伊藤牡丹的傳奇

伊藤牡丹，是一種漂亮的花兒，也是一個傳奇故事！日本人種植牡丹的曆史悠久，他們從中國引進了很多，又自己培育了許多新的品種。伊藤牡丹是一個愛極牡丹芍藥的日本人經過上萬次的試驗種出來的。芍藥裏沒有黃色的花，他就一心想把牡丹的黃色弄到芍藥上去。把這兩種花兒雜交，試驗失敗了許許多多次，最後成功培育出了牡丹芍藥的雜交品種。可惜他自己沒等到伊藤牡丹花開就死了。這個伊藤牡丹剛出來的時候賣到一千五百美元一株，因為稀有難得。感謝這些熱愛園藝的人，現在這個伊藤牡丹變得可以讓普通老百姓負擔得起。除了黃色的，現在還有許多別的顏色，但是黃色最為經典。



一次又一次的失敗，不言放棄。現在種了牡丹和芍藥，知道難度在哪裏了，牡丹通常比芍藥先開花。牡丹開過花謝，芍藥方始登場。要不戲曲裏唱到：牡丹開，芍藥豔。寫詞的人，是知道季節時令的。黃色的牡丹，是牡丹裏最晚開的品種，堪堪可以和芍藥初開搭個小小交叉時段。有了這個，才有了拉郎配的可能。

這個過程裏麵，充分體現了日本人的匠人精神和執著勁頭。伊藤博士成功的將黃牡丹花粉授給了白的芍藥並收獲了種子。再從種子發芽，長成植株，長達八年以後始開放。可惜伊藤老先生沒能看見他創造出的花兒。這樣的精神，現在的快餐文化，會有幾個人有這份沉著的心思，做這樣的事情？



這份創造出來的美麗，真的是不可方物。把它成功推廣並發揚光大的美國植物學家Louis Smirnow。他得到伊藤博士遺孀許可，帶了幾棵回美國並且申請了專利。感謝這些人的商業精神，好東西要和普羅大眾分享也要從大家手裏賺錢。伊藤牡丹，真心值得擁有。

從一棵小小的植株，長成今天這樣的繁花滿枝，花了整整五年時間。



今年一共開了二十幾朵花兒，有一半被剪來插花了。每一個看見這花開的人，都忍不住讚歎它的美麗。相對於它的畝母父係花期，它的花期挺長，可以說是吸收了他們的精華。

不同的時間段，光影的變化



千姿百態，夢想成真

伊藤牡丹的傳奇故事 https://www.americanmeadows.com/perennials/peony/all-about-itoh-peonies
The Fascinating Story of Itoh Hybrid Peonies
Itoh peonies began as a hybridizer’s fantasy—which was to cross tree peonies with herbaceous peonies and thus to produce a new kind of plant that offers the best features of both parents.

For many years and in several countries, hybridizers had unsuccessfully pursued this goal. One difficulty was because the bloom times for the two types of peony are several weeks apart, making cross-fertilization difficult.

Also, although tree and herbaceous peonies are both members of the huge genus Paeonia, genetically they are actually not that closely related, contributing to the problem of creating a cross that would produce viable progeny.

Because of these genetic differences between tree and herbaceous peonies, modern taxonomists have actually assigned them to different ‘sections’ within the main Paeonia genus. And for this reason, these modern hybrids are sometimes called ‘Intersectional’ peonies.

A dream came true
Dr. Toichi Itoh, a Japanese botanist, toiling in the aftermath of the horrors of World War II, was the first person to successfully combine the pollen from a tree peony with the ovary of an herbaceous peony.

He was totally consumed with this monumental hybridization challenge and made thousands of attempts. Finally in 1948 his dream came true—a few of his seeds germinated. But it would take over a decade of patient oversight before those seedlings grew to full size and produced flowers. Then in 1956, eight years after his successful crosses, sadly Dr. Itoh passed away.

So it fell to his family to nurture those special plants, finally bringing them to flower in 1964. Eventually an American botanist, Louis Smirnow, got permission from Dr. Itoh’s widow to bring some plants to the USA where he patented four hybrid peonies—which he named Itoh hybrids— featuring huge buttery yellow flowers.