Peony ‘Cytherea’ Plant Care

One of the most dearly beloved perennials found in any garden is Peonies. It is a hardy plant with elegant beauty, fragrant flowers, and a trouble-free nature. Many varieties can survive cold winters, but one that stands out is the Peony cytherea.

So, let’s start digging in to get our hands dirty and caring for the Peony flowers.

Plant Name: Paeonia x lactiflora Cytherea

Other Name: Cytherea Peony, Peony Cytherea, Pink Peony

Plant Type: Herbaceous Perennial

Native Areas: Hybrid Between P.lactiflora and P.peregrina

Light Requirement: Full Sun to Partial Shade

Watering: Keep soil moist but not soggy

Fertilizer: Slow Release Fertilization

Toxicity: Toxic to Pets

Temperature: Need a cold period between 40°F-45°F

Propagation: Division

Growth: 24 inches tall

Soil Type: Well-Drained Soil

USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-8

More About Peony Flowers

These herbaceous perennials have an interesting Greek name Cytherea which means goddess of love. The plant has an upright, bushy growth with dark green to light green leaves. The leaves are elliptic to lance-shaped in late spring to early summer.

The erect stems bear the most beautiful fragrant flowers in a cupped shape and are semi-double, displaying in reddish-pink peonies that turn pale pink to purple with age. The flowers reach six inches wide, and the foliage remains attractive from summer to fall.

The flowers can also come over bowl-shaped, but the Peony cytherea is a hybrid between Paeonia x lactiflora. Still, it remains one spectacular species for gardeners to grow in the garden. The flowers look beautiful in flower decorations, and the cultivar adds color to most gardens.

Peony ‘Cytherea Care Guide

Peony ‘Cytherea @flickr

When you keep your Pink Peonies happy, they can bloom for years without much attention. Still, your container plant will be healthier with vigorous growth when given extra tender loving care.

The herbaceous perennial makes for astounding cut flowers. Compared to other perennials, the petals on this Peony display vibrant shades paired with other perennials in the garden. It even looks fabulous growing with roses and remains showy for a long time.

But how do your care for this gorgeous flower with its open centers to ensure it keeps returning every year? Well, we are here to provide you with the information you need.

Planting Paeonia’ Cytherea’

One important thing to remember is that most Peonies do not do well with transplanting. So, choose a site carefully when planting them. The best time to plant your Peonies is early autumn to give them enough time to establish before winter arrives.

• Ensure that the planting holes are about 18 inches deep and wide.

• Add some organic matter like pine bark, well–aged manure, or compost with plant food like bone meal. Also, avoid adding any fertilizer at this stage.

• Fill the planting holes halfway with soil and compost mix.

• Next, set your root division in place, ensuring the eyes are facing upwards and spread the roots outwards.

• Ensure that the side buds are not deeper than two inches when you plant them, as they might fail to bloom.

For potted Peony plants, it helps to plant them at the same level as the container. Then fill the rest of the hole and water deeply. Also, allow enough space as your Peonies have a bushy growth similar to shrubs.

Another notable thing is that depending on your variety, you will need to provide them with some support before it reaches a few inches high. You may need to do this with your double-style blossoms, but precaution can also help with your Peony cytherea.

Ideal Potting Mix

Whether you grow your Pink Peonies in the garden or container, having the correct potting soil is essential. So, it helps to provide your plant with good drainage. To get the correct soil drainage, it helps to mix a general-purpose peat-free compost or a potting mix with some topsoil.

We recommend amending it with some perlite or horticultural grit if you use loam-based soil. Keeping the soil moist throughout the growing season is critical for the new outdoor plants. Provide your Cytherea with well-drained soil to retain moisture but not become waterlogged.

Then add a mulch layer to protect the roots and retain moisture.

Lighting Needs For The Dark Green Leaves and Blooms

Whether you grow your Peonies in a container or in the garden, please place them in a sheltered spot to receive full sun to partial shade.

The important thing is to keep your plant protected from the wind. Another notable thing is after planting, your Peony rarely blooms after the first year and can take up to three years to see full blooms.

So, the best is to get them into the ground before spring in early fall to enjoy those gorgeous blooms and foliage.

Watering Your Cytherea Peony

Growing your Peony in the ground, you will need to water deeply when the weather is dry and warm in the first year of planting. Still, it depends on the weather, and the rule remains to check the soil before watering. Provide your plant with good soil drainage to prevent root rot.

For potted Cytherea Peony, they will need more watering as well.

Temperature and Humidity

The Cytherea can handle warm to cold climates, but growing in hot regions helps provide your flowers with shade from trees. The blooms will last longer as a shade-loving plant needs partial sun in the hottest part of the day.

When you live in icy regions, you can leave the tubers in the ground when grown on borders or in flower beds. Still, the tubers are more vulnerable to container growth. Therefore, we recommend protecting the pots with some insulation wrapped around them and adding mulches to the top.

The same can be done for the tubers left in the ground by adding mulches to the base around the plant. It will help prevent problems with the roots when the ground freezes. The Peony needs a cold period between 40°F-45°F in winter.

Fertilizer For Cytherea Peony

When you add good organic matter around the Cytherea peony, you can feed them and potted Peonies with an organic feed once a year in spring. Many gardeners recommend an NPK 10-4-18 fertilizer. We recommend feeding your Peonies in summer after flowering again with an NPK of 11-5-12.

The best is to use a slow-release feed for these flowers.

Deadheading and Pruning

As most Peonies are hybrids, they seldom develop viable seeds and will lose nothing when you remove the side buds and dead flowers after blooming. When you notice the foliage dying back in the fall, you can cut it to ground level.

Most importantly, follow the label directions for the fertilization of your plants.

Propagation of Cytherea Peony

The Cytherea is a long-lived plant with steady growth. Yet, with time they start to form clumps, and the shrubs become very bushy. So, the recommended thing to do is a division of the mature Peony in late fall.

When you split them up to transplant the sections, it provides them with more space to grow. Yet, be careful with transplanting them, as the roots are very delicate.

Peony ‘Cytherea Similar Plants

In the Peony genus, you can find hybrids similar to the Pink Peony to grow in gardens.

• ‘Early Scout’: the plant is an early bloomer with single red flowers

• ‘Firelight’: another early-bloomer, with pale-pink single blossoms

• ‘Karl Rosenfield’: this is a midseason-bloomer with double large crimson blossoms

• ‘Norma Volz’: is a midseason-bloomer with large, white, fully double flowers

• ‘Elsa Sass’: for a late-season–bloomer, you get double camellia-like flowers in white.

• ‘Rare Flower of Frosty Dew’: another late-season bloomer reaching up to 3 feet with bright pink flowers.

Peony’ Cytherea Common Diseases and Pests

Your Cytherea peony is a hardy plant and deer-resistant but is still susceptible to the following:

• Tip Blight

• Verticillium Wilt

• Stem Rot

• Ringspot Virus

• Leaf Blotch

• Botrytis Blight

• Japanese Beetles

• Nematodes