Peony Catharina Fontijn

A real straight forward Peony, meat & potatoes they say in America, no-nonsense, no hidden instructions. The story also goes that she was raised in a Spartan way at the time, a kind of farmer's breeding. What peony growers used to do, perhaps still do sometimes, was to collect a lot of seed from a good variety, give that seed a place in the nursery and then not look at it for years. No protection against disease and pain, at most a little weeding but otherwise... figure it out for yourself, survival of the fittest. After a year or so you go and see which peonies are among them that have survived without care and pampering. That is how Catharina Fontijn was born, the grower did well because she is still a great peony.