True Red Peonies for Your Garden

April 10, 2017Laverne Dunsmore

Red Charm Peony

Many peony varieties are listed as red when, in reality, they are magenta in color. True red is found only in hybrid varieties that contain parentage primarily from the species Paeonia officinalis, Paeonia anomala and a few others. The common‘magenta-colored’ garden peony varieties are of the Paeonia lactiflora species. Our favorite true red peonies that we grow are Red Charm, Red Grace, The Mackinac Grand, Old Faithful and Diana Parks.

A Little About Us —

Our passion for peonies began in the early 1980s with the purchase of two plants and no land to grow them on. Since then we have expanded our collection to include several hundred varieties now covering eight acres among the gently rolling hills west of Minneapolis, just outside of Delano.

We choose to grow peonies, not only to offer some of the finest varieties that have stood the test of time, but also to pursue our dream of creating new peony varieties. Some of our selections have been under close observation for over 20 years to see how they perform under extreme heat, cold, rain and disease. It has been a long and patient journey that we have chosen and one that only another peony enthusiast would understand. We thank you for your support and we wish to share with you our passion for this historic perennial of endurance and beauty.

Laverne, Barb and the staff at Countryside Gardens.