Chinese Dragon
This is one of the most well known Saunders woody peonies. It was given the Gold Medal by the American Peony Society in 1983. ‘Chinese Dragon’ was often used by William Seidl as a pollen parent. It is in the lineage of several Seidl and Seidl/Bremer advanced generation lutea hybrids including ‘Black Forest’, ‘Brassy Lady’, ‘Charon’, ‘Door County Sunset’, ‘Rosalind Elsie Franklin’, and ‘Sedona’. Its pollen was also used by Roger Anderson to create the intersectional ‘Watermelon Wine’.
| Cultivar: | Chinese Dragon |
| Year: | 1948 |
| Seedling No: | 16455 |
| Group: | Banquet |
| Flower: | Color: | bright dark pink, wide dark flares |
| Form: | single, 2 rows of petals, about 14, crinkled | |
| Blooms: | Week 5 | |
| Carpels: | about 5, green | |
| Stigmas: | dark pink | |
| Sheath: | dark pink | |
| Stamens: | filaments red | |
| Plant: | Habit: | rounded bush |
| Foliage color: | medium green, edges tinged pink; some red on stems | |
| Foliage form: | finely cut | |
| Height: | 42″ on 7 year plant | |
| Recommendation: | Highly recommended |
| Availability: | Several nurseries specializing in woody peonies |
