Characteristics

„Mother’s Choice” is a full-flowered peony with blossoms shaped like roses. They begin creamy white and have a little tinge of champagne during the blooming phase. The flower is double shaped round and fragrant and blooms from the middle to the end of the season typically. Although the flowers can grow to be rather large, the stems are frequently quite short. They are normally sold with stems cut to 55 cm in length. The cultivar thrives in countries with plenty of sunlight, such as France, Italy, and Chile. This cultivar has a more difficult time growing in the Netherlands.

Origin Mother’s Choice Peony

„Mother’s Choice” was registered in 1950 by American breeder Glasscock, is a product of cross-breeding P. Lactiflora ‘Polar Star’, and was awarded a Gold medal by the American Peony Society in 1993.
P. lactiflora cultivars, which have their origins in China, are often known as the Chinese Peony and are the most common herbaceous peonies found in modern gardens. P. lactiflora was originally used medicinally in China, and by the seventh century, they had become popular as attractive plants and were placed under imperial protection. The emperor’s gardeners began to cultivate more showy flowers, which inspired the emperor’s artists to depict them on screen paintings, tapestries, silk, and porcelain.
Peonies made their way to Japan in the ninth century when the Chinese traded their very expensive roots for products, and in the early 1800s, P. lactiflora was imported to France from China and introduced into European gardens. By the second half of the nineteenth century, breeders such as Calot, Lemoine, Crousse, and Dessert had created a plethora of novel hybrids, many of which are still in use today.