Peony Black Beauty: photo and description, reviews

Peony Black Beauty is a varietal representative of the culture that came to Our Country from America. Among the herbaceous varieties, Black Beauty (Black Beauty) is characterized by the darkest shade of red flowers. The culture is grown for the design of gardens, summer cottages and household plots.

Peony description Black Beauty

Peony Black Beauty (Black Beauty) is a perennial plant. Budding begins in the third year of the biological cycle and lasts about 15 years. During this period, the peony gives a lot of root shoots, the flowering rate does not decrease.

The Black Beauty variety is in demand among gardeners in almost all regions of Our Country. The culture is characterized by a high rate of frost resistance, thanks to the deepened central root, it calmly reacts to Siberian frosts down to -350C.

The plant is photophilous, but can also exist in partial shade. In a shaded place, it loses its decorative effect. Shoots become thin and small, buds are rarely formed.

The color of the Black Beauty petals changes from the time of day, the peonies are bright in the morning, and with the sunset a chocolate shade appears

The peony is especially popular in the gardens of the Moscow region. Due to the high degree of drought tolerance, Black Beauty does well in southern climates. This variety is often found in the resort area of ​​the Black Sea and Azov coasts.

In the first year after planting, the vegetation is aimed at the formation of the root system, in the next season the peony increases its green mass, intensively forming shoots, in the third year it lays buds in the spring, and by autumn the plant is suitable for division.

The herbaceous Black Beauty peony grows in the form of a compact bush with strong shoots that do not deviate from the center under the weight of flowers. Therefore, a variety is grown without a garter to a support. The advantages of the variety include strong immunity to infections and pests. With proper care, the peony practically does not get sick.

Externally, the Black Beauty variety looks like this:

1. The height of an adult peony is 80-90 cm, the bush is dense, with multiple shoots, very dense, the volume is within 50 cm, it grows rapidly.
   
   

   Without dividing the parent plant, the crown becomes voluminous, but the flowers are smaller in size.

2. Stems are erect, with a rigid structure, red-brown, slightly pubescent. At the tops, up to three lateral shoots are formed, ending, like the main stem, with flowers.
3. The leaves are fixed on long petioles, 3-4 pieces each, the arrangement is regular. The leaf plate is long and thin, with a sharp top and smooth edges, the surface is glossy, light green in color.
4. The root system is mixed, fibrous roots are close to the surface, the central part deepens to 60 cm.

The Black Beauty variety with a compact bush and abundant flowering is ideal for mass planting.

Features of flowering

Peony milky-flowered Black Beauty is classified as a semi-double species with large inflorescences. The variety is medium early, the budding begins in late spring, the bush blooms for two weeks. After flowering and until late autumn, the peony retains its decorative effect due to its dense crown. When the temperature drops to zero, the leaves become crimson, after the first frost the aerial part dies off.

The stems are vertical, long, without bends, so the peony looks graceful both in the flower bed and in the bouquet.

How Black Beauty blooms:

• semi-double flowers consist of eight rows of petals, the lower ones are open, slightly rounded, with wavy edges, the closer to the center, the smaller the size becomes, the shape becomes concave, the edges are carved;
• the core consists of numerous filaments with bright yellow anthers;
• the flowers are large, the average diameter is 18 cm, if the side buds are removed, the central flower can grow up to 25 cm;
• the shape is lush, rounded, the aroma is weak;
• maroon color with a brown tint.

The splendor of a peony depends on the fertility of the soil, the degree of illumination, and on the timely division of the bush.

Application in design

The Black Beauty variety with a dense crown and strong stems does not fall apart, keeps its shape throughout the growing season. Peony is suitable for growing in a large portable pot, it is an interesting option for outdoor containers.

The Black Beauty variety is used to decorate the balcony of a city apartment, loggia, country veranda or winter garden. The plant will not lose its decorative effect in stationary conditions if it has enough space and ultraviolet radiation. The variety feels comfortable in greenhouses, but the beauty of Black Beauty is fully revealed only in open ground.

Peony is used to decorate the site in combination with different types of flowering and evergreen plants, shrubs. It is necessary that crops have similar requirements for soil composition.

Black Beauty peony is planted in composition with the following plants: geraniums, dwarf pine forms with various needle colors, pyramidal thujas, ground cover junipers, irises, with white, yellow or cream roses, hydrangea, pelargonium, petunia, zinnia.

