi all!

I purchased a potted Cora Louise and planted it with the pot and ground soil line level. However, now I'm seeing pink buds poking up - do I need to add more dirt? (I'm in CT zone 6.) Or are these extraneous and let them freeze?

The other complicating factor is that the plant has peony leaf blotch, so I want to remove as much above ground matter as possible so it has fewer places to overwinter.

Thank you!

Most Itoh and other intersectional hybrids have those buds at ground line, or at least all of mine have them. Leave them be and they will be fine.

Unless your plant has an extreme case of leaf blotch, usually cutting the stems to the ground in the Fall is enough to help reduce the severity of the disease. If you want to use mulch use hay since it will be much easier to dispose of in the Spring.
If you are really concerned about it, in the Spring spray the new growth with a preventive fungicide. That will do the trick.

Zellycat! I agree with everything what ElPolloDiablo wrote. I our zone 3 all buds above the soil level die but there is enough growth from lower levels so all my Itohs survive and have many leaves every spring. In your zone they probably all survive.

Interesting, I was trying to cover mine here, I guess I don't have to worry.

Thanks for the welcome!

Ok - so it sounds like there are more buds below the ground, so don't worry if the ones I can see die or freeze and don't add dirt because then those below ground might end up deeper than 2". (And spray fungicide in spring.)

Do I understand correctly? Thank you so much, it's impossible to Google that info directly!

That's correct. Good luck!

I have 2 buds above ground, so removed a bit of dirt I covered. Is this mean I might get a flower next year?

Awesome, thank you so much!!

Itohs form eyes on the lower stems as well as in the root crown, as long as what you're seeing at ground level is on the stem you're fine. Those don't survive the colder zones, I'm in 4b and the only time I've had them survive was when the plant was bagged in the garage! The plant will grow just fine whether those eyes survive to grow or not

The eye or scion not sure for reference there, that grew on the stem of my Bartzella last fall, an inch above soil, survived winter uncovered.
Hope that info helps.

One of my herbaceous peonies looks like this from November on into spring...



I had 40+ blooms off of that bush this spring, so peonies aren't deterred much by a little snow and cold.

My Itohs always have pips high on the stems, and they all survive our zone 7a/b winters, without being covered.

Wow Top! What variety is that? I have some of my early hybrids that will send their noses up like that. I always say they are their periscopes. 😆

Annette, I am like you... buds on Itoh stems frequently survive my winter. I clean up leaves around Itohs but don't cut stem until after they leaf out in the Spring to see what makes it.

In California, I have to cut the leaves of the Itohs, the key is to give the Itohs a rest, that's what I've read here for growing them in California. Maybe one day, when I have a lot of them, I will do an experiment to see whether not cutting them would be ok or not.

Mieko2 said:Wow Top! What variety is that? I have some of my early hybrids that will send their noses up like that. I always say they are their periscopes. 😆

That's a NOID pink that has been in my wife's family for a long while.



It does 2 side blooms per stem, so it puts out a lot of flowers over almost 2 weeks. Support is pretty much mandatory.

Top

That is gorgeous, Top! Thanks for sharing the photo.

Thanks for all the great info everyone!

Topdecker said:

That's a NOID pink that has been in my wife's family for a long while.



It does 2 side blooms per stem, so it puts out a lot of flowers over almost 2 weeks. Support is pretty much mandatory.

Top

Looks like "Nellie Saylor" or perhaps "Sorbet" but it is certainly not an Itoh

Doh, missed 'itoh' part! Sorry.

I thought I'd give an update - my above ground buds died here in zone 6 CT but as predicted the Cora Louise Itoh peony is putting up new stems just fine (and I don't think it has any trace of peony blotch yet?). I don't know if it will have any buds this year - I can see buds clearly on my Hillary - but not this CL. (The dead bud is on the right of the cutdown stalk.)