Elizabeth Foster

A second trip to the Saunders Family Papers at Hamilton College in June, 2023 revealed the identity of Elizabeth S. Foster for whom this peony is named. She was a literary editor based in New York and close enough to the Saunders that her home address was found in their address book. Among other work, she edited a later edition of Herman Melville’s ‘The Confidence Man’. 

Cultivar: Elizabeth Foster
Year: 1941
Seedling No: 10050. Pages 22 & 37 of Saunders’ Notebook I
Parentage: 7: lactiflora #3500 X “lobata of Perry”
Flower: Color: bright rose pink, outer white flares
Form: single, two rows of petals, cupped
Blooms: Week 5
Carpels: 4, light green, woolly
Stigmas: bright rose pink
Disc: pink (Silvia Saunders)
Stamens: filaments are yellow
Plant: Habit: upright rounded bush
Foliage color: medium dark green, shining
Foliage form: narrow leaves
Height: 33″ in 2021; 31″ in 2022
Recommendation: Recommended
Availability: Few specialty nurseries