Do not combine when planting Black Beauty with perennials that have a creeping root system. Competition for food will not be in favor of the variety. Create mixborders with this peony without using plants with red flowers, because they will become invisible against the background of a bright culture.

Examples of growing Black Beauty in horticulture:

1. For framing flower beds.
   
   

   Peonies of different varieties are planted, creating a composition in contrast to the color of the flowers.

2. Use mass planting for lawn decoration.
   
   

   Burgundy peony flowers Black Beauty favorably emphasize unpretentious field plants

3. For decorative decoration of the recreation area.
   
   

   In combination with flowering plants, peonies create a special flavor.

4. Planted on the sides of a garden or park path.
   
   

   Alley of peonies looks bright and festive

5. In the foreground of the estate as a specimen.
   
   

   Peony will decorate any place on the site

6. Create compositions with evergreen crops.
   
   

   Dark flowers of Black Beauty successfully harmonize with golden thuja

Methods of reproduction

Variety Black Beauty is suitable for any method of reproduction. The generative one is used in nurseries, seedlings are massively grown for the sale of seedlings, but it takes 3 years for the peony to gain strength. You can increase the number of bushes on the site by cuttings and layering. These methods are ineffective, so gardeners rarely use them.

The variety grows well, forms young tubers in sufficient quantities, an adult plant is divided into several parts so that each has 3-5 vegetative buds, then they are determined for a permanent place. The next season, the plant will give buds, in a year it will be a full-fledged bush.

Rules of landing

In any climatic zone, peonies are planted at the end of summer or in the first decade of September. The frost-resistant plant fully adapts before winter and will enter the active phase of vegetation in the spring.

Location requirements:

1. The place should be sunny, temporary shading is allowed. The area needs good air circulation.
2. The soil is suitable light, fertile, drained, you can not place the peony in a constantly wet place.
3. The composition of the soil is neutral.

The landing recess is prepared 14 days before work, so that the soil sits down. The pit must be at least 60 cm deep and wide. Drainage is required at the bottom. Peat and compost are mixed, potash and superphosphate are added, the substrate is poured into the pit and filled with water.

Black Beauty landing technology:

1. In early September, the bush intended for division is cut to the first buds.
2. Carefully removed from the ground, washed off or shaken off the soil, harvested plots.
3. Mix soil with compost.
4. They put the peony in the center, put a bar on the edges, measure 4 cm down and place the kidneys at this level. Tie the root to the bar.
5. Fill the pit with a mixture, compact, water, sprinkle the circle with ash, cover with mulch.

So that after watering the settled earth does not pull the root along with it, fixation is necessary

Aftercare

Agrotechnics at Black Beauty does not differ from other varieties with large red flowers:

1. The main condition is top dressing. The plant will not bloom on poor soil, and shoot formation will also slow down. In early spring, organic fertilizers and urea are applied. When the buds begin to form, the peony is treated with a Bud stimulant. Fertilize with Agricola from mid-June. The drug stimulates the laying of the kidneys for the next season. In early autumn, basal top dressing with superphosphate and potash is required.
2. Water an adult peony during budding and flowering. Then in mid-August and before wintering.
3. Mulching is carried out immediately after planting, the soil around the plant is covered with a mixture of peat and humus. At the beginning of each season, the material is updated.
4. They loosen the soil without a specific schedule, with each compaction, remove weeds as they grow.
5. Before frost, the bush is cut off completely, to the first buds.

Preparation for winter

In order for the bush to successfully winter, preparatory work is carried out. Activities necessary for the Black Beauty variety:

• cutting dry crown;
• moisture charging irrigation;
• hilling the bush;
• the introduction of organic matter;
• increasing the layer of mulch.

Young plants in the first winter are best covered with any material, and covered with snow in winter.

Pests and diseases

Of the pests on the peony, aphids can occur, less often the root-knot nematode. Black Beauty is treated with Actara. The bush rarely gets sick, only under adverse conditions (high humidity, shading) fungal infections (powdery mildew or rust) can progress. Eliminate the problem with Fitosporin.

Conclusion

Peony Black Beauty is a popular large-flowered variety with semi-double inflorescences. The plant is frost-resistant, suitable for outdoor cultivation in all temperate regions. Culture has found application in landscape design.

Peony Black Beauty Reviews