Characteristics

„Marguerite Gerard” peony is a Paeoniaceae hybrid cultivar with exquisite double blooms in gentle pastel pink. The blooms are a romantic shade similar to cherry blossoms, and the foliage is a lovely dark green on a robust bush. The plant is a hardy perennial that blooms in late spring to early summer and is best suited to milder climates. The guard petals are enormous and heart-shaped, with a broad, serrated crown of pale flesh-pink that darkens to rose-pink. The plant prefers a well-drained, full-sun location and dies down over winter, re-growing each year to produce a leafy cluster.

Origin Marguerite Gerard Peony

In 1892, the French breeder Creusse introduced the „Marguerite Gerard” peony was named after the daughter of Marie Gilette and Claude Gérard. In 1769, her older sister married the painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. When her mother died in 1775, she went to live with him and her sister and began her professional career as his assistant. She began as an engraver and later learned to paint from her brother-in-law, her cousin Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard. She displayed one of her paintings in the Salon de Paris in 1792.