Peony 'Kopper Kettle'

'Kopper Kettle' is a semi-double 8-inch-wide flower with petals that combine red, orange, and gold tones. The result is a glossy copper shine -- an utterly unique color for the Peony family. They arise in late spring and early summer, and if you cut them for indoor display just as they begin to open, the plant may well set another load of buds before the season's out.

This plant looks like a Tree Peony, with a domed shape about 32 inches high and 24 inches wide. But it goes dormant as an herbaceous Peony does, dying back in autumn and reappearing in early spring. It will begin flowering the first or second year in your garden and will continue for decades -- Peonies are the longest-lived perennials of all, a lifetime investment in the beauty of your landscape.

The Itoh Hybrids are intersectional crosses of herbaceous (garden) Peonies -- P. lactiflora -- and tree Peonies -- P. lemoinei. They offer an increased color range, greater vigor, and excellent resistance to peony blight (botrytis paeoniae). Introduced by Toichi Itoh of Japan, they are very choice. 'Kopper Kettle' was bred by Roger Anderson of Wisconsin, and has been highly sought ever since its introduction.

'Kopper Kettle' tolerates heat, humidity, cold, and poor soil. Like all Peonies, it repels rabbits and deer, and it is very, very low maintenance once established in the garden. Find a place of honor for this special plant! Zones 3-8.